Escalante-Semerena has had a wide-ranging influence on all aspects of graduate education. To date, he has supervised 21 Ph.D. students in bacteriology and microbiology, many of whom have won awards, fellowships, and traineeships. He has coauthored more than 60 publications with his students, and he is renowned for helping students gain recognition for their work. In addition, he has worked closely with over 45 undergraduates on independent projects; many of these students have themselves gone on to graduate or professional programs. He is also a highly productive researcher, who maintains a busy laboratory focusing on cobalamin (vitamin B12) biosynthesis, the catabolism of short-chain fatty acids and its effects on the cell, and cell aging.
His students uniformly describe him as someone with infectious enthusiasm about doing science, a mentor who treats his advisees with compassion and respect while challenging them to do their best. Students who work with Escalante-Semerena are also known for their unusually high level of professionalism. In addition to mastering the necessary technical skills to do research, they learn to effectively manage their own laboratories, write successful grant proposals, and present the results of their work clearly and succinctly.
Outside the laboratory, Escalante-Semerena has worked tirelessly to recruit students into the sciences. He recently completed a term as chair of ASM's Committee on Graduate Education and served on the Society's Co
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Contact: Barbara Hyde
bhyde@asmusa.org
202-942-9206
American Society for Microbiology
30-Apr-2004