Mizzou Honors College

08/26/2026

A special thank you to Sola Mahfouz for sharing her story with our incoming Honors College students during the Honors One Read Symposium on Sunday! This year’s One Read book, 𝘋𝘦𝘧𝘪𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘋𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘮𝘴: 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘑𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘯𝘦𝘺 𝘰𝘧 𝘢𝘯 𝘈𝘧𝘨𝘩𝘢𝘯 𝘎𝘪𝘳𝘭 𝘞𝘩𝘰 𝘙𝘪𝘴𝘬𝘦𝘥 𝘌𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘌𝘥𝘶𝘤𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯, is a memoir written by Mahfouz and Malaina Kapoor that chronicles Mahfouz’s life.

Students had the opportunity to ask Mahfouz questions, and many had her sign their copies of the book.

A special thank you also goes to Amy Simons, a professor in the Missouri School of Journalism and affiliate faculty in the Honors College, for moderating the conversation with Mahfouz.

08/25/2026

It was great to see so many of our Honors College students back on campus yesterday! We hope your first day was incredible and you have an awesome semester!

08/23/2026

Attention Honors students!

As you’re enjoying your first day of classes tomorrow (Monday, Aug. 24), make sure to stop by the Honors College office (2nd floor of Lowry Hall) from 8:30-11:30 a.m. for first day of school pictures. We hope to see you there!

08/21/2026

Welcome Honors Tigers! It was great to see so many of you this morning during our Donuts with the Dean event. We’re excited that you’re back on campus, and we’re ready for another stellar semester!

08/17/2026

Honors College students, join us from 8:30-10 a.m. on Friday, Aug. 21, for our Donuts with the Dean event! Meet Honors College Dean Catherine Rymph – as well as Honors faculty and staff – and interact with fellow students on the grassy knoll outside of Lowry Hall (north side). We hope to see you there!

08/14/2026

Help us congratulate Theresa Mullineaux on her Mizzou R.A.H. Award! Mullineaux earned the Honors College Certificate while at Mizzou.

Meet Theresa Mullineaux, BSBA ‘14, JD ‘17 — Senior Associate at Husch Blackwell LLP and one of this year’s Mizzou R.A.H. recipients!

Theresa says her most significant professional accomplishment was arguing and winning an appeal before the Missouri Court of Appeals, Eastern District. She said that it was meaningful because not only did it require a deep understanding of the law, but also the ability to think strategically, communicate persuasively, and advocate effectively under pressure.

Her advice to new graduates is, “Staying connected to the alumni community — whether through events, mentoring, volunteering or cheering on the Tigers — can open doors professionally, build lifelong friendships and provide a meaningful way to give back.”

Help us congratulate Theresa in the comments!

08/12/2026

Two unique programs allowed Jacob Hicks to jumpstart his research journey when he arrived on the University of Missouri campus two years ago: the Brazeal Scholarship and the FRIPS Program. This summer, another program allowed Hicks to build on the important work he began as a freshman.

Through the Cherng Summer Scholars program, Hicks, a junior plant sciences major, has spent the summer researching plants in the nightshade family, which includes tomatoes, potatoes and peppers. These plants contain genes involved in producing compounds called acylsugars. Those sugars help defend the plants against various threats, like insects, viruses, fungi and even some environmental stresses. While the compounds share a basic structure, small variations can give them different functions.

Hicks worked to identify the coding sequence for that first gene, ASAT1, which provides instructions for an enzyme that helps build acylsugars. He conducted his research through the laboratory of Craig Schenck, an assistant professor of biochemistry.

“Many of the plants in this family are major agricultural crops,” Hicks said. “It would be very advantageous if we could figure out ways to better defend them in agricultural settings. Our work aims to understand the basic science of how the acylsugars are produced because of the real-world implications.”

Learn more about his work: https://honors.missouri.edu/news/2026/08/digging-into-the-defenses-of-plants/

Mizzou College of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources
Mizzou Plant Science & Technology

08/11/2026

When Archer Stone began searching for potential research laboratories to join two years ago as a Discovery Fellow, there was one that piqued his interest. Caroline Grunenwald, an assistant professor of biological sciences, studies Staphylococcus aureus, a bacterium commonly known as staph. She’s specifically interested in its stress responses at the host-pathogen interface.

It’s an infection that has a personal connection for Stone.

“My sister got sick with staph when I was younger, and it was really bad,” Stone said. “There was a lot going on; it was super scary stuff. While I always knew I was going to be involved in a research field of some kind because I am just very innately curious, my interest in biology began during that time period. I wasn’t necessarily looking for research directly tied to staph, but it is motivating to have that personal tie to the work.”

Stone, a junior biological sciences major, has been part of Grunenwald’s lab for nearly two years. Last summer, Stone worked with a post-baccalaureate student who studied a strain of staph that was missing one of its main manganese exporters. Researchers found that, in some cases, a second mutation could compensate for the loss of the manganese exporter. Several of these mutations were identified, and Stone spent this summer researching the protein affected by one of them.

Learn more about Stone’s research: https://honors.missouri.edu/news/2026/08/small-protein-big-questions/

Mizzou College of Arts & Science

08/10/2026

Adam Muellersman’s time at Mizzou has included a handful of exciting research opportunities. He said his most recent experience through the Cherng Summer Scholars program has been the perfect fit.

Muellersman, a senior environmental sciences major, has spent the summer studying the microbial communities in soil samples from both Tucker Prairie and Sanborn Field. Tucker Prairie is a 146-acre tract of land that has never been plowed. Sanborn Field is the oldest, continuous experimental field west of the Mississippi River. Both are managed by Mizzou. Muellersman is researching the similarities and differences between them to see how inputs into agricultural fields, like Sanborn, influence the microbial communities.

Muellersman conducted his research through the laboratory of Sam Lord, an assistant research professor and soil ecologist in the Mizzou College of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources. He first connected with Lord through an introductory soils course.

“That class piqued my interest in soils because he was so passionate about the subject,” Muellersman said. “He mentioned his research in soil microbiology, which I didn’t know much about, and it sounded really cool. I then took another course with him, and he mentioned another research project. I started talking to him about opportunities in his lab and was excited to start working with him.”

Learn more about Muellersman’s research: https://honors.missouri.edu/news/2026/08/from-soil-to-sequencing/

Mizzou School of Natural Resources

08/07/2026

While Madeline Claravall wasn’t thrilled about the idea of joining a research laboratory early in her collegiate career, she knew the experience would be an important one as she eventually began applying to medical schools. A biological sciences major on the pre-medicine track, Claravall reluctantly began the search during her freshman year.

Now a junior with more than a year of research under her belt, Claravall admits that the hands-on lab experiences have been both academically and personally fulfilling.

“I definitely approached research as a checkbox,” Claravall said. “I knew having some research experience would be important, but I really didn’t want to do it. Even though I didn’t know what to expect coming to my current lab, I quickly realized that I would be able to get some great hands-on experiences. Now, I love coming to the lab.”

Claravall works in the laboratory of Michael Hill, a professor in the School of Medicine and investigator in the Dalton Cardiovascular Research Center. Her direct supervisor is Zhe Sun, an assistant professor in the Dalton Cardiovascular Research Center, who she has worked closely with this summer through the Cherng Summer Scholars program.

Learn more about Claravall’s research this summer, which centered on prolonged vasoconstriction, one of the most serious complications that can follow a hemorrhagic stroke and occurs when the brain’s blood vessels remain abnormally tightened long after the medical crisis: https://honors.missouri.edu/news/2026/08/from-checkbox-to-discovery/

Mizzou College of Arts & Science