Catherine Chan, Roxy Godiwalla win research awards
Released: October 29, 2007
The mutual respect between a professor and a student is a special bond. For assistant professor Catherine Chan and junior Roxy Godiwalla, it was more like chemistry. The two met in the classroom one day and have been working on biological research together ever since. This past summer, they each received awards to support their research.
Godiwalla received the Summer Undergraduate Research Award from the American Society of Plant Biologists (ASPB). The award, one of only four given nationally in her category, gave her a $3,000 student stipend, a one-year student membership to ASPB and a travel allowance to attend the ASPB national meeting. Godiwalla was selected from a very competitive field of students who were considered because of their high academic achievements and strong motivation for research.
"The award enabled me to further develop myself as an intuitive researcher, confirm preliminary results, and begin and maintain other projects," said Godiwalla.
Chan is an assistant professor in the biological sciences department. She received a UW Faculty Diversity Research Award, which relieved her of all teaching duties for the fall 2007 semester.
"The UW Faculty Diversity Research Award allows me to focus on non-instructional work, including supervision of research students, writing manuscripts and grant proposals, and designing and performing experiments. It is instrumental in increasing my research productivity, and making me a better mentor and instructor for my students," said Chan.
The research which Godiwalla and seniors Joshua Roe and Bryan Asby and junior Tristan Long help with, focuses on the effect increased calcium levels have on the growth and yield of wild and mutant plants. Chan has been working on this project since spring 2006, and in June 2008 she along with Godiwalla, will display it at the Annual International Meeting of the ASPB in Merida, Mexico.
"I thoroughly enjoy researching with such an eminent mentor and look forward to presenting my findings at an international conference," said Godiwalla.
- Kyle Kopplin,kopplinka01@uww.edu
