2015 Way Klingler Young Scholar Awards Recipients

Way Klingler Young Scholar Awards support promising young scholars in critical stages of their careers. The awards of up to $32,000 are intended to fund $2,000 in operating costs and to cover up to 50 percent of salary to afford the recipient a one-semester sabbatical.

2015 recipients

Dr. Serdar Bozdag
Assistant professor of mathematics, statistics and computer science

For Dr. Serdar Bozdag, focus is on the development of a computational tool for a whole genome. He wants to develop computational tools to integrate biological data to reverse engineer gene regulatory networks.

“This tool will allow biologists and clinicians to identify therapeutic targets and drivers,” said Bozdag.

Dr. Jeremy Fyke
Assistant professor of communication studies

Dr. Jeremy Fyke will work on several research projects during his sabbatical. Additionally, he plans to work with other Diederich College of Communication colleagues on additional projects. He hopes to write an article within the next year on the unintended consequences of using metaphors in leadership training.

“My immediate plan is to continue, topically, the line of research I have established, and push forth on the projects I have in progress,” Fyke said.

Dr. Melissa Ganz
Assistant professor of English

Dr. Melissa Ganz plans to complete her first book, Public Vows: Fictions of Marriage in the English Enlightenment, as well as start a new study, The Outlaw and the Magistrate: Imagining Justice in the British Enlightenment.

Ganz specializes in 18th-century British literature and culture, law and literature, and the history of the novel. She began doctoral work in literature after receiving a J.D. and publishing in legal and cultural history. Prior to coming to Marquette, Ganz taught at Harvard and Stanford.

“My work is fueled by the conviction that literature offers not only aesthetically powerful insights into the human condition but also uniquely valuable contributions to pressing legal and ethical concerns,” Ganz says.

Dr. Lisa Petrella
Assistant professor of biological sciences

Dr. Lisa Petrella, assistant professor of biological sciences, reports “during my semester sabbatical I will be working on one of the projects in my lab investigating why organisms go sterile at high temperatures. Specifically, I will be using whole genome approaches to look at differences in gene expression between an organism that is very temperature sensitive and an organism that is very temperature resistant,” said Petrella.

She developed and interest in this topic four years ago when this project began. For Petrella this was a natural extension of her research since it is a merging of her two fields of study, temperature response from her postdoctoral work and germline biology as a graduate student.