GGA Contests
Contests happen throughout the academic year and are announced via email. Make sure you are part of our listserv to stay in the loop.
Keep and eye out for our email announcing the contest opening and closing dates, and how to apply!
GGA Graduate Student and Postdoc Travel Awards
The NC State’s Genetics and Genomics Academy (GGA) is pleased to announce the availability of travel funds to support NC State graduate students and postdoctoral fellows traveling to conferences, workshops, research sites, or collaborator institutions. GGA will provide a one-time reimbursement for up to $1000 to help defray the cost of attending conferences and other professional activities in the area of Genetics & Genomics to graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, and research scholars being trained in GGA-affiliated labs. Up to 10 awards will be given out in 2025. The cost of transportation, housing, and conference registration fees are considered eligible travel expenses. Trainees applying for this award for conference travel are expected to present a Genetics or Genomics-themed poster or talk at the conference and are asked to acknowledge GGA in their presentations.
GGA Travel Funds for 2025 have been awarded! Below are the award recipients:
| Zehta Glover, Doctoral Student | Antoine Houtain, Postdoc |
| Sydney Harned, Doctoral Student | Jordan Cummings, Doctoral Student |
| Annie DiFrank, Doctoral Student | Yafan Zhang, Doctoral Student |
| Jose Maria Aguilar Camacho, Postdoc | Zach Zagon, Doctoral Student |
| John Britt, Doctoral Student | Taylor Ackley, Doctoral Student |
Below are the 2024 award recipients:
| Amilcar Rodriguez, Doctoral Student | Uchechukwu Chimeh, Doctoral Student |
| Jonathan Zirkel, Doctoral Student | Jessica Martinez-Baird, Doctoral Student |
| Adam Breister, Doctoral Student | Carley Huffstetler, Doctoral Student |
| Adarsha Devihalli Puttaswamy Gowda, Doctoral Student | Quiana Mosley, Doctoral Student |
| Ariel Tarrand, Doctoral Student | Gabriel De Siqueira Gesteira, Postdoc |
GGA Summer Teamwork Mini-Grants
The NC State’s Genetics and Genomics Academy (GGA) is inviting undergraduate students interested in or currently involved in Genetics & Genomics-related research to apply for GGA Summer Teamwork Mini-Grants together with their prospective or actual mentors who are current NC State graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, or research scholars. GGA will provide one-time awards of up to $4,500 to help support the needs of collaborative research projects led by undergraduates working in GGA-affiliated laboratories on campus under the direct supervision of NC State postdoctoral fellows or graduate students. Each team of two applying for this competitive award can request up to $1000 in supplies, equipment, or software needed for the project, in addition to a $2500 stipend for the student (equivalent to 167h of research at $15/hour) and $1000 for their mentor. Up to eight mini-grants will be awarded in 2025.
Undergraduate trainees receiving this award are invited to present a research poster about their project at the GGA annual retreat in August.
GGA Mini-Grants for 2025 have been awarded! Below are the award recipients:
| Miki Chen, (Mentor: Chengsong Zhao) | Diya Shah, (Mentor: Carley Huffstelter) |
| Breyton Hill, (Mentor: Jordan Cummings) | Chenshu Yang, (Mentor: Irene Silvernail) |
| Quentin Hippert, (Mentor: Abigail Conklin) | Anna Miller, (Mentor: Kairi Tanaka) |
| Riley Basinger, (Mentor: Lucas Abbott) | Ava Taylor, (Mentors: Jaswinder Kaur and Cole Hammett) |
Below are the 2024 award recipients:
| Oliver Rasey, Junior (Mentor: J. Alejandro Aragon Raygoza, Postdoc) | Lindsey Diaz, Sophomore (Mentor: Isabella Livingston, Ph.D. Candidate) |
| Hannah Davis, Sophomore (Mentor: Anna Yaschenko, Ph.D. Candidate) | Hallie Johnson, Freshman (Mentor: Aldo Carmona Baez, Postdoc) |
| Logan Bass, Junior (Mentor: Ian Birchler De Allende, Ph.D. Candidate) | Broseth Bun, Freshman (Mentor: Bethany Mostert, Ph.D. Candidate) |
| Joseph Majual, Senior (Mentor: Quiana Mosley, Ph.D. Candidate) | Ellen White, Junior (Mentor: Felicia Shepard, Ph.D. Candidate) |
Alexandra Istishin, Junior (Mentor: Kristen John, Ph.D. Candidate) |
GGA Educational Video Contest
The Genetics and Genomics Academy (GGA) at NC State University (NCSU) is excited to announce a new outreach initiative focused on producing short (2-5 min) educational videos that inform the general public about interesting developments, topics, trends, techniques, or approaches in the area of Genetics and Genomics. We invite high-school, undergraduate, and graduate students to work with NC K-12 science teachers to identify areas in the K-12 Biology curriculum that would benefit from educational videos being made on topics relevant to the fields of Genetics and Genomics. Joint student-teacher proposals are due in March. NC State’s Genetics and Genomics experts (PhD-level scientists working as postdocs, staff, or faculty) will then review the proposals and select up to 10 student-teacher teams they wish to support by providing funding (up to $1000) and scientific guidance to help with developing the videos over the course of the summer. Teams will work over the summer and submit their videos to GGA by August. Educational video contest winners will be announced in August and awarded prizes.
