Congratulations to our MCB PhD and BA Class of 2022 graduates!
The MCB Department is proud of our newest graduates and all that they have accomplished! Please help us celebrate the 2022 MCB Commencement Honors awardees (below) as well as the success of our Senior Gift Campaign which raised enough funds to support 10 undergraduate student research stipends for the 2022-2023 academic year.
2022 MCB PhD Commencement Honors
The following are the recipients of our annual graduate awards for research, academic, and community achievement.
| Cris Alvaro Memorial Prize The Cris Alvaro Memorial Prize honors MCB graduate student Cris Alvaro, who identified as a trans and non-binary person, using the preferred pronouns they/them/their. This award was established after Cris's untimely death in 2018 at age 29 and is presented annually to MCB Ph.D. students who embody excellence in research and commitment to diversity, inclusion, tolerance, acceptance, and sense of community that Cris Alvaro epitomized. |
Dennis Sun (Patel & Garcia labs) and Helen Vander Wende (Brar lab) |
| Nicholas Cozzarelli Prize The Nicholas Cozzarelli Prize was established in honor of Professor Nick Cozzarelli after his passing in 2006. It is presented annually to a graduating MCB student for excellent Ph.D. research. |
Ryan Muller (Ingolia lab) |
| Alan Bearden Book Award The Book Award in honor of emeritus professor Alan Bearden was established after his death in 1999 and is presented to graduates who have performed outstanding research in the area of Biophysics. |
Joshua Cofsky (Doudna & Kuriyan labs) and Daniel Mossing (Biophysics PhD; Adesnik lab) |
| John Belling Prize in Genetics The Belling Prize was established upon approval by the Regents in 1935 in memory of Dr. John Belling, a research associate in Genetics at Berkeley during the years 1927-1933. It is presented every 5 years on the basis of scholarship, research ability or fundamental contribution to biology. |
Daniel Saxton (Rine lab) |
2022 MCB Undergraduate Commencement Honors
The following are the recipients of our annual undergraduate awards for research and academic achievement.
For more details about each award, click here.
| Departmental Citation Awarded for the highest achievement each year by a graduating senior in MCB. |
Anne Chen |
| Outstanding Scholars Awarded for the second-highest achievement of a graduating senior in MCB. |
Allen Khudaverdyan, Frank Liu, Vivian Nguyen, Sameer Rajesh |
 DIVISION OF BIOCHEMISTRY, BIOPHYSICS & STRUCTURAL BIOLOGY |
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| Grace Fimognari Memorial Prize Awarded to the graduating senior in the BMB emphasis, based on the same criteria as the Departmental Citation. |
Michelle Tang |
| Kazuo Gerald Yanaba & Ting Jung Memorial Prize This award is based on the students' oral presentation of their research at the annual BMB Undergraduate Honors Research Symposium and by their honors theses. |
Sam Ghaffari-Kashani |
| Jesse Rabinowitz Memorial Prize Awarded to an outstanding junior in the BMB emphasis, based on academic achievement in MCB courses and faculty recommendation. |
Haru Yamamoto |
| BMB Best Poster | Safaa Jamshed, Allison Rothrock, Jack Sung, Phanisri Tummala, Yisheng Zheng |
 DIVISION OF CELL BIOLOGY, DEVELOPMENT & PHYSIOLOGY |
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| Evans Memorial Prize In recognition of outstanding academic achievement and excellence in molecular physiology or anatomy. |
Emily Sumpena |
| Forte Memorial Prize In recognition of outstanding academic achievement in molecular physiology |
Reshma Kodimerla |
| Paola S. Timiras Memorial Prize Awarded to the top graduating senior in the Cell & Developmental Biology emphasis for high academic achievement and excellence of research in an honors project. |
Vivian Nguyen |
| I.L. Chaikoff Award in Cell & Developmental Biology Awarded in recognition of outstanding achievement and excellence in the Cell & Developmental Biology and Neurobiology emphases. |
Amy Yan, Sophia Wang, Emily Sumpena, Citlalli Vergara, Julianne Bartz, Michelle Ho, Reshma Kodimerla, William Lin, Shuka Park, Christina Lee, Mohamed Yassin |
 DIVISION OF GENETICS, GENOMICS, AND DEVELOPMENT |
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| Edward M. Blount Award Awarded to the student with the highest academic achievement in Genetics, Genomics, and Development. |
Anne Chen, Eve Zhong |
| Spencer W. Brown Award Awarded to a graduating senior who has most distinguished themselves in genetics research. |
Anne Chen, Minori Aoki |
 DIVISION OF IMMUNOLOGY AND MOLECULAR MEDICINE |
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| The Nilabh Shastri Memorial Award for Outstanding Immunologist Awarded for the highest academic achievement in the Immunology and Pathogenesis emphasis. |
Frank Liu |
| Award for Academic Excellence in Immunology Awarded to the graduating senior in the Immunology and Pathogenesis emphasis for the high academic achievement in all MCB required courses. |
Tiffany Chen |
| Award for Excellence in Research in Immunology Awarded to the graduating senior in the Immunology and Pathogenesis emphasis for exceptional research performance in an honors research project. |
Evan Juan |
 DIVISION OF NEUROBIOLOGY |
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| Jeffery A. Winer Memorial Prize Awarded to the top graduating senior in the Neurobiology emphasis for high academic achievement and excellence of research in an honors project. |
Amit Ahituv |
| I.L. Chaikoff Award in Neurobiology Awarded in recognition of outstanding achievement and excellence in the Cell & Developmental Biology and Neurobiology emphases. |
Saisnigdha Allaparthi, Hyunju Lee, Ananya Murali, Nanda Nayak, Vincent Panico, Miti Parikh, Rachel Woody, Hannah Zeigler, Emma Fortmann, Jingtong (Cynthia) Huang, Rivka Steinberg |
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| Our senior gift campaign was a tremendous success! Thanks to the generosity of our community of students, families, alumni, friends, faculty and staff we raised enough funds to provide $1,000 research stipend awards to 10 MCB undergraduates in the 2022-2023 academic year. A special thanks to: Robin Ball, Jing Chen, Marla Feller, Dan Feldman, Rebecca Heald, Arash Komeili, Polina Lishko, Peter Maurice, Jeremy Thorner, and special donor that gave a generous boost to reach our goal. Go Bears! |
Photo credits: Banner and Empowering the Next Generation images courtesy Noah Berger. Homepage thumbnail courtesy Keegan Houser. UC Berkeley.