The Department of Biochemistry at Purdue University announced on May 26 the recipients of its 2025-26 faculty awards, student honors, and undergraduate scholarships. Faculty members recognized include Orla Hart, promoted to Clinical Teaching Professor; Majid, promoted to Full Professor and named a University Faculty Scholar; Andy Tao, elected as a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and recipient of the ARGE Outstanding Graduate Mentor and Teacher Award; Vikki Weake, who received the Pfendler Outstanding Undergraduate Counselor award; and Kyle Cottrell, recipient of a Showalter Early Career Award.
Graduate student Emmanuel Oluwarotimi won this year’s Say It In 6 Competition. Several departmental awards were also given: Brielle Skrutskie attended the US HUPO conference with support from the Howard Zalkin Extramural Training Award in Biochemistry; Geethma Lirushie will attend an advanced workshop at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory; Emily Danzeisen will participate in a course at Marine Biological Laboratory. Lois Luo was named Outstanding Teaching Assistant for her work supporting students in BCHM courses.
Travel grants supported Grace Meng’s attendance at the Visual System Development Conference GRC, Sydney Bogen’s participation in Protease Inhibitors GRC in Italy, Yuxin Zhuang’s trip to AACR Annual Meeting in San Diego, Matthew Bergman’s attendance at Plant Biology 2026 in Canada, Zhi-Wei Luo’s presentation at The Phytochemical Society meeting in Wisconsin, and Seth Lammert’s involvement with FASEB Biological Methylation conference in Ireland. Cassandra Smoak received the Henry A. Moses Award for publishing two first/co-author papers during her graduate studies.
Other notable recognitions include Yi-Kai Liu receiving the AK Balls Award after publishing eight first/co-author papers and presenting research nationally. Jiaxin Long was honored with the Don Carlson Award for mentoring numerous students while producing scholarly work. Heidi Fornes received this year’s Linda Siersema Award for outstanding staff service.
Undergraduate scholarships were awarded across several categories such as Bernard Axelrod Memorial Scholarships (Stephanie Maari and Laurie McIntyre), Ray W. Fuller Memorial Scholarship (Donavan Esquivel), Dr. Stephen P. and Charlotte A. Coburn Scholarship (Elysia Uggen), Edwin T. Mertz Memorial Scholarships (Jack Wang, Anya Piarowski, Brooke Tran among others), David and Mary Scheible Scholarship (Sarabeth Hargarten), Patrick C. Matchette Scholarship (Laurie McIntyre), Kwok Yip Tso Scholarship (Elise Denger), Zhao-Herrmann Scholarship (Helen Myers), Donald and Rita Weeks Scholarship (Zhiyuan Chen), Zygmunt Family Scholarship (Amanda Schoonmaker et al.), Jane Taylor Indiana Challenge Match Scholarship (Zhiyuan Chen) as well as Daniel E. Walker Undergraduate Scholarships.
Honor Society inductees Maren Eaton and Elysia Uggen were recognized alongside outstanding students selected from each class based on academic excellence, research achievements, and service contributions.
Purdue University Department of Agriculture functions as a core academic unit within Purdue University that utilizes facilities such as the Agricultural Administration Building on its West Lafayette campus while funding innovative projects through AgSEED grants yielding high returns on investment, according to its official website. The department is also noted for fostering vibrant communities through extension efforts that enhance social well-being; it houses an agricultural engineering graduate program ranked first nationally by U.S News & World Report.
