2013 Dale J. Benos Early Career Professional Service Awardee
 |
Erica A. Wehrwein, Ph.D.
Michigan State University |
The APS Trainee Advisory Committee is pleased to announce that Erica A. Wehrwein, Ph.D., Assistant Professor in the Department of Physiology at Michigan State University has been selected as the 2013 recipient of the APS Dale J. Benos Early Career Professional Service Award. The Committee was extremely impressed with Dr. Wehrwein's a remarkable level of teaching, service and mentoring with students at the graduate/professional, undergraduate and K-12 levels, as well as with members of her community. She has won many awards for both her teaching and research throughout her career to date.
Teaching: As an undergraduate student, Dr. Wehrwein worked with other undergraduate students in the Academic Skills Center at Western Michigan University, tutoring them in several biology courses.
As a graduate student, Dr. Wehrwein worked with underrepresented minority undergraduate students as an Instructor of Scientific Research Methods and Writing for the Natural Sciences in the McNair/SROP Scholars Program (summer research program). She taught physiology to Gifted and Talented middle school students at a summer camp and gave guest lectures in several undergraduate courses.
As a postdoc, she lectured at Winona State University and served as a Research Mentor/Project Consultant for a laboratory.
As a faculty member at Michigan State University, Dr. Wehrwein functions as the Course Director and Professor for PSL 475 Capstone Laboratory and is an Instructor for the Medical Student Laboratory Experiences in Physiology. She also serves as a Guest Lecturer for Pre-professional Student Club.
Service: As a graduate student, Dr. Wehrwein served as President of Biological Sciences Graduate Student Organization, was the student representative for departmental faculty search, and as the Co-founder and Secretary for Teaching Circle (a group of teaching assistants in Biological Sciences with the goal of improving quality of teaching). Nationally, she served as a judge for the Young Investigator Travel Award given by Society for Experimental Biology in Medicine at EB.
As a postdoctoral fellow Dr. Wehrwein served on the Postdoctoral Affairs Committee for Mayo. She organized a career workshop for graduate students and fellow postdocs and Co-Organized the Graduate Student and Postdoctoral Writing Support Group in Departmental of Physiology & Biomedical Engineering. She has served as a consultant on career and teaching development workshops to the Mayo Research Fellows Association since 2008. She began working with Dr. Gregory D Fink on the Faculty of 1000 Biology Website as an Associate Faculty Member and evaluation contributor for physiology since 2009. Nationally, as a member and then Chair of the Trainee Advisory Committee, Dr. Wehrwein volunteered to give presentations at the APS Undergraduate Orientation Session during EB and has assisted with the APS Undergraduate Poster Session since 2008.
As a new faculty member, Dr. Wehrwein is the Faculty Mentor to the Physiology Society Club. She serves on the Physiology Undergraduate Curriculum Committee and the Biology Initiative Committee, which is tasked with developing transformative changes to the Physiology undergraduate experience at MSU. Nationally, she has judged abstracts for both the International Research Congress on Integrative Medicine and Health and the APS David Bruce Awards at EB. She recently participated in the APS Publications Task Force.
Throughout her career, Dr. Wehrwein has served her local community as a Michigan Science Olympiad State Tournament judge, Elementary Science Fair coach and reviewer, Celebration of Research Day participant, Building a Healthier Community InSciEd Out participant. This year she is hosting numerous physiology events at the MSU Science Festival and was the lead organizer for an APS Physiology Understanding (PhUn) Day at the Impression 5 Science Center with over 1000 participants. She is a member of the Founding Committee for the new APS Chapter, Michigan Physiology Society, and was recently elected as Secretary-Treasurer. She also serves on the APS Career Opportunities in Physiology Committee and is currently chairing the Guyton Physiology Educator Award Committee.
Mentoring: Dr. Wehrwein has mentored undergraduates, post-bacc, and medical students, as well as teaching assistants and technicians. To date, she has mentored 26 students.
Because of her commitment to research, teaching, service and mentorship, at both the local and national level, the Trainee Advisory Committee recommends awarding the 2013 Early Career Professional Service Award to Dr. Erica A. Wehrwein.
APS congratulates Dr. Wehrwein on this well-deserved recognition.
For a list of previous Awardees, see the link under Resources below.