Congratulations to Dr. Duhita Sant, a postdoctoral fellow in the Quantitative Evolutionary Microbiology (Manhart) Lab in CABM, who has recently received two awards in recognition of her scientific achievement and growing leadership in the microbiology community. First, Duhita has received the 2025 Peggy Cotter Award from the Theobald Smith Society, the New Jersey branch of the American Society for Microbiology (ASM). The Peggy Cotter Travel Award Program provides funds for outstanding early career Branch members to attend ASM Microbe, the annual national meeting of the society. Named in honor of ASM Past President Dr. Peggy Cotter, this award aims to foster career development by providing recipients access to cutting-edge scientific programming, networking opportunities, and a platform to engage with leaders in the microbial sciences. At ASM Microbe, Duhita is presenting her research on how cross-feeding in microbial communities alters the fitness of new mutations as well as organizing her own session on “Predicting Microbial Evolution.”
Simultaneously, Duhita also received the Career Development Grant for Postdoctoral Women from the ASM, which provides funds to travel to a scientific meeting, visit another laboratory, or participate in a course or event to enhance their research and/or leadership skills. She is using this grant to participate in the 2025 Gordon Research Seminar (GRS) and Gordon Research Conference (GRC) on Microbial Population Biology, where she is also presenting her work on microbial cross-feeding.