Biology Students Celebrated for Academic Excellence
Biology Students Celebrated for Academic Excellence
The Division of Biological Sciences congratulates Stephanie Tarr and Erin Zimmerman on being selected to receive the university’s Award for Academic Distinction.
The award recognizes academic excellence outside the classroom. Students are nominated by faculty mentors and chosen by a cross-disciplinary faculty panel. Selected students have a history of intellectual curiosity, have sought knowledge beyond their coursework, shared that knowledge with the public, and significantly contributed to the academic atmosphere at Mizzou.
Stephanie Tarr, a junior from Columbia, Missouri, is pursuing a double major in biological sciences and Spanish. She is the president of Mizzou Spanish Club and has participated in an international Mizzou Alternative Breaks trip to the Dominican Republic and in an exchange program that took her to Peru to learn about Andean civilization. She conducts research in the laboratory of Alan Parrish, associate professor of medical pharmacology and physiology, studying pathways that promote metastatic behavior in kidney cancer and toxins that may induce this behavior.
Erin Zimmerman is a junior from Malvern, Pennsylvania. She is pursuing a double major in biological sciences and ancient Mediterranean studies with minors in philosophy and psychology. Zimmerman is a Mizzou track and field scholarship athlete and member of its javelin squad. She is an Honors College student and is vice president of service for Tri Beta, an honors biology society on campus. In this role, she helped increase event participation and introduce the club’s members to new volunteer activities and opportunities throughout Columbia.
Other award winners affiliated with the Division of Biological Sciences are Kody Jones and Sharanya Kumar, both of whom are pursuing minors in biological sciences, and Abigail Beckerdite, who carried out research on nervous system injury and recovery in the lab of Dr. David Schulz.
The Division congratulates all these amazing students.
