Established in 1988 by the Department of Biology to encourage undergraduate students to engage in independent research projects and to provide them with experience writing research papers. Cook Incorporated of Bloomington, Indiana, now funds the award.
Any undergraduate with a declared major from the IUB Department of Biology who is enrolled in Biology L490, X490, or their equivalents.
Up to $1500 for the best research paper written by a student, a copy of which will be presented to Cook Incorporated.
Applications for this award are due Monday, February 20, 2017.
Submit all materials listed on the application instructions plus a copy of a research paper written by the applicant. This does not have to be the final version of the applicant's research paper; a draft of the paper is acceptable.
A letter of support must be submitted separately by the faculty member who is the student’s research mentor. The letter of recommendation must describe the student’s contribution to the research paper (including the percentage of the research that the student contributed).
To apply, save the application form to your computer. Fill out the form using Adobe Acrobat Professional DC. (Acrobat Pro may be downloaded for free from under the "Design & Production" section of IUWare.) Choose "Save as" and rename your completed form as your Lastname_firstname_2017.pdf (Example: Wyss_kathy_2017.pdf). Mac users: Please take the extra step of opening your completed form in Preview, select "print," and then use the "Save as PDF" option to resave the form to ensure your application is readable in Windows.
Recipients of this award will be recognized at a student awards ceremony held on Friday, April 28, 2017, at 3:30 p.m.
Faculty/Postdoc Fellows: Please upload student award nominations and recommendations to the "Recommendations" dropbox.
Sofia Bertoloni Meli was recognized for her paper, “Trade-off between the parasitic and anti-competitor roles of a bacterial symbiont of insect-parasitic nematodes” that was based on research done in Dr. Farrah Bashey-Visser’s laboratory. There Sofia researched microbial symbionts and how their roles may be beneficial in one context but harmful in another, using a bacterial symbiont of insect-parasitic nematodes. Her work in the Bashey-Visser laboratory also earned her the Fox Glen Research and Education Fund Award.
Sofia has been on the Dean’s List since 2012. A member of IU’s Hutton Honors College, she received a College International Experiences Program Grant from the college that enabled her to participate in a study abroad experience in Costa Rica in 2013. She also received a Hutton Honors College Travel Grant to present her research at Evolution 2014.
Cook Incorporated started in the 1960s, when Bill and Gayle Cook started making wire guides, needles and catheters in one of the bedrooms of their Bloomington apartment. The company has blossomed into one of the largest producers of medical devices in the world. From 1982 - 2000, the firm sponsored an undergraduate competition open to Department of Biology students. In 2001, Cook took over funding of the Biology Undergraduate Research Award. They also help support the Indiana University Jim Holland Summer Science Research Program.
The College of Arts