Danielle Tufts of Tyler, a 2008 graduate of The University of Texas at Tyler, won the 2009 Student and Young Professional Participation Award through the Entomological Society of America for her involvement in the national society.
"By presenting her research and conducting herself in a professional manner, she exemplifies what we expect from our students in the UT Tyler Department of Biology," said Dr. Blake Bextine, UT Tyler assistant professor of biology.
Tufts attended the 2007 and 2008 National Entomological Society of America meetings. In 2007, she won first prize for her poster presentation "Differentiation of Monogyne and Polygyne Red Imports Fire Ant Colonies Using SYBR Green-based QRT-PCR." Last year, Danielle won second prize for her oral presentation "Discovery of a Genetically-Different Form of the Solenopsis invicta virus (SINV-1) in East Texas."
Tufts holds a bachelor of science in biology from the University of California in Davis and a master of science in biology from UT Tyler.
She currently serves a post graduate researcher in Bextine's laboratory and plans to pursue a Ph.D. in biology.
