Eastern Student Erin Conn of Moriches Awarded Henry Barnard Distinguished Student Award

2014 Jun 18

Eastern Connecticut State University student Erin Conn '14 of Moriches, NY, was recently named as one of two Eastern student recipients of a Henry Barnard Distinguished Student Award for the 2013-14 academic year. Conn's major is Biology.

The Henry Barnard Distinguished Student Award was established in 1983 by the development foundation of the four Connecticut state universities. There are 12 awards given annually to distinguished students who are outstanding college seniors from Western, Central, Eastern and Southern Connecticut state universities; two each from Western and Eastern and four each from Central and Southern.

To be considered for a Barnard Award, a student must have at least a 3.7 GPA and a record of significant community service. The students are nominated by their respective universities.

The award is named for Henry Barnard, the first U.S. commissioner of education and a distinguished Connecticut educator, who was the state's first superintendent of schools and principal of what later became Central Connecticut State University.

Associate Professor of Biology Patricia Szczys recommended Conn for the Barnard Scholar award. According to Szczys, "Erin is, without a doubt, the finest critical thinker and has the strongest analytical and quantitative skills I have ever observed in an undergraduate student."

This fall, Conn will attend the Ph.D. program in biomedical sciences at Georgetown University and is an outstanding example of what can be accomplished at Eastern, Connecticut's public liberal arts university.

Among her achievements, Conn presented her research findings from her independent study at the Arts and Sciences Research Conference and Exhibition at Eastern and at the Northeast Regional Undergraduate Research Conference of the Council of Public Liberal Arts Colleges. She also traveled to Costa Rica as a student in Eastern's Tropical Biology course and was a teacher's assistant for the same course.

Conn was a member of Eastern's Honors Club, the Pre-Med Society, the Biology Journal Club and president of Beta, Beta, Beta, the national biological honor society. She received a number of scholarships and awards during her career at Eastern and was also a member of the women's lacrosse team.

She has served as a hospital volunteer at Southampton Hospital in Southampton, NY, and assisted as a coach for Eastern's Lacrosse Youth Clinics.

According to Conn, "My undergraduate education at Eastern opened my eyes to the world of academic research and I quickly became interested in the field of molecular biology and genetics. Over the years, Eastern has provided me with more opportunities than I could have expected to receive at an undergraduate institution. The combined academic experience of majoring in biology and being a member of the Honors Program has allowed me to realize the career path that I wish to pursue, as well as develop my critical thinking and research skills."