Apply for the Award
The CUR Biology Division Mentor Awards honor biology mentors for their sustained efforts in supervising undergraduate research students. Individuals may either be self-nominated or nominated by someone else. Nominators must be CUR Institutional or individual CUR members of the Biology Division. Nominations by the mentor’s research students are also accepted. Faculty mentoring interdisciplinary projects are eligible as long as such projects involve a major biological component. Awards will be made in three categories: Early Career, Mid-Career, and Advanced Career.
- Early Career: Scientists with 1-9 years of experience mentoring undergraduate researchers. Although this generally corresponds to assistant professors, the committee recognizes that many mentors are not in tenure-track positions and that some scientists begin significant undergraduate research mentoring even before they obtain a tenure-track position.
- Mid-Career: Scientists with 10-19 years of experience mentoring undergraduate researchers.
- Advanced Career: Scientists with 20 or more years of experience mentoring undergraduate researchers.
Nomination Process, Application Process, and Deadlines
For Initial Nominations
- To nominate a mentor, students or colleague must fill out the Nomination Form. The deadline for nominations was February 15, 2025.
- The nominee will be contacted to determine if the nomination is accepted. If accepted, the nominee will be responsible for submitting all remaining materials outlined in the “required application materials”.
After nominations are confirmed
The following application materials are required to be submitted by all mentor nominees. The deadline for submission of these materials is March 21, 2025:
- Nomination Letter that can speak firsthand about the nominee’s mentoring of undergraduate research students (two-page limit; 1-inch margins, Times New Roman 12pt. font), written by the colleague nominator or the nominee (for student- or self-nominations). The letter should explain (a) the nominee’s personal commitment to research mentoring, (b) how the nominee individualizes mentoring strategies to fit student needs and limitations, and (c) how the nominee’s mentoring activity promotes diversity, equity, and inclusion in undergraduate research. Additional information that gives more detailed insight into the nominee’s breadth of mentoring activities and/or mentoring philosophy and style is welcome.
- Nominee CV tailored to showcase mentoring activities, which should provide information regarding cumulative mentoring activities involving undergraduate research students (two-page limit, 1-inch margins, Times New Roman 12 pt. font). Please indicate the number of students mentored and over what time period, all peer-reviewed publications with undergraduate co-authors, presentations with undergraduate coauthors (noting if they were at regional or national venues), grant application submissions by your undergraduate students, student awards or honors for research, and career/graduate school outcomes for your research students.
- Student Letters – Two recommendation letters from undergraduate research students who were mentored by the nominee within the past two to ten years (two-page limit, 1-inch margins, Times New Roman 12 pt font). Students should explain in their letter (a) how their mentor showed commitment to helping them achieve in areas of their life that mean the most to them (i.e., academic, career, or personal growth) and (b) how their mentor modeled positive behaviors and successful performance. Additional information that gives more detailed insight into the mentor’s work on behalf of the student is welcome.
The CUR Biology Councilors will review the completed applications and will choose the winners. Recipients will be notified in early May 2025.
Questions regarding the application process may be addressed to Jessica Clark, chair of the CUR Biology Division Mentor Award Committee or CUR@CUR.org.
Biology Mentor Awardees
- Anant Deshwal – Bradley University, early-career awardee
- Kristian Hargadon – Hampden-Sydney College, mid-career awardee
- Shubhik DebBurman – Lake Forest College, advanced-career awardee
- Sami Raut, PhD – University of Alabama at Birmingham, early-career awardee
- Tony Frankino, PhD – University of Houston, mid-career awardee
- Amanda Duffus, PhD – Gordon State College, mid-career awardee
- Gregory Buck, PhD – Texas A&M University at Corpus Christi, advanced career awardee
- Jacqueline Jones – assistant professor of Biology and Environmental Science, Troy University, early-career awardee
- Shannon Hinsa-Leasure – professor of Biology, Grinnell College, mid-career awardee
- Clark Lindgren – professor of Biology, Grinnell College, advanced-career awardee
•    Misty Thomas (assistant professor, North Carolina A&T State University, early-career awardee)
•    Mark Emerson (associate professor, The City College of New York, CUNY, early-career awardee)
•   Maryann Herman (associate professor, St. John Fisher College, mid-career awardee)
•    Anne Brown (assistant professor, Virginia Tech, early-career awardee)
•    Christopher Lassiter (professor of biology and director of undergraduate research, Roanoke College, mid-career awardee)
•    Terry Hill (professor, Rhodes College, advanced-career awardee)
•    Jessica Malisch (asst professor of physiology, St. Mary’s College of MD, early-career awardee)
•   Marina Cetkovic-Cvrlje (professor of biology, St. Cloud State University, mid-career awardee)
•   Amelia Ahern-Rindell (assoc professor of biology, University of Portland, advanced career awardee)
- Dr. Rachelle Belanger, associate professor and assistant chair of biology at University of Detroit Mercy (early-career awardee).
- Dr. Amit Dhingra, associate professor of genomics and biotechnology at Washington State University (mid-career awardee).
- Dr. William (Bill) Ensign, professor of biology in the Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Organismal Biology at Kennesaw State University (advanced-career awardee).
- Dr. Gina Lamendella, assistant professor of biology at Juniata College in Huntingdon, PA, was selected as the outstanding early-career mentor in the CUR Biology division for 2016.
- Dr. Ryan Bavis, the Helen A. Papaioanau Professor of Biological Sciences at Bates College in Lewiston, ME, and currently chair of the Department of Biology, is the recipient of the mid-career mentor award.
- Dr. Sara O’Brien, assistant professor of biology at Radford University in Radford, VA, was selected as the outstanding early-career mentor in the CUR Biology division for 2015.
- Dr. Olav Rueppell, professor of biology at University of North Carolina, Greensboro, was selected as the outstanding mid-career outstanding mentor for 2015.