Overview
Named to honor the memory of Victoria Finnerty, this award helps support travel costs for undergraduates presenting their Drosophila research at the Annual Drosophila Research Conference.
Finnerty was a long-time member of the Genetics Society of America and served the Drosophila community and the genetics community at large in many capacities. Her ground-breaking work as a graduate student used high-resolution recombination analysis to dissect gene structure. This set the stage for a 35-year career in which she excelled as a gifted teacher as well as a research scientist.
Finnerty was known for her creativity and dedication to training undergraduates in Drosophila genetics; her passion for the field of genetics was contagious. Vickie was a wise, compassionate mentor and teacher for whom interactions with her students was a constant joy. She constantly sought new ways to engage undergraduates in their genetics courses and in research; the Victoria Finnerty Undergraduate Award continues her stellar example.
Application Process
When the application period is open, there will be a link to the application form on this page. In their applications, applicants must include two letters of recommendation. One letter must be from the principal investigator of the laboratory in which they are conducting research. The other must be from a postdoc, graduate student, or technician with whom the applicant works directly or another professor familiar with the applicant’s research.
Eligibility
Applicants must be GSA members who are undergraduate students. Recipients may only use the award to fund their travel to present Drosophila research at the Annual Drosophila Research Conference or The Allied Genetics Conference.
Important Dates
The application cycle for applicants who wish to present their Drosophila research at TAGC 2020 will open on October 30. The deadline for applications is November 27, 2019.
Support Undergraduate Drosophila Research
The Victoria Finnerty Undergraduate Travel Awards are made possible by generous contributions from our donors. Please consider contributing to support our community’s early career members.
Past Recipients
| Year | Name | Institution |
| 2019 | Katherine Fisher | Indiana University Bloomington |
| 2019 | Esther Kwon | University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill |
| 2019 | Kathy Le | Johns Hopkins School of Medicine |
| 2019 | Carolyn McGrail | Baruch College (CUNY) |
| 2019 | Caroline Miller | Davidson College |
| 2019 | Taylar Mouton | University of Rochester |
| 2019 | Amanda Petersen | University of St. Thomas |
| 2019 | Caroline Phan | Davidson College |
| 2019 | Nicco Ruggiero | State University of New York at Buffalo |
| 2019 | Francesco Satriale | Bucknell University |
| 2019 | Helen Stone | University of Virginia |
| 2019 | Rebecca Tarnopol | University of Michigan |
| 2019 | Brandon Turner | University of North Carolina – Charlotte |
| 2019 | Isaac Wong | University of Rochester |
| 2017 | James Cevallos | UCLA |
| 2017 | Liesl Strand | Univ of Washington |
| 2017 | Madison Hupp | Kennsaw State |
| 2017 | Courtney Willet | Kennsaw State |
| 2017 | Ryan Salemme | John Carroll Univ |
| 2017 | Jenna Harris | Georgia State |
| 2017 | Matthew Riccetti | Univ of Dayton |
| 2016 | Andrew Blake | Delaware State University |
| 2016 | Taylor Hinnant | East Carolina University |
| 2016 | Diana Luong | Loyola University Chicago |
| 2016 | Katherine Nichols | Muhlenberg College |
| 2016 | Abigail O’Conner | University of Arizona |
| 2016 | Nilang Shah | Emory University |
| 2016 | Jarrod Shilts | Vanderbilt University |
| 2016 | Samantha St. Clair | Indiana University |
| 2015 | Jonathan Cohen | Swarthmore College |
| 2015 | Alexander Kneubehl | Ohio Northern University |
| 2015 | Kiu Ming April Kong | York University |
| 2015 | Meera Namireddy | Rice University |
| 2015 | Irina Pushel | Michigan State University |
| 2015 | Anna Zeidman | Brown University |
| 2014 | Daniel A. Friedman | University of California, Davis |
| 2014 | Nancy J. Levansailor | SUNY Fredonia |
| 2014 | Katharine Majeski | Kennesaw State University |
| 2014 | Aidan L. McParland | University of New England |
| 2014 | Marvin Nayan | University of Washington |
| 2014 | Trung T. Phan | University of Washington |
| 2014 | AnnJosette Ramirez | Arcadia University |
| 2014 | Zachary L. Sebo | University of Missouri, Kansas City |
| 2014 | Letitia Thompson | The College of New Jersey |
| 2014 | Daniel M. Wong | University of California, Los Angeles |
| 2014 | Chenling Xu | University of California, Davis |
| 2013 | Susanna E. Brantley | Emory University |
| 2013 | Gina D. Castelvecchi | University of Wisconsin, Madison |
| 2013 | Robert W. Fernandez | York College, City University of New York |
| 2013 | Michelle A. Frazer | University of Michigan, Ann Arbor |
| 2013 | Samuel Hutton Friedman | Vanderbilt University |
| 2013 | Robert A. Gingras | Hofstra University |
| 2013 | Gary Iacobucci | State University of New York at Buffalo |
| 2013 | Jihyun Irizarry | California State University, Los Angeles |
| 2013 | Sierra Mosticone-Wangansteen | Randolph-Macon College |
| 2012 | Selma Avdagic | Saint Louis University School of Medicine |
| 2012 | Samantha Galindo | University of Wisconsin, Madison |
| 2012 | Kenneth B. Hoehn | Duke University |
| 2012 | Emily Hsieh | University of Washington/Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center |
| 2012 | Megan Phifer-Rixey | University of Arizona |
| 2012 | Jacqueline McDermott | Hofstra University |
| 2012 | Mohammad Siddiq | Indiana University |