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Acesmizzou ACES is a recognized student organization at Mizzou focused on providing career and professional dev

Your next step starts here!Looking for a way to get more involved with ACES, build leadership experience, and connect wi...
09/15/2026

Your next step starts here!

Looking for a way to get more involved with ACES, build leadership experience, and connect with an amazing community? We’re looking for graduate students and professionals to join our committees!

Choose your committee:
Social Media — Help with marketing, branding, and content creation
Speaker Selection — Help identify and select speakers for ACES events
Executive — Support organizational logistics, event planning, and ACES initiatives

Why join?
Explore future career opportunities
Exclusive networking opportunities
Leadership experience
Free merch + food
A chance to connect with a supportive, like-minded community

Ready to get involved? Apply through MU Engage: https://cglink.me/2ny/s4327
Link in bio!

Different paths. Brighter futures. 💛
Come explore yours with ACES!

A little recap from our Get to Know ACES event!Thank you to everyone who joined us for an evening of good food, games, c...
09/15/2026

A little recap from our Get to Know ACES event!

Thank you to everyone who joined us for an evening of good food, games, conversations, and new connections. We loved getting to meet new faces, catch up with familiar ones, and share a little more about what ACES is all about!

We’re excited for everything we have planned this year and can’t wait to see you at our upcoming events.

Here’s to exploring careers, building connections, and finding your community along the way! 💙

🌾🧬 Meet the ACES Executive Board: Kanika Phagna, Director of Social Media!Kanika (she/her) is a fourth-year PhD student ...
09/09/2026

🌾🧬 Meet the ACES Executive Board: Kanika Phagna, Director of Social Media!
Kanika (she/her) is a fourth-year PhD student in Plant Science and Technology, working with Dr. Bing Yang. Her research focuses on developing and improving gene-editing technologies, particularly prime editing, to enhance important agronomic traits and disease resistance in rice.
This is Kanika’s first semester with ACES. She joined to build connections outside her research environment, meet like-minded people, and help create a supportive community for graduate students and professionals. She also hopes to help students explore diverse career paths beyond academia. Her own goal is to build a career in molecular biology and apply it to crop improvement, with a particular interest in enhancing nutritional value. Her favorite part of ACES so far? Making new friends!
Beyond ACES, Kanika is involved with the Plant Science & Technology Graduate Student Association and is a former Deaton Scholar. Outside the lab, she enjoys reading, baking, swimming, shopping, and occasionally organizing her closet because apparently even relaxation can use a little organization.
We’re excited to have her creativity and scientific perspective shaping ACES’s social media this year! ✨
Follow Kanika: Kanika Phagna

🌱🎨 Meet the ACES Executive Board: K. M. Asha Alles, Co-Chair of the Speaker Selection Committee!Asha (she/her) began her...
09/09/2026

🌱🎨 Meet the ACES Executive Board: K. M. Asha Alles, Co-Chair of the Speaker Selection Committee!
Asha (she/her) began her PhD in Biological Sciences in 2024 and works with Dr. Ruthie Angelovici and Dr. Craig Schenck. Her research explores seed amino-acid biology, with a special focus on ROS and redox dynamics during seed development. Seeds may look peaceful, but chemically, they have a lot going on.
After serving as a member of the Speaker Selection Committee, Asha is stepping into the role of Co-Chair this year. She joined ACES to strengthen her communication and interpersonal skills, learn alongside others, and use available resources to serve the student community.
Asha hopes to pursue an industry career where she can put her scientific skills and training into action. Outside the lab, she enjoys painting, watching movies, and caring for her houseplants-the ideal blend of art, cinema, and chlorophyll.

