It is a bittersweet time for the Heisler Lab. With the end of the semester, this marks the first time that members of the lab are graduating. Thanks to Dr. Heisler’s early willingness to take on students, over half of the undergraduates graduated today! While it is very sad to see them go, the entire laboratory is extremely proud of them and all that they have done to push the laboratory forward and towards success!

(Left to Right):

Trista Newman is headed to The Ohio State University Medical School to pursue her PhD as part of the Biomedical Sciences Graduate Program! As a OSU alum, Dr. Heisler is very excited to see Trista do even bigger and better things!

Brianne Smith is on her way to applying for Dental School this summer and has agreed to continue working on a project in her free time that will help establish new areas of interest for future students in the Heisler Lab.

Dr. Heisler is on his way back to office to write two grants and get student projects ready for the URP.

Ryan Gugliotti will be starting his medical school program this summer at Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine (LECOM). The Heisler lab has no doubt that Ryan will make a phenomenal doctor in the future.

Cate Chalovich has accepted a scientist role within the Allegheny Health Network that will keep her here in Pittsburgh for the foreseeable future!

Megan Lyons will be taking her talents to State College to obtain a Masters degree in Biotechnology. While it pains the Heisler lab to call Megan a Nittany Lion, Dr. Heisler has agree to not bash them, except for games or matches when they play his Buckeyes.

Tonight, the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry held our 21st annual ceremony to recognize the excellent students we have in the students. Heisler lab students brought home multiple different recognitions, including:

Trista Newman – Academic Award for Seniors, Departmental Service Award, Recognition as a STEM Scholar, Recognition as a Goldwater Scholar, and Recognition as a Crable Scholar.

Mia Seyfarth – Academic Award for Sophomores, Departmental Service Award, and Recognition as a STEM Scholar.

Nathan Philps – Academic Award for Sophomores and Recognition as a STEM Scholar.

As a part of the development of graduate students into scientist, each student is required to put together an initial draft of what they imagine their thesis might look like 3-4 years from now. Today, Elias successfully defended his plans for identifying potential scaffold to control the ever growing number of antibiotic-resistance pathogens as well as identifying the target and mechanism of an effector protein that Dr. Heisler has been interested in since 2017.

Trista, as a Goldwater Fellow, we selected to attend the Gulf Coast Undergraduate Research Symposium (GCRUS) at Rice University this fall. On top of being selected, she was awarded a Travel Award that provides full financial support to attend. Huge CONGRATS to Trista!

Megan got selected for a Food and Drug Administration funded summer research opportunity in the Food Science Department at Pennsylvania State University! Not only did she do a lot exciting research with Dr. Dudley’s group, she also have the opportunity to tour the FDA headquarters and see how they conduct their important research activities. 

From Goldwater:

GOLDWATER SCHOLARSHIP AWARDS

As the result of an ongoing partnership with UWorld and the Department of Defense National Defense Education Programs (NDEP), Dr. John Yopp, Chair of the Board of Trustees of the Barry Goldwater Scholarship and Excellence in Education Foundation, announced that the Trustees of the Goldwater Board will be able to award 441 Goldwater scholarships to college students from across the United States for the 2025-2026 academic year. When these new awards are combined with the second year of support to 64 sophomores who received Goldwater scholarships in 2024, the total number will again be among the largest number of scholars ever supported in a single year. With the 2025 awards, the Goldwater Foundation has awarded 11,162 scholarships since 1989, the first year the scholarship was bestowed.

“The Department of Defense’s continued partnership with the Goldwater Foundation ensures we are supporting the development of scientific talent essential to maintaining our Nation’s competitive advantage,” said Dr. Jagadeesh Pamulapati, Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Science and Technology Foundations, who oversees the NDEP program.

“We are proud to remain the Goldwater Foundation’s sole private sector partner for the second year and support undergraduates interested in pursuing medical research careers,” said Chandra S. Pemmasani, M.D., founder and CEO of UWorld. “It is inspiring to see how the foundation continues to motivate students to grow in their education and pursue their professional goals.

From an estimated pool of over 5,000 college sophomores and juniors, 1,350 science, engineering, and mathematics students were nominated by 445 academic institutions to compete for the 2025 Goldwater scholarships. Of the students who reported, 203 of the Scholars are men, 222 are women, and virtually all intend to obtain a Ph.D. as their highest degree objective. Fifty Scholars intend to pursue research careers in mathematics and computer science, 240 in the sciences, 88 in medicine, and 63 in engineering and materials research.

Goldwater Scholars have gone on to win an impressive array of prestigious awards, becoming National Defense Science and Engineering Graduate Fellows, NSF Graduate Research Fellows, Hertz Fellows, DOE Computational Science Graduate Fellows, Astronaut Scholars, Churchill Scholars, Marshall Scholars, and Rhodes Scholars.

The Goldwater Foundation is a federally endowed agency established by Public Law 99-661 on November 14, 1986. The Scholarship Program honoring Senator Barry Goldwater was designed to identify, encourage, and financially support outstanding undergraduates interested in pursuing research careers in the sciences, engineering, and mathematics. The Goldwater Scholarship is the preeminent undergraduate award of its type in these fields.

“The Crable Award is one of the highest honors that the Department bestows upon a student in any given cohort. The award is designed to facilitate your growth as an independent and critical thinker in the chemical enterprise, specifically to make meaningful research contributions in your selected field of study. The prestigious Crable Award includes an academic scholarship for the 2024/2025 academic year, and fellowship support for the 2025 summer research experience with the required meal plan… The Crable Award carries significant responsibility as a student at Duquesne University. Such an exclusive award requires a full commitment to your academic studies and research efforts. You will be expected to act with the highest standards of ethics, professional behavior, and display extraordinary leadership in the Department.”

Congrats Trista!