Each year, the Department of Biology in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis awards a prize to a graduating senior in memory of Marion Smith Spector, a 1938 graduate who studied zoology under the late Viktor Hamburger.
This year’s recipient is Jordan Shaker, who worked in the laboratory of Michael R. Bruchas, the Henry E. Mallinckrodt Professor in anesthesiology and neuroscience at the School of Medicine. Next year, Shaker plans to continue working in the Bruchas laboratory while he applies to MD/PhD programs.
His thesis, titled “Endogenous Opioidergic Circuits Involved in Thermoregulation,” won praise for the experiments’ design, the technical excellence with which they were carried out and Shaker’s incisive interpretation of results.
The Spector Prize, first awarded in 1974, recognizes academic excellence and outstanding undergraduate achievement in research. Students are nominated by their research mentors for outstanding research that has made substantial contributions to a field.
Shaker will receive the prize at a biology awards ceremony May 16.
