(Posted November 25, 2013)

HUNTINGDON, Pa. -- Alyssa Grube, a Juniata College junior studying biology from Lititz, Pa., received a $4,000 scholarship from the American Society for Microbiology for its 2013 Undergraduate Research Fellowship Program.

Grube is the daughter of Stan and Carol Grube, of Lititz, and is a 2010 graduate of Warwick High School.
The fellowship is aimed at students who would like to pursue graduate careers in microbiology and gives recipients the opportunity to conduct full-time summer research at their college with a mentor associated with ASM.
Each recipient receives up to $4,000 as a research stipend, a two-year student ASM membership and travel expenses to several professional conferences. Grube's project was focused on using metagenomic and metaproteomic datasets to predict carboncycle capacity in Great Prairies soil microbiome.

In May 2013, Grube received an honorable mention for her proposal for the Barry M. Goldwater Scholarship. This coming May, she will travel to Boston to present her research at the national meeting for the American Society of Microbiology.

Grube began her undergraduate research experience at Juniata in her sophomore year as she worked with Jill Keeney, professor of biology. She worked on a project that tried to characterize the function of a protein in yeast.

After her sophomore year, Grube spent the summer of 2012 at the University of North Carolina's School of Medicine as part of the Research Experiences for Undergraduates program sponsored by the National Science Foundation. She worked in the laboratory of researcher Rita Tamayo to study a gene in the cholera bacteria and how it activates changes in its host cells.

Grube also spent the fall semester 2012 studying abroad at the University of San Francisco, Quito, in Quito, Ecuador. She was able to join a research team at that university that was focused on wastewater treatment and soil remediation.

During the 2012-2013 and 2013-2014 academic years, Grube has continued her research career with Regina Lamendella, assistant professor of biology at Juniata.

Grube continues to be active in other activities on campus. She serves as co-president of the Juniata chapter of the American Society for Microbiology. She also is a member of Tri-Beta, the Juniata chapter of the national biology honor society.

Contact April Feagley at feaglea@juniata.edu or (814) 641-3131 for more information.