PREP@UCD mentors Dr. Megan Dennis and Dr. Crystal Rogers both earned National Science Foundation CAREER Awards this year! The CAREER Award, NSF's most prestigious grant to early career faculty, provides five years of funding in support of both research and mentoring. UC Davis now has 23 faculty who have been selected for these awards in the 2020-2021 and 2021-2022 cycles.

Dennis wrote, "I am still in shock." Her research on transcriptional regulation of primate genes now will include expanded research opportunities for high school students and undergraduates from first-gen backgrounds. She noted, "As a firstgen student that owes my scientific start to mentors that took a chance on me, I am particularly excited to formalize our existing efforts and offer research opportunities to as many students as we can."

Rogers uses a comparative approach to study how cells in the neural crest of avian embryos give rise to their distinctive appearances. As part of her award, she will create an REU that brings students from historically marginalized groups to UC Davis for summer research and professional development, with the goal of introducing them to developmental biology and careers as STEM professionals.

Both Dennis and Rogers have hosted PREP@UCD scholars: current scholar Tasha Mariano and Joseph Rosas (now in Integrative Genetics and Genomics at UC Davis) in the Dennis lab, and NSF Graduate Research Fellow Colton Baumler (now in Biochemistry, Molecular, Cell, and Developmental Biology at UC Davis) in the Rogers lab.

You inspire us and we applaud your success. Congratulations!