Yang receives NSF CAREER award, nearly $1 million for genomics research

Melinda A. Yang, associate professor of biology, received a National Science Foundation CAREER award of more than $990,000 to support her research on genetic adaptations in modern humans. Over the next five years, Yang, an ancient DNA expert, will build an easy-to-use tool that combines present-day and ancient DNA data to help researchers identify the genetic changes that have helped humans adapt and survive over time. Yang will also develop a Course-Based Undergraduate Research Experience (CURE) using ancient DNA datasets for students taking her Human Evolutionary Genomics course at UR.