Congratulations to Claire Williams, who has been awarded an Undergraduate Research Fellowship (URF) from the American Society of Microbiology!

Claire is mentored by Professor Slava Epstein, and will be working on defining the behavior of microorganisms in their natural environments: What role do they play? How do they interact, survive, grow and communicate? How do they behave differently when they are in their natural communities versus in a lab on a petri dish?

The URF is aimed at highly competitive students who wish to pursue graduate careers (PhD or MD/PhD) in microbiology. The awardees will receive funding to conduct full time research at their home institutions and to present their research results at the American Society of Microbiology national meeting the following year. The award also provides access to the society’s network of career resources and professionals.