Honors for Clemons, Hatzios and Wiemer

Clemons wins mentoring award

Bil Clemons

The California Institute of Technology has given the 2023-2024 Shirley M. Malcom Prize for Excellence in Mentoring to Bil Clemons. This prize honors a professor who supports the achievement and well-being of students through mentoring, and recipients are chosen based on their use of effective mentoring practices. Malcom is the senior advisor and director of the STEM Equity Achievement Change initiative at the American Association for the Advancement of Science. She is recognized for her leadership on issues facing underrepresented minorities and women in the sciences and engineering.

Clemons is a professor of biochemistry at Caltech. His lab studies membrane protein structures and biogenesis using biophysical methods, such as X-ray crystallography and electron microscopy. In addition, they are interested in protein secretion and glycosylation. Clemons has received many awards including the William Clemons Agent of Change Award, the Caltech Grad Student Council Mentoring Award and the Virginia Tech Biochemistry Distinguished Alumni award. He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and an American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology fellow.

In a press release, students who recommended Clemons for this prize noted that "Bil fosters a community of learning in his lab, where all his trainees are extremely familiar with each other's work," and that Clemons' mentorship "transcends academic guidance; it embodies the nurturing potential and the fostering of an inclusive environment where every student is encouraged to excel."

Hatzios wins Sloan research fellowship

Stavroula Hatzios

The Alfred P. Sloan Foundation has awarded a chemistry fellowship to Stavroula Hatzios of Yale University. The Sloan Research Fellowship recognizes early-career scientists, and Hatzios is one of 126 recipients. Winners are selected by an independent panel of senior scholars on the basis of their research accomplishments, creativity and potential to become leaders in their field. Hatzios will receive a two-year, $75,000 award, which can be used to advance her research.

Hatzios is an associate professor of molecular, cellular and developmental biology as well as chemistry at Yale. Her research focuses on host–microbe interactions in the gastrointestinal tract and how infection-associated oxidative stress influences host signaling and microbial adaptation. In addition, her lab develops new probes and antimicrobials to detect and inhibit disease-causing gut bacteria.

Hatzios has won many awards and honors including a National Institutes of Health Maximizing Investigators’ Research Award for Early Stage Investigators, the Beckman Young Investigator Award and the Conquer Cancer Now Award from the Concern Foundation. Most recently, the American Chemical Society gave her a Young Investigator Award.

Wiemer receives advising award

Andrew Wiemer

The University of Connecticut School of Pharmacy selected Andrew Wiemer to receive the 2024 Faculty Research Advising Award. The school presents this award annually to a full-time faculty member who has excelled as an advisor for undergraduate or pharmacy students performing research. Wiemer has mentored 32 pharmacy undergraduate students and is currently working with seven in his lab.

Wiemer is a professor of medicinal chemistry at UConn. His research focuses on leveraging the human immune system for cancer therapy. The lab aims to discover new bioactive molecules, such as chemicals and biologics, targeting immune checkpoints for potential cancer therapies. Wiemer earned his Ph.D. in molecular biology from the University of Iowa and performed postdoctoral work at the University of Wisconsin–Madison.

“I am truly honored to receive the 2024 School of Pharmacy Research Advising Award,” Wiemer said in a press release. “UConn is a vibrant community which has allowed me the freedom to pursue my research interests, and I enjoy giving the students an opportunity to follow theirs. Cancer remains a major burden to society, but when I see the enthusiasm of the students for fighting this disease through their research, I am very optimistic about the future. I hope that the time they spend in my lab will prepare them both for developing their careers and for addressing the important health care problems we face in America through high-impact research.”

Wiemer will receive his award during UConn commencement weekend in May.