Yuxuan Wang Wins Mitchell Award

Graduating Senior, Yuxuan Wang, won the $20,000 grand prize Mitchell Award last night at the Four Seasons Hotel. Wang is a Biochemistry (Honors) and Plan II major. She won the award for her undergraduate research project with Professor Andy Ellington titled, “Aptamer Antagonists of Myelin Promote Axon Growth.”

The George H. Mitchell Awards for Academic Excellence are awarded each year to students who have made an uncommon contribution to their fields of study by way of a research project, literary work, musical composition, humanitarian project or similar undertaking.Awards range from $2,000 to a top prize of $20,000. This awards program was developed by University Co-op President and CEO George Mitchell and the Co-op's Chairman of the Board, Dr. Michael Granof and presented to UT President Dr. Larry Faulkner in 2000. Students with exemplary academic records are nominated by UT faculty members and winners are chosen by a selection committee. These award-winning students have embraced the opportunities around them with a passion and intellectual creativity.

Emily Barton (Chemistry) won the award in 2005. Emily is currently at Princeton University and will graduate this year. Emily’s work converting carbon dioxide into fuel has attracted venture capital and she will be joining a start-up company following graduation.

The accomplishments of Yuxuan Wang and Emily Barton are a testimony to the strength of our undergraduate program, our faculty, and the excellence of our undergraduate students.