On Monday, 4/8, the MCB Department celebrated UConn's Grad Appreciation Week with Dairy Bar ice cream! It was a beautiful day to be outside and enjoy each other's company along with the ice cream. Thank you MCB Graduate students for all you do!

The MCB DEI Committee recently welcomed Dr. B. Chad Starks, CEO and Founder of BCS & Associates for a special seminar and workshop. Dr. B. Chad Starks is a writer, speaker, and educator with over 20 years of experience working with universities, research institutions, and organizations to provide training on issues of social justice and equity.

The seminar, entitled Be The Messenger of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion: Within and Beyond the University of Connecticut Community was held on 4/2 as part of the department’s regular Seminar Series and was received by a large audience.

As a follow-up to the lecture, Dr. Starks held an interactive workshop on Wednesday 4/3, introducing his “Be the Messenger” theoretical framework which examines four major constructs - Identity, Culture, Diversity, and Respect - essential to self-development, understanding bias, implicit bias, and privilege, and cultivating a deep appreciation of diversity and inclusion.

Cassandra Correa (Lynes Laboratory) has been chosen for the 2024 Jackson Laboratory Summer Student Program

(https://www.jax.org/education-and-learning/high-school-students-and-undergraduates/learn-earn-and-explore), and will be working with Dr. Julia Oh, of the Center for Genomic Medicine in Farmington, CT.  Dr. Oh’s work is focused on the development of microbiome therapeutics to treat human disease.

Submissions are now being accepted for the 2024 Undergraduate Research Symposium in Molecular and Cell Biology. Graduating senior MCB or Biophysics majors are encouraged to present their research project as a short 15 minute talk. Graduating Biology majors whose project is supervised by a MCB faculty member are also invited to present their work.

If you would like to participate, please e-mail the following information by Friday, March 29
to mcboffice@uconn.edu with
MCB Research Colloquium in the subject line.

Student Name:
Major:
Email:
Thesis/presentation Title:
Thesis Research Adviser:
Honors Adviser (if applicable):
Short bio and current research interests:
Availability: **Please provide time slots during which you have classes or labs that would conflict with your ability to participate. Even if you have no conflicts, please indicate this**

The top three MCB presentations will be selected for participation in the All-Biology Symposium and will be eligible for multiple awards.

The MCB Symposium will be held in two sessions. Session I, 4/9/2024 3:30 - 5:30 pm and Session II , 4/12 12:20 -2:00 pm.