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OWU Senior, Alumna Receive Microbiology Awards

Megan Fris ’13 has been an active volunteer at the Community Garden. (Photo courtesy of Megan Fris ’13)

Ohio Wesleyan senior Megan Fris recently has received the Ohio Branch of the American Society for Microbiology (OBASM) 2013 Career Workshops Award, and recent graduate Rachel Fleming Pritchard ’08 was awarded this honor as well.

Fris is a microbiology major and Pritchard, previously a microbiology major at OWU, is now a Ph.D. candidate at Miami University. Both Pritchard and Fris were students of Laura Tuhela-Reuning, botany-microbiology professor at Ohio Wesleyan. Funds from this award will allow them to attend two microbiology career workshops at the 2013 national American Society for Microbiology meeting in Denver, Colorado on May 18.

“The workshops will include lectures as well as a speed network-like segment that will enable us to meet prospective employers,” says Fris, who has been a three-year resident of Treehouse, one of OWU’s Small Living Units focused on environmental sustainability issues.

Fris has held a Student Assistantship Program (StAP) position enabling her to work with the University’s scanning electron microscope, helping students and faculty use the microscope—what Fris calls a “big deal” when it comes to making this sophisticated piece of equipment available to undergraduate students. Her professional interests involve clinical microbiology or environmental studies that will allow her to work both in and outside of the lab.

“It was a competitive award,” says Tuhela-Reuning. “Both Megan and Rachel are excellent microbiologists and are good ambassadors for OWU.”