Molly Gillam, a 2011 applied biology graduate,
earned the Herman A. Moench Distinguished Senior
Award
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| Molly Gillam |
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If Molly Gillam could have clicked her heels and been transported
to any college, it would have been Rose-Hulman Institute of
Technology.
"There's no place
like Rose-Hulman," she says. The applied biology graduate will miss
her campus life as she moves on to pursue a doctorate in cancer
biology at the University of Texas-Southwestern Medical Center in
Dallas.
"I'd like to end
up studying translational research and cancer pharmacology," Gillam
explains. Her senior thesis involved determining how compounds in
the environment affect estrogen signaling in breast cancer cells.
"There are compounds in the environment that are causing harm to
animals and humans," she says.
Gillam made the
most of her Rose-Hulman experience. Besides her academic work, she
also was a resident assistant for two years and participated in
several campus activities, including the Culinary Craftsmen
Club.
The Lafayette
native was instrumental in organizing a large campus concert and Up
'til Dawn, a philanthropic event benefitting St. Jude Children's
Hospital. Rose-Hulman raised the most money of any Indiana college
for the past two years.
Gillam earned the
Herman A. Moench Distinguished Senior Commendation, and was named
the college's outstanding applied biology
graduate.
"The difference here is
the personal skills that I've developed," she says. "Because
Rose-Hulman is a small school, I've had a lot of opportunities to
learn about myself and others."