Olalla Vázquez receives the 2016 Cottrell-Fulbright Award

Dr. Olalla Vázquez, who developed her PhD at CiQUS with Prof. J. L. Mascareñas and Eugenio Vázquez, and currently Junior Professor at the Philipps-Universität Marburg (link is external), has received the 2016 Cottrell-Fulbright Award for the project “EpiTools: chemical tools for unravelling molecular epigenetic mechanisms”, which was especially convincing as it showed a successful combination of research and teaching with a particular focus on innovative methods to motivate students and get them involved early on in science.

This is not the first time that Vázquez gets a prize in recognition to her scientific career; in 2012, the European Young Chemistry Award (EYCA) awarded her brilliant work conferring her the Silver Medal at the 4th EuCheMS Chemistry Congress, celebrated in Praga. Both awards, combined with others obtained previously by young researchers from the center (as it happened in the last years with the achievement of numerous Lilly prizes) confirm the excellence of science developed at CiQUS.

As a result, Vázquez will receive funding of 63,000 € for a three-year project that combines innovative research and teaching approaches, in addition to travel funds of 5,000 € to participate in the annual Cottrell Scholar Conferences in Tucson, Arizona.

The award

The Cottrell-Fulbright Award, launched by the German-American Fulbright Commission within the collaboration of the German educational system, is based on the prestigious Cottrell Award by the U.S.-based Research Corporation for Science Advancement. Since its inception in 1994, it has been conferred to outstanding “teacher-scholars” in the natural sciences, and emulates this concept adding a transatlantic and intercultural perspective of science exchange.