Nilanjana Das, an incoming second-year graduate student in the Microbiology program, was recently awarded the P.F. Yerex & Nellie Buck Yerex Graduate Scholarship.

The scholarship "is awarded to domestic and international graduate students [...] who are pursuing study in a scientific or technological field. The scholarship will be awarded on the basis of academic achievement and promise for the future."

Das currently holds a 4.0 GPA and is pursuing two different projects at Oregon State - one involves working with the Oregon Department of Fish & Wildlife to research fish in the lab and out in the field, and the other is a collaboration with Nucleic Sensing Systems, a company that develops automatic monitoring systems for environmental DNA.

Das was inspired by a diverse range of mentors who gave her the confidence to pursue her career path. She has held a position as an assistant aquatic disease biologist for NJ Fish & Wildlife. Das has presented her research findings at multiple workshops and has worked to promote aquatic science research to motivated students through mentoring and creating networking opportunities.

The scholarship will fund her participation in Cornell University's intensive aquatic pathology course, "Aquavet II" and future opportunities to present her research to professionals within the aquatic animal health field.

Das also stated: "I am strongly passionate about paying [...] mentorship forward to the next generation of scientists. As such, these funds will support my ability to develop outreach programs for undergraduate and high school students interested in aquatic science research and salmonid health."