Nicole Wang, an MSc student from the Haney lab, has been awarded a Governor General’s Gold Medal – an award for the top achieving student (academics and research) in all of UBC.
“Nicole is phenomenal at everything she attempts, and she has attempted a lot,” shares Dr. Cara Haney, Associate Professor and Canada Research Chair in the UBC Department of Microbiology & Immunology.
Taking advantage of every opportunity available to her through the department and at UBC, Nicole is described as an A-student, fantastic molecular biologist, an outstanding writer, an excellent bioinformatician, a community organizer, and with a talent for graphic design.
Contributing to four manuscripts during her MSc degree (two of which she was first author), Nicole worked remarkably independently and made rapid significant novel contributions to the field of plant-microbiome interactions.
Outside of her research, Nicole has also been highly involved in the UBC community – the President of MIGSS (the Microbiology and Immunology Graduate Student Society), actively promoting a culture of inclusion, helping with grad student wellbeing during the pandemic, and working as the Haney lab’s social coordinator, where she organized a large number of events for the lab and helped maintain the lab’s website and Instagram pages. 
“I am excited to receive this award, as well as very thankful to Cara for nominating me and believing in me!” says Nicole. “Even though I’ve always been intrinsically motivated to work hard and get involved in leadership activities in my community, I feel extremely honoured to be recognized by the university for my achievements.”
After her MSc, Nicole was rapidly recruited by a local biotech startup company, Nyoka Design Labs, as a research scientist – a position usually reserved for individuals with PhDs. Congratulations, Nicole on all your achievements!
Check out Nicole Wang’s publications below:
- *Commensal Pseudomonas fluorescens Strains Protect Arabidopsisfrom Closely Related Pseudomonas Pathogens in a Colonization-Dependent Manner; mBIO
- Harnessing the genetic potential of the plant microbiome; The Biochemist:
- Mechanisms in plant–microbiome interactions: lessons from model systems; Current Opinion in Plant Biology