Professor of Microbiology Abigail Salyers has been given the American Society for Microbiology Graduate Microbiology Teaching Award. The honor is given to an individual for distinguished teaching at the graduate level and outstanding mentoring of graduate and postgraduate students.

Professor of Microbiology Abigail Salyers has been given the American Society for Microbiology Graduate MicrobiologyTeaching Award. The honor is given to an individual for distinguished teaching at the graduate level and outstanding mentoring of graduate and postgraduate students.

Salyers is well known for her commitment to microbiology instruction at both the graduate and undergraduate levels. Unsatisfied with the course material available to her students, Salyers co-authored multiple text books and developed the microbiology curriculum for first-year medical students. She has been with the University of Illinois for over 30 years, and was awarded the All-Campus Award for Excellence in Teaching by the University of Illinois College Of Medicine.

Salyers has received international recognition for her research on the spread of antibiotic resistance and is currently researching bacteria found in the human colon. She has mentored over 30 Ph.D. students, over two dozen undergraduates, and continues to run a renowned microbiology laboratory in the School of Molecular and Cellular Biology.

Salyers was nominated for the ASM award by one of her former Ph.D. students, Dr. Thomas Zahrt, who is now an Associate Professor at the Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee.