Andrew C. Serazin, a University of Notre Dame senior biology major from Elyria, Ohio, is one of 32 students in the country to be named a Rhodes Scholar, the scholarship trust announced yesterday (Dec. 8).p. The 14th Rhodes Scholar in Notre Dame’s history, Serazin was chosen from 981 applicants from 341 colleges and universities across the United States.p. “I put a lot of time and effort into my research and it is awesome to be recognized for that,” Serazin said. “This will really help me progress in my work.”p. The scholarships, created in 1902 by the will of British philanthropist and colonial pioneer Cecil Rhodes, provide two or three years of study at Oxford University in England. Winners are selected based on academic achievement, integrity, leadership potential and physical vigor, among other attributes.p. “This shows how well we educate people here at Notre Dame and that makes me proud,” Serazin said.p. Serazin also is the recipient of a 2002-03 Goldwater Scholarship, which is considered the premier undergraduate award of its type in the fields of mathematics, the natural sciences and engineering.p. Serazin participated in the University’s National Science Foundation Summer Undergraduate Research Program this year. His research project was titled “Comparative Genomics of African Malaria Vectors, Anopheles Funestus and An. Gambiae: EST Sequence Conservation.”p. He published an article with Nora J. Besansky, professor of biological sciences, in the Oct. 4 special issue of the journal Science. That issue announced the newly sequenced genome of Anopheles gambiae, the primary mosquito species that transmits the malaria parasite to humans. The completion of the sequencing of the mosquito genome was an effort grounded in the research of Frank Collins, the University’s George and Winifred Clark Chair in Biological Sciences.p.
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