Nora Cespedes recently submitted her first grant as a PI and was awarded a Randall Women in Science Scholarship for her research. She will present a Randall seminar in the UI Department of Biological Sciences in fall 2022.
Erinn Donnelly was named 2022 Outstanding Graduate Student of the Year for the University of Idaho College of Science. Erinn recently received a travel award from the American Association of Immunologists (AAI) and a Randall Women in Science Scholarship. These awards will support her travel to the 2022 AAI meeting and the publication of her research.
Anna Briggs was selected to be a 2022 Idaho Science and Technology Policy Fellow, a two-year program in which she will work in one of the state offices in Boise, ID, assisting with policy and/or legislative efforts related to her areas of interest. Anna is also a current Entomological Society of America (ESA) Science Policy Fellow through 2023. Anna was also recognized with a Lowell Farmer Endowment Scholarship and a Randall Women in Science Scholarship. These awards supported her travel to the 2022 Pacific Branch meeting of the ESA and publication of her research.
Erinn Donnelly won the best photo submission for the 2020-21 College of Science Photography and Graphic Arts Contest. Erinn took this photo in our insectary of Anopheles stephensi being attracted to a warm human hand. She was inspired by the amazing host seeking behavior of mosquitoes.
Nora Cespedes wins best poster at the Institute for Health in the Human Ecosystem annual symposium 2021. Nora is working on understanding the mechanisms that underlie malaria-induced allergic inflammatory changes to the intestinal barrier.
Dean Taylor graduated in December 2019 and is now a research technician at the Cornell University Institute for Biotechnology in Ithaca, NY.
Anna Rodriguez received the University of Idaho Alumni Award for Excellence which is presented to approximately 40 undergraduate senior level students and an additional 15 graduate and law students who have achieved outstanding academic success and have demonstrated career and professional preparation; campus and community leadership and involvement, or “leaders in the classroom, laboratory, campus and community.”
Members of the Luckart lab attended the 2019 Entomological Society of America annual meeting. Dean Taylor presented a 10 minute graduate talk on “Larval exposure to abscisic acid (ABA) alters adult female Anopheles stephensi life history traits”. Reagan Haney presented a poster titled “Effects of abscisic acid on Anopheles stephensi reproduction”.
At the second annual Center for Health in the Human Ecosystem (CHHE) research symposium, members of the Luckhart lab presented posters during the poster session. Anna Rodriguez was awarded the best graduate student poster. Reagan Haney was awarded the best Staff poster; and Alex McKeeken won for best undergraduate poster. Cassandra Olds, Sarah Garrison, and Erinn Donnelly also presented posters during the poster session.
Mosquitos can be a nuisance and they can also be deadly. University of Idaho College of Agricultural and Life Sciences student Reagan Haney is researching how changes in mosquito diet could help to decrease the number of eggs they lay – reducing the number of mosquitoes in malaria-prone areas.