2023 Video Contest Winners!
GGA Paper of the Year
If your group has recently published an exciting research article (publication 2023-2024) in a peer-reviewed journal and the study includes genetics and/or genomics content, consider nominating the first author of your publication for the “GGA Paper of the Year” contest. Encourage the leading student/postdoc author to enter the competition by having them submit a brief explanation (150-200 words) of what their contribution to the study was and why they believe their paper is especially impactful, along with a pdf of the article, in July. Self-nominations from students and postdocs are welcome! All submissions will be evaluated by a panel of judges. The winner of the contest will be announced at the first fall-semester GGA seminar in August and invited to present a live talk about the findings of the paper at the GGA Annual Retreat in August.
The 2024 winner:
| WINNER: Daniel Barletta Sulis, Ph.D | Jack Wang’s Lab | Paper Title: Using CRISPR Genome Editing Technology to Modify Wood for Sustainable Fiber Production Read their paper here. |
Past winners:
| WINNER: Echo Pan | Rodolphe Barrangou’s Lab | Paper Title: Genomic and epigenetic landscapes drive CRISPR-based genome editing in Bifidobacterium Read their paper here. |
| WINNER: Amarish K Yadav | Max Scott’s Lab | Paper Title: CRISPR/Cas9-based split homing gene drive targeting doublesex for population suppression of the global fruit pest Drosophila suzukii Read their paper here. |
GGA Annual Retreat Research Poster Contest
Trainees are invited to present research posters at the GGA Annual Retreat. The best posters are typically chosen by retreat attendees, and the winners are awarded cash prizes from our corporate sponsors
The 2024 winners:
| Isabella Livingston | Graduate Student | Breen Lab |
| Brooke Church | Undergraduate Student |
| Ellen White | Undergraduate Student |
Below are the 2023 winners:
| Megan Dillon | Graduate Student | Breen / Burford Reiskind Lab |
| Caitlin Kestell | Graduate Student | Dewey Lab |
| Katie Traynelis | Undergraduate Student |
3-Minute In-Person Flash Talks
3-min in-person flash talks showcase graduate trainees’ genetics/genomics-related research and are typically presented at the GGA seminar series in August. This opportunity enables graduate trainees to hone their presentation skills and publicize their work in the GGA community. The winners are announced at the GGA Annual Retreat.
The 2024 winners:
| 1ST PLACE WINNER: Hannah Pil | Graduate Student | Rellán-Álvarez Lab | Talk Title: BZea: A diverse teosinte introgression population for investigating agronomic traits in maize |
| (TIE) 2ND PLACE WINNER: Bethany Mostert | Graduate Student | Xie Lab | Talk Title: Strategies and Tales from the Bench on How to Get the Most out of your Mentorship Experience as a Genetic (biochemistry) Scientist/Graduate Student |
| (TIE) 2ND PLACE WINNER: Jonathan Zirkel | Graduate Student | Hulse-Kemp Lab | Talk Title: Improving Cotton Fiber through Aquaporin Engineering |
| (TIE) 3RD PLACE WINNER: Carley Huffstetler | Graduate Student | Nascone-Yoder Lab | Talk Title: Left-right asymmetries in the extracellular matrix shape stomach curvature |
| (TIE) 3RD PLACE WINNER: Ian Birchler De Allende | Graduate Student | Yoder Lab | Talk Title: Novel Immune Type Receptors in an Ancient Fish Lineage |
Below are the 2023 winners:
| 1ST PLACE WINNER: Ariel Tarrand | Graduate Student | Scott Lab | Talk Title: California Girls: undeniable or unreliable? Exploring gene drive homing rates in diverse genetic backgrounds of Spotted Wing Drosophila |
| 2ND PLACE WINNER: Katie Vollen | Graduate Student | Alonso-Stepanova Lab | Talk Title: From enemy to ally: Hacking viruses to engineer plant genomes |
| (TIE) 3RD PLACE WINNER: Isabella Livingston | Graduate Student | Breen Lab | Talk Title: Population genetics and dynamics of the North Carolina Black Bear (Ursus americanus) |
| (TIE) 3RD PLACE WINNER: John Britt | Graduate Student | Rao Lab | Talk Title: Derivation of human trophoblast stem cells (hTSC) from term placenta |