Graduate Mentoring Excellence Award Research and Graduate Studies Deborah Lutterschmidt, Ph.D. DEBORAH LUTTERSCHMIDT is an associate professor in the Department of Biology in the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences. Her lab’s research explores how environmental cues such as day length and temperature affect hormone signals, in turn influencing seasonal reproduction. Professor Lutterschmidt is particularly interested in understanding why animals reproduce at different times even when they live in the same environment, information with the potential to aid conservation efforts. Professor Lutterschmidt received her Ph.D. in behavioral endocrinology from Oregon State University. She completed her postdoctoral training at the Center for Behavioral Neuroscience at Georgia State University, where she received a fellowship from the National Institute of Health. She joined PSU in 2010 and quickly established herself as a highly respected independent researcher, receiving the Gorbman-Bern New Independent Investigator Award in 2015 from the North American Society for Comparative Endocrinology and the Outstanding Scientific Researcher Award in Biology from the Columbia- Willamette Chapter of Sigma Xi. Since joining PSU, Professor Lutterschmidt has mentored over 40 undergraduate and high school students in her lab and has served as the primary mentor to seven graduate students. “I can attest to the extraordinary rigor and high standards Dr. Lutterschmidt expects of her students in their writing and presentation skills,” says Catherine Dayger, recipient of the first Ph.D. awarded from Professor Lutterschmidt’s Lab in 2017 and now Program Manager of Collaborative Science and OHSU Knight Cancer Early Detection Advanced Research (CEDAR) Center. In addition to securing $1.5 million in external funding to support her research, she has trained her graduate students in the art of grant writing, helping them to secure a total of 15 research grants. Among Professor Lutterschmidt’s 35 publications, 15 are co-authored with 15 different students, and her mentees have given 23 research presentations at international and local conferences. The Graduate Mentoring Excellence Award honors and encourages PSU faculty members who provide outstanding mentorship to graduate students and postdoctoral scholars at Portland State University. Recipients of this award have been nominated by colleagues and selected by a jury of peers for having demonstrated an extraordinary commitment to creating an environment that supports graduate student success and mentorship opportunities. 28
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy NTc4NTAz