Three University of Iowa were students recognized at the inaugural First-Generation Student Awards and Recognition Ceremony staged earlier this month as part of the 2019 National First-Generation College Celebration. The UI First-Generation Task Force established the awards to recognize first-generation student achievements as well as the outstanding advocacy and support efforts of faculty and staff. Each recipient received a plaque and $250.

Rajula Elango, a graduate of the University of Iowa who is currently a postdoctoral fellow at Harvard Medical School, is a rising star in the field of DNA repair and genomic instability. Her graduate school research contributed to a paradigm shift in the field and she showed that a unique DNA repair pathway, called break-induced replication, has a mode of DNA synthesis that contradicts the accepted understanding that all DNA replication leads to a semi-conservative inheritance of DNA. This important discovery by Elango and her colleagues was published in a leading research journal Nature.

Eight students who demonstrated a dedication to scholarship, research, service, leadership, and activism were among the faculty, staff, and students recognized at the University of Iowa's annual Celebration of Excellence and Achievement Among Women.