I blinked and we already 1/3 of the way through the semester! It is truly the heart of winter... Syracuse is currently the snowiest city in the US and I (Hannah) am neck-deep in cell bio. Pausing the avalanche that is my to-do list to celebrate some recent mentee & alumni successes!

The results are in...

Join the students of EFB 325 in celebrating emerging model organism research! Students will work in small groups throughout the semester to read primary research literature on the cell characterization, metabolism, and communication of their emerging model organism. The final poster presentation synthesizes these, and other topics covered in lecture by advocating why the development of further ‘model organism resources’ is a valuable research endeavor and investment.

We're starting 2026 off with wonderful news! Both Genevieve and Stefan were awarded Grants-In-Aid of Research from the Phycological Society of America (PSA). Their proposals were titled Deciphering phycosphere dynamics: Symbiodiniaceae-bacteria interactions under heat stress (Genevieve) and Bioelemental approach to understanding Cnidarian-Symbiodiniaceae compatibility and holobiont performance (Stefan).

I'm very proud of their hard work and excited to see their PhD projects blossom this year (& beyond)! We're already looking forward to sharing these results at the 2027 annual meeting in Cleveland. You can read more about the PSA and their grant programs here: https://www.psaalgae.org