Our PI honored with the NTK Pedagogical Prize — the students' award for teaching excellence!
Image Credit: Umeå University.
Where curiosity begins: Yeşilbaş Lab's PI wins the students' Pedagogical Prize!!
We are delighted to share that our PI Merve Yeşilbaş has been awarded the NTK Pedagogical Prize "Umeå naturvetar- och teknologkårs pris för pedagogiska insatser" by the Umeå Student Union of Science and Technology (NTK)! This is the students' own prize, nominated by students across the Faculty of Science and Technology, recognizing a teacher who stands out for getting students genuinely interested and engaged in their studies.
What makes this award so special is where it comes from: the students themselves. In their motivation, the jury wrote that Merve is an incredibly inspiring lecturer who motivates students to engage with their studies in chemistry, bringing fantastic energy to her lectures and skillfully connecting each topic to her own research. By sharing her expertise, even students in an introductory chemistry course get a glimpse of cutting-edge research.
That connection between teaching and research is at the very heart of how we work in the Yeşilbaş Lab by bringing the hot questions of astrobiology and planetary science into the classroom, so that the search for life beyond Earth becomes something students can feel part of from day one and encourage the next generation of scientists.
Merve will receive the prize during the pedagogical discussions as part of Umeå University's Annual Celebration. Warmest congratulations to our PI Merve, a recognition richly deserved, and a proud moment for the whole lab!!! 🎓💐👩🏻🚀🧿