We finally managed it: from 5 different universities in 4 different geographic locations across two time zones, the core Ishaq Lab team took a group photo despite having been around for over a year. And, just in time, as several of our members (and selected associated members) will be matriculating soon!

Tindall, at Montana State University, is planning to defend her master’s thesis in May and moving forward with her planned career in sustainable agriculture in the Great Plains. Emily, our first undergrad researcher at Maine, will be graduating and heading to Kansas State University School of Veterinary Medicine to prepare for her dream career at her dream school. Jade will be defending her undergraduate honor’s thesis in May in preparation for heading to Glasglow, Scotland for her senior year, as part of a 7 year (undergrad + veterinary school) program between UMaine and veterinary schools there. Grace is graduating with her bachelor’s and will be working in research for a bit before deciding on a graduate program, and in the meantime, will be writing up the results from a data analysis project into a scientific manuscript for publication (her first!). Dorien is also about to graduate with her bachelor’s, and will be working in research before matching with a graduate program in psychology.

It has been an honor to work with these students as they develop their professional skills and share my research journey for a bit, and the Ishaq Lab wishes them continued success on their next phase!