Dr. Daniel Mullendore, an alumnus of the University of Wyoming McNair Scholars Program and the SBS graduate PhD program, recently received the TRIO Achiever Award at the Association of Special Programs in Region Eight (ASPIRE) conference.

TRIO programs are federally funded by the U.S. Department of Education that provides services and resources to promote access to higher education. The ASPIRE TRIO Achiever is awarded to three former TRIO participants each year in the Rocky Mountain region who have become leaders in their professions after graduation.

Mullendore grew up on a homestead near Jackson where he was taught the value of hard work. While pursuing his bull riding dream, he began gardening during recovery from one of his many injuries. His interest in gardening led to a passion for plants which, in turn, helped him complete his GED and enroll at UW to study botany in 2002.

During his time at UW, Mullendore was selected for the McNair Scholars Program.

“The McNair Program was crucial for teaching me how to successfully apply for post-baccalaureate education,” Mullendore says. “They provided the funds necessary for me to stay through the summer to do research. This was the first time that I could stay for the summer and not have to return to my seasonal construction job.”

The mentorship Mullendore received from Stephen Herbert, a UW professor at the time, was crucial to Mullendore’s success with furthering his education and the full funding he received to accomplish this.

Mullendore completed his doctoral program in botany from Washington State University (WSU) in 2012. Since his graduation, he has traveled internationally, including a trip to the Netherlands to use the only MRI machine in the world that measures sugar flow in plants. Mullendore also has published nine original research papers and one book chapter.

He currently is a staff scientist at the Franceschi Microscopy and Imaging Center at WSU, where he guides students and faculty in advanced microscopy techniques. Mullendore also teaches courses at WSU.

“This teaching opportunity has allowed me to mentor students from diverse backgrounds. I often use what I learned through the McNair Program to help these students pursue their professional careers,” Mullendore says.

UW’s McNair Scholars Program encourages undergraduate students — from groups traditionally underrepresented — to pursue graduate studies by providing opportunities to define goals, engage in research, and develop the skills and student/faculty mentor relationships critical to success at the doctoral level.

“The McNair Scholars Program didn’t just open doors for me; the program revealed doors that were invisible to me as a first-generation student,” Mullendore states.

Daniel Mullendore

By: Hailey Meyer

Going to conferences to present your research is a part of graduate training at Washington State University. Although, according to Marietta Easterling, a graduate student in the School of Biological Sciences, nothing prepared her for what to say when a Nobel Prize winning scientist asked her about her research during the International Xenopus Conference.

Easterling attended the conference to present her doctoral dissertation research, that seeks to understand how nutrition regulates early development. She looks at a hormone called leptin, which regulates food intake and energy balance to some extent in all vertebrates. Leptin has been studied mostly in juvenile and adult animals, but she’s more interested in the earlier stages of development when structures are initially formed. By using the Xenopus frog as a model organism, she found that leptin plays an important role in the development of limbs and their ability to regenerate after injury, by increasing the rate and quality.

The International Xenopus Conference is the premier forum for researchers who are using this type of model for their study. This meeting provides an abundance of opportunities for interaction, with lectures by students, professors, postdocs, poster sessions, and career development programs.

Easterling was presenting her research on leptin and development at a poster session at the conference, and to her surprise, ended up presenting her research to Sir John Gurdon. Gurdon is a developmental biologist who is best known for his research in nuclear transplantation and cloning, and was awarded the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine in 2012.

“I was actually walking around looking at someone else’s poster, when my friend told me that John Gurdon was checking out my poster, so I sprinted back over and introduced myself and we talked about my research,” Easterling explained.

At other conferences she’s attended, she described that they were much larger and more formal. At the Xenopus conference though, she said, “everyone at the conference is so excited about your research, and really wants to help you out in any way that they can. It’s like a huge family.” And after talking with Sir Gurdon, Easterling felt confirmation for her research and the work she has done.

Easterling is working to submit her research for publication and is looking forward to graduating this year. She recommends to other students to “always work hard, when you go to a conference don’t be shy about talking with people, and presenting your research, you never know who you may end up talking to.”