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Thomas Eickbush is one of the Department of Biology’s most highly thought-of teachers. Known for his innovative approaches, he has led important efforts to improve both the ways students learn imposing material and the teaching and mentoring skills of younger faculty.

His commitment to teaching was recognized in 2002 with a Goergen Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching. Eickbush has helped transform a key introductory course for biology majors, bolstering the course’s peer-led workshop initiative, introducing online and other non-classroom components, and launching a mentor-based version of the course for students whose background lacked the academic richness necessary to succeed in biology. He has also introduced a hands-on, conceptual context to the course by adding a laboratory component.

His nationally recognized research has largely focused on segments of DNA that can proliferate across the genome, a process that can result in mutations, including those that can lead to cancer. From 1983–2014, his work was continuously supported by the National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation, or the American Cancer Society.

Eickbush was presented with the during the commencement ceremony on Sunday, March 21, 2017.