Fred Sherman Award

The Fred Sherman Award is presented each year to a student in the BMB program who exemplifies the imagination, the excellence in the pursuit of scientific knowledge, and the commitment to the scientific community that were characteristic of Fred Sherman.

Fred’s ingenious studies on CYC1 in yeast, prior to DNA sequencing, allowed him to deduce the nucleotide sequence of the 5’ end of the CYC1 gene and to conclude from this, that the genetic code in eukaryotes was the same as that in bacteria. Fred Sherman initiated and, for 17 years, co-taught a course on yeast genetics and molecular biology at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratories. He also chaired the Biochemistry and Biophysics department from 1982 to 1989.

To be eligible for the Fred Sherman Award, a student must have passed the Ph.D. Qualifying Examination. Any faculty member may nominate any qualified BMB student. The awards committee makes a decision based on the nominations.

Award Recipients

• 2015 - Stefanie DeVito, Clarence Ling
• 2016 - Matthew Payea
• 2017 - Amber Cutter
• 2018 - Bronwyn Lucas
• 2019 - Sierra Fox, Christopher Goodwin
• 2020 - Lisa Houston, Nazish Jeffery
• 2021 - Chen Bao
• 2022 - Griffin Schroeder
• 2023 - Justin Galardi
• 2024 - Madeline Jensen