Julián, a graduate student in the Senner lab, earned a B.S. in Biology from the Universidad Autónoma de Baja California, Mexico and an MSc. in International Nature Conservation from Gottingen University in Germany and Lincoln University in New Zealand. Julián is studying the little-known shorebird Calidris canutus roselaari, the rarest of all Red Knot subspecies. Every year, roselaari Red Knots spend the winter on the warm coasts of western Mexico then migrate thousands of kilometers to breed on Wrangel Island, Russia and in Western Alaska. Climate change is causing the Arctic to warm faster than any other region of the planet and Julian will investigate how these changes are influencing the development and survival of young knots.

Janay, a graduate student in the Lizarraga lab, is originally from Oklahoma and is a Neuroscience Scholars Program Associate. She conducted her undergraduate studies in Biological Sciences at the UofSC Honors College. Her doctoral work spans the role of the endomembrane system in neuronal development and studies on maternal immune activation. She is  and Grace Jordan McFadden Professors Program Fellow.

Both Julian and Janay have been selected as scholars by the Grace Jordan McFadden Professors Program at UofSC. Open to prospective and current doctoral and MFA students, this selective program prepares underrepresented minority students to become professors. Scholars are provided $24,000 in additional funding over 4 years and receive training specifically designed to help them diversify the professoriate. Congrats Julian and Janay!