The CALS community came together to celebrate recipients of the 2026 CALS Student Awards on Wednesday, April 8, in Room 1211 Biochemical Sciences. The ceremony began at 4:00 p.m. and was followed by a reception in the atrium.

This year’s award winners are:

Undergraduate

Employee Award 

• Ella Gilhooly, Life Sciences Communication and Genetics & Genomics
• Jackson Banks, Environmental Sciences
• Patrick Colegrove, Microbiology

Leadership Award

• AJ Sinkula, Wildlife Ecology
• Amanda Bender, Plant Pathology
• Ariel Maurer, Entomology and Genetics and Genomics
• Matthew Sesing, Genetics and Genomics

Mentoring Award

• Kiki Liss’s-Gravemade, Biology
• Rutuja Gupte, Genetics and Genomics, Data Science
• Sophia Taffet, Biology and Global Health

Perseverance Award

• Alex Hayes, Global Health
• Danielle Gauthier, Biology
• Kaitlyn Fueger, Environmental Science

Graduate

Leadership Award

• Annalisa R Stevenson, PhDx26, Soil Science
• Brooke Propson, PhDx26, Soil Science
• Jordan Gargill, MSx26, Soil Science

Mentoring Award

• Francisco Campos Arguedas, PhDx26, Horticulture
• Holly Nichols, PhDx26, Microbiology
• Maverick Guenther, PhDx26, Animal and Dairy Science

Service & Outreach Award

• Emilie Parkanzky, MSx26, Entomology
• Gopika Gopinathan, PhDx26, Plant Breeding and Plant Genetics
• Juma Bukomba, PhDx26, Soil Science

Perseverance Award

• Grace Larsen, PhDx26, Animal and Dairy Science

Congratulations to all the winners!