Xiaomu Wei and Jill Duarte, First Recipients of Mohnkern Scholarship

The Jeanette Ritter Mohnkern Graduate Student Scholarship in Biology was established in 2006.  The late Penn State alumna, Jeanette Ritter Mohnkern, earned a bachelor’s degree in Education in 1929 and a master’s degree in Botany in 1930. Jeanette Mohnkern had a life-long interest in science and discovery, and her bequeath, which has established this fellowship, will continue to promote science training and education of future generations of biologists at Penn State.  The Mohnkern fellowship is awarded annually to senior graduate students majoring in a biological science graduate program at Penn State under the direction a Department of Biology faculty member. The major criterion for consideration for the Mohnkern award is outstanding achievement in her/his doctoral research.

Xiaomu Wei, a Genetics graduate student under the direction of Dr. Zhi-Chun Lai, was the first recipient of the Mohnkern Scholarship in 2006. Xiaomu played a major role in discovering a new tumor suppressor and growth control gene, resulting in major publications in the highly prestigious journals Cell and EMBO Journal.

Jill Duarte, a Biology graduate student completing her graduate research with Dr. Claude dePamphilis, was the 2007 recipient of the Mohnkern Scholarship. Jill has been very active, publishing three papers as lead author within three years, including one paper in the leading journal Molecular Biology and Evolution.