Annual Award Reception

Celebrating Excellence!

Each spring, the BCMB department gathers for a special reception to honor the outstanding achievements of our undergraduates, graduate students, faculty, and staff. Thanks to the generosity of our donors, we are proud to offer scholarships and cash awards to recognize excellence across our community.

For undergraduates, we celebrate top graduates, students engaged in undergraduate research, and scholarship recipients. We also welcome parents and families of our honorees to join in this special occasion. Undergraduate scholarships include the J. Gordon and Elizabeth S. Carlson Undergraduate Scholarship, Carolyn W. Fite Scholarship, Emmette and Nannie Hale Scholarship for Pre-Dentistry, Dr. John R. Staley, Jr. Scholarship, Undergraduate Research Scholarship, Nancy Ruth Creery Memorial Scholarship, and the Tyler Duke Foundation Scholarship, established in memory of one of our recent BCMB majors. For more information and a complete list of award winners, see our undergraduate scholarships page.

Graduate students are recognized through a variety of awards and fellowships that support excellence in research and teaching. Awards include the Biochemistry Alumni Graduate Assistant Award, Dr. Ray Holton Plant Science Award, David and Becky Eaker Graduate Student Award, Lizzie Howell Graduate Award, and the W. Sherman Kouns Excellence in Teaching Award. Fellowships include the Ranjan and Nivedita Ganguly Fellowship, Robert and Nell Keenan Bioscience Fellowship, Dr. Cynthia B. Peterson Fellowship, James and Dora Wright Fellowship, and, beginning in Fall 2025, the Ms. Katherine Ann Wallace Fellowship. For more information and a complete list of award winners, please see our graduate students awards and highlights page.

Faculty members are recognized for their distinguished records in teaching and research. In addition, they are supported through the Dr. Donald L. Akers, Jr. Faculty Enrichment Fellowship, which provides funding for innovative pilot research, made possible through Dr. Akers’ generous donation. Every three years, the Charles P. Postelle Distinguished Professorship is awarded to a full professor who has demonstrated exceptional scholarly achievement. For more information and a complete list of award winners, please see our faculty and postdoc research associate awards page.

In 2022, the department established the C.W. Fite Research Incentive Award to support the work of our postdocs and research associates.  For more information and a complete list of award winners, please see our faculty and postdoc research associate awards page.

Each year, the Excellence in Service Award recognizes outstanding non-technical and technical staff from BCMB, CAS Financial Services, CASTech, & AMIC who make unique contributions to our academic mission.  For more information and a complete list of award winners, please see our Staff Awards page.