AWARDS

2024

2024 Leyla Danai: Awarded graduate student summer fellowship (GSSF) from UNC Charlotte for $8,000

2024 Yelixza I. Avila (Ph.D. Candidate): First place for their poster presentation at the ANGS Research Symposium

2024 Elizabeth Skelly-Miles: Second for their oral presentation in the category of Interdisciplinary at the Graduate Research Symposioum

at UNC Charlotte

2024 Yelixza I. Avila (Ph.D. Candidate): Selected as an iCURE scholar and will be awarded three-years of funding as a postdoctoral

researcher at the National Cancer Institute

2023

2023 Brandon Rawlins (Undergraduate student): Received Outstanding Undergraduate Poster Award at Biological Sciences Symposium

2023 Jose Reyna (Undergraduate student): Received Outstanding Undergraduate Poster Award at Biological Sciences Symposium

2023 Celine Ortiz (Undergraduate student): Received a travel Scholarship to attend the 2023 National Diversity in
STEM (NDISTEM) Conference from SACNAS

2023 Laura Rebolledo (Undergraduate student): Received the 2023 UNC-Charlotte Award in Biochemistry

2023 Best Paper Award for "The Application of Light-Assisted Drying to the Thermal Stabilization of Nucleic Acid Nanoparticles," published in Biopreservation and Biobanking

2023 Laura Rebolledo (Undergraduate student): awarded the Science Technology and Engineering oral award at the UNC Charlotte Undergraduate Research Conference (URC)

2023 Yasmine Radwan (Ph.D. student): awarded graduate student summer fellowship (GSSF) from UNC Charlotte for $8,000

2023 Damian Beasock (Ph.D. student): places 2nd at the ANGS Research Symposium at UNC Charlotte

2023 Celine Ortiz (undergraduate): places 3rd in the NC-LSAMP conference

2023 Yelixza I. Avila (Ph.D. student): gets accepted to participate at Graduate Student Recruitment day at the National Cancer Institute

2023 Dr. Kirill Afonin: First Citizens Scholars Medal

2023 Yelixza I. Avila (Ph.D. student): Travel Fellowship from the RNA Society for participation in the 2023 GRC on RNA Nanotechnology

2023 Yelixza I. Avila (Ph.D. student): Invited to give a talk at the 2023 GRC on RNA Nanotechnology

2023 Alex Rolband (Ph.D. student): Awarded a fellowship for participation in the GRS on RNA Nanotechnology

2022

2022 Alex Rolband (Ph.D. candidate): 2022 Dissertation Completion Fellowship, UNCC
2022 Yelixza I. Avila (Ph.D student): F31 NRSA Pre-doctoral Fellowship, NIH

2021

2021 Alex Rolband (Ph.D. student): winner of the Mining for GOLD competition, UNCC
2021 Melina Richardson (undergraduate): UNC Charlotte Award in Biochemistry
2021 Doaha Awad (undergraduate): best oral presentation in Science, Technology, and Engineering at 2021 Undergraduate Research Conference (URC), UNC Charlotte
2021 Morgan Chandler (Ph.D. student): 2021 Dissertation Completion Fellowship, UNCC
2021 Preston L. Tolley (undergraduate), J.J. Hendley Scholarship, UNCC
2021 Jonathan Black (undergraduate): best oral presentation in Cellular/Molecular Biology at 82nd Annual Southeastern Biologists

Research Conference
2021 Seraphim Kozlov (high school student): 2nd place in Biomedical Engineering at the Frederick County Science and Engineering Fair
2021 Seraphim Kozlov (high school student): US Public Health Service Meritorious Award
2021 Seraphim Kozlov (high school student): US Air Force Award
2021 Seraphim Kozlov (high school student): US Agency for International Development Award
2021 Seraphim Kozlov (high school student): 2nd place at the International Biotech Symposium

2020

2020 Morgan Chandler (Ph.D. student): Graduate Student Poster Talk Award Winner, NC Photochem 2020 (virtual)
2020 Weina Ke (Ph.D. student): 2020 Dissertation Completion Fellowship, UNC Charlotte
2020 Justin Halman (Ph.D. student): 2020 Dissertation Completion Fellowship, UNC Charlotte
2020 Morgan Chandler (Ph.D. student): 2020-21 Thomas L. Reynolds Graduate Student Research Award

2019

2019 Morgan Chandler (Ph.D. student): First Place at Poster 2.0 Competition, UNC Charlotte
2019 Dana Elasmar (undergraduate): James Hovick Memorial Award, UNC Charlotte
2019 Alex Rolband (undergraduate): 2019 Undergraduate Award in Analytical Chemistry, ACS Division of Analytical Chemistry and the Journal of Analytical Chemistry, UNC Charlotte
2019 Justin Halman (Ph.D. student): First Place Overall in the 9th Annual CBES Graduate Student Poster Competition
2019 Morgan Chandler (Ph.D. student): CBES MED Associate Winner in the 9th Annual CBES Graduate Student Poster Competition
2019 Justin Halman (Ph.D. student): Graduate School Summer Fellowship, UNC Charlotte
2019 Allison Tran (undergraduate): Best Oral Presentation Award at the 2019 Undergraduate Research Conference, UNC Charlotte
2019 Morgan Chandler (Ph.D. student): Second Place in CLAS Oral Presentations at the 2019 Graduate Research Symposium, UNC Charlotte
2019 Morgan Chandler (Ph.D. student): Best Oral Presentation Award at Gordon Research Seminar on RNA Nanotechnology (Ventura, CA)

2018

2018 Justin Halman (Ph.D. student): First Place for Oral Presentation at the Multifunctional Materials Workshop, NC State University
2018 Morgan Chandler (Ph.D. student): Second Place for Oral Presentation at the Multifunctional Materials Workshop, NC State University
2018 Melina Richardson (undergraduate): Second Place in the Summer Research Symposium, UNC Charlotte
2018 Sameer Sajja (M.S. student): Summer Graduate Fellowship Award from the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences, UNC Charlotte
2018 Lauren Lee (undergraduate): UNC Charlotte Award in Biochemistry

2017

2017 Strahinja Talic (undergraduate): ACS Division of Inorganic Chemistry Award
2017 Morgan Chandler (undergraduate): UNC Charlotte Award in Biochemistry
2017 Justin Halman (Ph.D. student): First Place in CLAS Oral presentations at UNC Charlotte’s 2017 Graduate Research Symposium
2017 Justin Halman (Ph.D. student): CiRA Research Internship for Summer 2017, used for travel and one month of work at Kyoto University (Kyoto, Japan)

2017 Justin Halman (Ph.D. student): Second Place overall in the 7th Annual CBES Graduate Student Poster Competition

2016

2016 Justin Halman (Ph.D. student): Second Place overall in the 6th Annual CBES Graduate Student Poster Competition
2016 Kyle Roark (M.S. student): Herschel and Cornelia Everett Foundation First Year Graduate Fellowship