About the Award Dr. William Jackson (Jack) Payne served on the faculty at the University of Georgia from 1955 to 1995 as Professor and Head of Microbiology, and also as the Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences from 1977-1988. Jack made many significant contributions to the areas of bacterial diversity and physiology, especially with respect to the process of denitrification. The William Jackson (Jack) and Jane Marshall Payne Graduate Fellowship in Microbiology was established by the family and friends of Jack and Jane Payne in recognition of their many contributions to the Department and Microbiology. The award recognizes graduate students who demonstrate excellence in research and professional presence. Past recipients Erin Howard (2006) Laura Williams (2007) Noha Mesbah (2008) Alecia Septer (2009) Vanessa Varaljay (2010) G. Matt Hawkins (2011) Laura Cuff and Alex Tucker (2012) Lauren Palmer (2013) Brandon Satinksy (2014) Dustin Ernst (2015) Hannah Bullock (2016) Chelsey Van Drisse (2017) Matthew Powers (2018) Rachel Burckhardt (2019) Anastacia Parks (2020) Huong Vu (2021) Silke Andresen (2022) Lahiru Malalasekara (2023) Ronnie Fulton (2024)
