UC's Joshua Benoit Awarded Prestigious Sigma Xi Young Investigator Award

The Sigma Xi Young Investigator Award recognizes excellence in research by a junior faculty member. The University of Cincinnati's chapter of Sigma Xi has been giving the award since 1982. Assistant Professor Joshua Benoit, and student awardees, will receive recognition at the annual UC Chapter Sigma Xi Spring Mixer, held at

4:30 p.m. on Wednesday, February 28 in room 301 of Kowalewski Hall

on UC’s East Campus.

The event is open to all in the university community. Benoit will give a keynote speech at 5:15 pm based on his current research entitled, “Dehydration alters the potential of blood feeding arthropods to act as disease vectors.”

Benoit has received local, national, and international attention for his research, whether it was his participation in the

International Bed Bug Genome Project Collaboration

, his research to

understand ticks and other blood-feeding arthopods

, or his work with Michal Polak, professor of biological science, on

fruit flies and nutrition

. More information on his research can be found at

insectphysiology.uc.edu

.  

Benoit received his undergraduate degree in Biochemistry at Wittenburg University in 2005, his Ph.D. at Ohio State University in 2009, and was a post-doctoral fellow at Yale School of Public Health from 2010-2013.

Student Awards

The award ceremony will also include the Graduate Student Grant and Excellence in Outreach Winners:

2018 Sigma Xi Excellence in Outreach Award Winners:

Rickey Terrell, Undergraduate Student, Department of Chemical Engineering

Rachel Bosch, Graduate Student, Department of Geology

2018 UC Chapter GIAR Award Winners:

Andrew Gangidine, Graduate Student, Department of Geology

Chelsea Hintz, Graduate Student, Department of Biological Sciences

Abigail Kelly, Graduate Student, Department of Geology

Huang Ying, Graduate Student, Department of Environmental Engineering

Directions

For those coming from outside the medical campus, take a Bearcat shuttle or drive to the Eden parking garage. Walk north on Eden Avenue until the street turns right (becoming Albert Sabin Way).

Kowalewski Hall

is located on the West side of Eden Avenue at the turn.Enter the main doors and turn left. A short way down the hall you will see an elevator, which you should take to the third floor (or use the stairs opposite the elevator). Upon exiting the elevator, turn right and walk down the hallway until you see room 301.

About Sigma Xi

Sigma Xi, The Scientific Research Honor Society, is the international honor society of science and engineering. One of the oldest and largest scientific organizations in the world, Sigma Xi has a distinguished history of service to science and society for more than one hundred and twenty-five years. Scientists and engineers, whose research spans the disciplines of science and technology, comprise the membership of the Society. Sigma Xi chapters can be found at colleges and universities, government laboratories, and industry research centers around the world. More than 200 Nobel Prize winners have been members. More information can be found at

sigmaxi.org

.