Image: The Microbiology Department is pleased to announce that Hannah Stanley, Trent Lab has been selected to receive the prestigious NSF Graduate Research Fellowship. The National Science Foundation’s Graduate Research Fellowship Program, (GRFP) recognizes and supports outstanding graduate students in NSF-supported science, technology, engineering, and mathematics disciplines (STEM)who are pursuing research-based master’s and doctoral degrees. Hannah M. Stanley is a doctoral student in microbiology in Dr. M. Stephen Trent’s lab. She studies bacterial membrane biogenesis, particularly how the Gram-negative outer membrane is synthesized and maintained. Because this outer membrane is an excellent defense against many antibiotics, investigating the biosynthesis and maintenance of this barrier is paramount in the face of increasingly multi-drug resistant infections. Hailing from Chatsworth in the north Georgia mountains, Hannah studied biology at Berry College. During her undergraduate studies she began researching tick-borne diseases, which continued in her subsequent ORISE fellowship at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. She is deeply interested in research topics that are closely tied to public health, and she hopes to one day return to the CDC to continue those research goals. As the oldest graduate fellowship of its kind, the GRFP has a long history of selecting recipients who achieve high levels of success in their future academic and professional careers. The reputation of the GRFP follows recipients and often helps them become life-long leaders that contribute significantly to both scientific innovation and teaching. Congratulations Hannah and Dr. Trent!
