Fresno State biology professor Dr. Mamta Rawat  is one of two researchers honored with the California State University Faculty Research Award and biology student Samariah Bautch was named a Howell-CSUPERB Scholar for 2014.

Rawat was honored today at the CSU Biotechnology Symposium Jan. 9-11 in Santa Clara along with Dr. Betsy Read, professor of Biological Sciences at California State University, San Marcos. Rawat  discussed her research program during the awards session this morning.

She is being recognized for her “excellent research track record and her efforts to incorporate her research and evidence-based approaches into her classroom teaching practice,” for which she was also named a National Academies Education Fellow in the Life Sciences.

Rawat joined the Fresno State faculty in 2003, obtained her bachelor’s degree from University of Toronto and a doctorate from Louisiana State University. Her postdoctoral work focused on the biosynthesis of mycothiol, a thiol unique to a group of bacteria called actinomycetes.

Each year, the award is offered as a $1,000 honorarium to one tenured or tenure-track CSU faculty member employed in the system for a minimum of five years. A CSU faculty colleague must make the nomination.

The symposium, hosted at the Marriott hotel in Santa Clara, will feature two poster sessions Friday evening and Saturday afternoon covering 263 research posters from 21 CSU universities.

student-bautch

Samariah Bautch

Bautch was named in December as one of 12 students from seven CSU campuses for the Howell-CSUPERB Research Scholar Awards, a partnership with the Doris A. Howell Foundation for Women’s Health Research to fund promising undergraduate student research projects in topics related to women’s health.

The Howell Foundation and CSUPERB recognize that research experience is critical to recruiting, training and retaining students interested in careers in women’s health research. Howell-CSUPERB scholars show great professional promise academically and in research programs. Each scholar will conduct faculty-mentored research projects during the spring and summer of 2014.

Bautch receives a $3,500 award for her proposal, “Stability Engineering of Nanobodies for the Detection and Neutralization of LIsteria monocytogenes.” Her mentor is Chemistry professor Dr. Cory Brooks.

CSUPERB organizes the CSU Biotechnology Symposium to broaden exposure to cutting-edge biotechnologies, product-focused innovation and the spectrum of career paths available in the life sciences. The symposium brings CSU students, faculty and administrators together along with biotech professionals working in academia, government and industry.

For more information, call 619.594.2822 or csuperb@mail.sdsu.edu.

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