One of our newest ARCS Illinois Scholars from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign wrote us a wonderful thank you note in appreciation of our support for his research.

Dear ARCS Illinois community,

I'm writing to thank you for awarding me the honor of being an ARCS scholar. The acknowledgement and financial support that this award brings sustains me professionally and personally. As a "young" scientist this award affirms the work that I have done to become a graduate student at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, as well as my choice of field in fungal systematics. This funding allows me to pursue my dissertation with my mind at ease and it expands my freedom to explore research questions and approaches that would otherwise need to be put aside. As a "nontraditional" student, having returned to college to study biology nearly twenty years after earning a degree in studio art, receiving this award is a personal justification for the risk that I took in departing from a familiar and safe life to become a student again. My love for my research, for my discipline in mycology, and my commitment to my academic path are all strengthened by becoming an ARCS scholar.

Sincerely,
Jason Karakehian
 

Jason M. Karakehian
Pronouns: he, him, his
Graduate Student 
Integrative Biology/Plant Biology/mycology
Andrew N. Miller lab
jasonmk3@illinois.edu