We’re thrilled to share that Herma, a PhD candidate in Chemical and Biological Engineering and member of the Lucks Lab, has been awarded a Northwestern Presidential Fellowship!
The Presidential Fellowship is Northwestern’s most prestigious graduate fellowship. It recognizes PhD candidates with outstanding academic records who show exceptional intellectual or creative ability and the potential to lead in their disciplines and in the university’s Society of Fellows. The competition spans the entire campus, and fewer than 12% of nominated students are selected, making this an incredible honor.
Herma’s research uses synthetic biology to engineer CRISPR-Cas, a class of naturally occurring biological systems, into programmable detection platforms. These tools are designed for sensing applications in agriculture, water quality, and nutrition, with a particular focus on applications in East Africa. Her goal is to make diagnostics more accurate, portable, and resilient to challenging environmental conditions so they can be used in the field, not just the lab. Throughout her work, she balances technical performance with real-world needs like robustness, modularity, ease of use, and settings with limited infrastructure.
We’re so proud to have Herma as part of the Lucks Lab and can’t wait to see where her research takes her next. Congratulations, Herma!
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