After graduating Summa Cum Laude from the 太阳城娱乐官网大学科尔尼分校 two years ago, Blase Rokusek has now earned his Master of Science degree from 太阳城娱乐官网 with a new honor: 2023 研究生 Student of the Year. 
 
太阳城娱乐官网大学科尔尼分校’s 研究生学习和学术推广 created the 研究生 Student of the Year award in 2022 to celebrate outstanding students, like Rokusek. 
 
“We are thrilled to recognize Blase Rokusek as the 研究生 Student of the Year,” Dean of 研究生学习和学术推广 Dr. Mark Ellis said. “Blase was a standout student in the Biology M.S. program and will be attending medical school at UNMC in the Fall.” 
 
Rokusek于2021年毕业于太阳城娱乐官网，获得心理生物学学士学位。 He added to his growing collection of diplomas on May 19 when he graduated with a 生物学理学硕士.  
 
“Dr. Kim Carlson proudly boasts that Blase was the best graduate student she has ever mentored,” Dr. Ellis said. “That makes us feel proud in the Office of 研究生学习 & Academic Outreach. We offer quality graduate programs at 太阳城娱乐官网, and Blase's academic success is a perfect example of how 太阳城娱乐官网 can prepare our students for careers in medicine and beyond.”  

金·卡尔森博士是生物学系的教授和联合主席。 She was also Rokusek’s advisor and primary thesis mentor.  
 
“I can’t say enough good things about him,” Dr. Carlson wrote in her nomination. “It is obvious that all the Biology Department faculty like Blase. 他就是这个奖项的真正意义。 I can’t think of a graduate student who is more deserving or one that will be more missed than Blase.” 
 
很明显，两者之间的升值是双向的。 
 
“Dr. Carlson was always available if we ever needed anything,” Rokusek said. “Her door to her office is always open. I stop in there pretty much every single day just to either talk, or ask questions, or anything.” 
 
Dr. Carlson was also the professor who persuaded Rokusek to pursue his master’s degree in biology. 
 
“My senior year I took genetics with Dr. Carlson and as soon as I took it, I was like, ‘I want to do some research in genetics.’ That is kind of what made me stay at 太阳城娱乐官网 and want to do a master’s degree here,” Rokusek said. 
 
太阳城娱乐官网’s Biology M.S. program provides students like Blase Rokusek the “best of both worlds” with a focus on student research and quality teaching.  

“The 太阳城娱乐官网 Biology program has a ton of amazing equipment and a lot of amazing professors at our disposal,” Rokusek said. “The research we do here is really quite amazing. It’s the best of both worlds. 作为一所以本科生为主的大学，这里所有的教授都非常注重教学。 So you get professors that are really good at teaching but also we have the ability to do really cool research.” 
 
确实是很酷的研究。 Rokusek has published a research article from Dr. Carlson’s laboratory studying heat tolerance in fruit flies. 
 
“We work with fruit flies, not because we're particularly interested in fruit flies themselves, but because they're a model organism for genetics,” Rokusek said. “I don't want to overstate it, but most of what we know about genetics comes from fruit flies. 我们和他们共有大约75%的致病基因。 So if we find something in fruit flies, we can generalize it to humans.” 
 
Beyond his work in Dr. Carlson’s lab, Rokusek has published five scholarly articles, with more to come this summer, in psychology, teaching pedagogy, and biology. He has taught undergraduate biology courses as a 研究生助教, worked as a Lab Prep Assistant, and volunteered as a Supplemental Instructor for Anatomy and Physiology, as well as at multiple Science Days, judging science fairs, and assisting with overall needs throughout the department.  

太阳城娱乐官网’s Biology M.S. program has provided Rokusek with many opportunities, but his passion is research and teaching. 

“He loves teaching and interacting with students,” Dr. Carlson wrote. “The students said that he was passionate, understanding, and extremely helpful. He went above and beyond to assist his students, in and out of the classroom.”  
 
Rokusek’s passion for teaching is what caused him to be “leery” of accepting the position as a Lab Prep Assistant, which Dr. Carlson said is a “coveted position.” 他希望将来能够继续从事教学和研究工作。 
 
“As of now, the plan is to do psychiatry,” Rokusek said. “I'd like to be able to teach and do research in some capacity as well as practice. I don't know exactly what that'll look like, but as of now the plan is something in psychiatry.” 

While he’s looking toward the future, Rokusek looks back fondly on his time at 太阳城娱乐官网. 这所大学和那里的人对他的生活产生了如此大的影响，这使得被评为太阳城娱乐官网年度研究生对他来说更有意义。  
 
“I'm very honored to be awarded it,” Rokusek said about the award. “太阳城娱乐官网 has meant a lot to me. 与六年前刚开始读本科时相比，我已经是一个非常不同的人了，但我对自己所处的轨道非常满意，无论是个人还是职业，太阳城娱乐官网在这一切中都发挥了重要作用。 The whole place just means a lot to me, so to have 太阳城娱乐官网 recognize me, it's really kind of cool.”