⚡🧪 Meet the ACES Executive Board: Mildred Awakessien, Director of the Speaker Selection Committee!Mildred (she/her) is a...
09/08/2026

⚡🧪 Meet the ACES Executive Board: Mildred Awakessien, Director of the Speaker Selection Committee!
Mildred (she/her) is a fourth-year Chemistry PhD student in Dr. Xiangqun Zeng’s lab, specializing in electroanalytical chemistry. Her research focuses on developing electrochemical sensors for the real-time detection of gases, humidity, and other analytes relevant to health, environmental, and industrial applications.
She joined ACES to explore careers beyond academia, expand her professional network, and connect graduate students with scientists pursuing a wide range of careers.
Beyond ACES, Mildred is the founder of Women Economic Empowerment at Mizzou, President of the Mizzou NOBCChE Student Chapter, and Treasurer of the Electrochemical Society Student Chapter. When she gets a moment away from leading everything everywhere all at once, she enjoys music, nature, parks, sightseeing, shopping, and organizing programs that bring people together.
We’re thrilled to have her energy and community-minded leadership on the team!
Follow Mildred: Mildred Awakessien

🌽💰 Meet the ACES Executive Board: Emma Leary, Treasurer!Emma (she/her/hers) is a fourth-year PhD candidate in Plant, Ins...
09/07/2026

🌽💰 Meet the ACES Executive Board: Emma Leary, Treasurer!
Emma (she/her/hers) is a fourth-year PhD candidate in Plant, Insect and Microbial Sciences, working with Dr. Jacob Washburn in Plant Science & Technology. Her research explores the genetic and physiological mechanisms that help diverse maize lines maintain photosynthetic capacity under high-light and low-temperature conditions. In short: she’s helping maize stay cool under pressure.
This is Emma’s first semester with ACES, and she has already taken on the very important job of keeping our finances and possibly the rest of us organized. She joined ACES to connect with like-minded students, learn from professionals, and explore alternative STEM careers. After graduate school, she is interested in working in industry or government.
Emma is also involved with the Plant Science & Technology Graduate Student Association and the Maize Genetics Committee on Outreach, Diversity, Inclusion, and Education.
Outside research, she enjoys movies, concerts, board games, shopping, and traveling.
Follow Emma: Emma Leary

🦠🧬 Meet the ACES Executive Board: Alyssa Novo, Vice President!Alyssa is a third-year student in the Genetics Area Progra...
09/04/2026

🦠🧬 Meet the ACES Executive Board: Alyssa Novo, Vice President!
Alyssa is a third-year student in the Genetics Area Program, working with Dr. Paul de Figueiredo in Molecular Microbiology and Immunology. Her research uses genomic engineering to develop bacterial therapeutics for cancer and explores a bacterial therapeutic implant system for the long-term treatment of chronic diseases that currently require daily medication.
Alyssa joined ACES because she loves working in nontraditional and translational areas of science and wants to help graduate students discover exciting career paths beyond academia.
When she isn’t engineering the future of medicine, Alyssa enjoys playing pool, weightlifting, and playing video games.
We’re excited to welcome her to ACES and see the fresh ideas and energy she brings as Vice President!

🧠✨ Meet the ACES Executive Board: Maalavika Govindarajan, President!Maalavika (she/her) is a fourth-year PhD candidate i...
09/01/2026

🧠✨ Meet the ACES Executive Board: Maalavika Govindarajan, President!
Maalavika (she/her) is a fourth-year PhD candidate in the Interdisciplinary Neuroscience Program, working with Dr. Ai-Ling Lin in the Lin Brain Lab. Her research combines neuroimaging and multi-omics to investigate how gut-brain axis dysfunction drives neuroinflammation in Alzheimer’s disease, because apparently studying one organ at a time was simply too easy.
As ACES President, Maalavika hopes to help graduate students and professionals explore diverse career paths and turn big scientific ideas into real-world impact. Her own goal is to help translate discoveries and entrepreneurial innovations in precision medicine from the bench to the bedside.
Outside the lab, you’ll find her sketching, reading, watching movies and TV shows, exploring hidden gems, or supporting fellow graduate students as a GradCircles Co-Leader.
We’re so excited to have her curiosity, vision, and leadership guiding ACES this year! 💫
Follow Maalavika: Maalavika Govindarajan

Meet the 2026–27 ACES Executive Board! ✨We’re excited for another year of building community, creating connections, and ...
08/28/2026

Meet the 2026–27 ACES Executive Board! ✨

We’re excited for another year of building community, creating connections, and bringing some fun along the way! 💚

You’ll be seeing a lot more of these faces soon.

Stay tuned as we introduce each member of the ACES team!

Address

Bond Life Sciences
Columbia, MO
65211

Telephone

+15736393119

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