Alice Huang Leadership Award
This award is named in honor of Dr. Alice Huang, a long-time member of BBE, whose contributions to BBE, Caltech, and the greater scientific community exemplify the type of person we are seeking to recognize: someone who persistently, effectively, and without fanfare has done important and impactful things on behalf of others in the division. Dr. Huang, an accomplished virologist and scientific leader, has quietly worked behind the scenes within BBE and Caltech to make it better. From her decades-long efforts to expand the hiring and equitable treatment of women to her volunteer fostering of IACUC and leadership of Bi23, Alice has had a profoundly positive impact on our community. We hope this award will shine a light on those who are following in her footsteps and will inspire others to do the same.
Justin Bois
Citation: For his many contributions to advance the science, education, and community in BBE.
Justin Bois was hired into our teaching faculty in 2013. He created the data analysis course that is considered to "one of the few best classes at Caltech." He has helped faculty and students in their research to improve their data analysis. He has contributed to our BBE educational programs by being involved in many innovative and evolving courses for both our undergrads and grad students, including a summer programming bootcamp that is appreciated by BBE students, postdocs, and staff alike.
In addition to his course, Justin volunteers his time to help us recruit, attract and guide our graduate students. He creates a learning environment that is inclusive, positive, and fun. He participates in graduate student advisory committees as well as department and university curriculum committees. He advises students both formally and informally; this is not only academically but emotionally as well. One nomination notes that "Justin has become an advocate and champion for our students." He has done all this above and beyond what is expected with an understated modesty that is in the spirit of this award.
Barbara Wold, Jost Vielmetter and the CCSL Staff.
Citation: For their heroic, voluntary efforts to stand up the Caltech COVID Surveillance Lab, which has kept BBE and the Caltech community at large safer during the COVID pandemic.
Core team that runs CCSL:
Dr. Barbara Wold
Dr. Jost Vielmetter
Dr. George Tolomiczenko
Dr. Michael Anaya
Justin Ho
Michelle Ravel
Elisa Gonzalez
Victoria MacKrell
Annie Lam
Marta Murphy
Previous CCSL participants:
Dr. Morgan Abernathy
Erica Lee
Key CCSL faculty advisers:
Dr. Pamela Bjorkman
Dr. Kai Zinn
Much credit also goes to people in organizations around Caltech who stepped up to make CCSL's work possible, often under challenging conditions:
Student Wellness – for their extensive work on registration and distribution of home collection kits, data concordance studies, and all the clinical follow-up testing and contact tracing downstream of surveillance.
The office of the General Counsel - for navigating a complex and changing regulatory landscape.
Environmental Health and Safety - for advising and overseeing best practices in test-lab safety.
The BBE Division – for providing CCSL with an incredible lab-space in the Chen Neuroscience building.
Purchasing - for exceptional work on complex instrument acquisition and supply orders.
The Ismagilov lab – for invaluable advice and discussion on COVID testing and test-lab practices.
And unflagging support from the Provost and President.