- October 2023 to October 2024-
Please join us in recognizing our very talented and dedicated staff who have reached major service milestones at Cornell in the last year!

Faraz Ahmed– 5 Years

Faraz Ahmed joined the TREx Facility in the spring of 2019, which at that time was called RNA Sequencing Core in the Department of Biomedical Sciences in the Vet School. Faraz immediately had a big impact on improving the data management and analysis workflows for TREx projects and continues to bring his skills and expertise to improving and extending the analysis component of TREx services. Faraz has also played key roles in the two Centers that we participate as technology experts, specifically the Reproductive Sciences Center and the Center for Enervating NeuroImmune Disease (also known as ME-CFS). In collaboration with ME-CFS researchers, Faraz has a co-first author paper reporting single-cell gene expression profiles for over 50 people at two timepoints comprising over 500,000 cells, which exceeded the limits of analysis for many R packages – but he persevered. Faraz now works remotely from the Albany area where his family lives, and we appreciate seeing him in person when he visits Ithaca.

Qin Fu– 5 Years

Dr. Qin Fu joined the Proteomics Facility team as a Postdoctoral Associate in summer of 2019. She was promoted to Research Associate in 2022 in recognition of her extensive contributions to the success of the facility in proteomics services. Since 2020, Qin has been responsible for daily operation and maintenance of two advanced mass spectrometers, data analysis and method development for our proteomics pipeline and has become a key part of our proteomics team.  Qin also made tremendous contributions to the success of the Facility’s three NIH and DOD funded research projects in which she has been actively involved. Qin is a terrific team player, colleague, and research collaborator. She has an excellent working attitude in support of all research projects and facility proteomics services.  She is very special for her positivity and willingness in helping our research collaborators and facility users whenever needed.

Jackie Mahoney – 5 Years

Jackie Mahoney joined the Biotechnology Resource Center (BRC) Flow Cytometry Facility in 2019 just after the facility’s launch and expansion and since then has developed extensive knowledge of flow cytometry.  She is highly professional and provides excellent customer service in assisting users with complex questions as well as providing insightful advice with planning of new experiments. Jackie is very gifted at troubleshooting the instrumentation and her colleagues go to her for technical advice. She is quick-thinking, efficient, highly organized, and level-headed. She is invaluable to the facility and has taken the lead as the senior core staff member in keeping operations running smoothly. Jackie is deeply valued by her colleagues for being dependable, helpful and insightful, and overall a true pleasure to work with.

Nick Palladino – 5 Years

Breeding Insight and the Institute of Biotechnology at Cornell University are excited to recognize Nick Palladino for his 5-years of excellent service.  During Nick’s time at BI, he has been a dedicated applications programmer with the IT and Software team.  His skills and experience have made significant impacts on BI’s DeltaBreed software, as well as its interoperability with other software like Field Book.  Nick’s can-do attitude and thoughtful expression of his ideas are highly valued and integral to BI’s success. On behalf of everyone at Breeding Insight and Biotechnology, we thank you for sharing your time and talents with us, and we are proud of your achievements.

Moira Sheehan – 5 Years

While we officially recognize Dr. Moira Sheehan for five years of service today, her ties to Cornell and Biotech go back further than that. Moira received her Ph.D. here at Cornell and continued with Postdoc appointments in the Buckler and Pawlowski Labs. She left Cornell for a stint at Nature Source and then was recruited back to launch and direct the Breeding Insight Project.
Over the last five years, Moira’s impressive leadership has helped Breeding Insight grow from 10 staff members supporting 6 specialty crop species, to a 30-member team supporting 27 species across dozens of ARS breeding programs. Under Moira’s guidance, Breeding Insight has built a vast array of services, as well as assembled a fantastic team with a wide range of specialties that can cater to the various needs of each breeder they support. Moira’s honesty and empathy have created a culture of open communication, authenticity, and genuine belonging across the team. Despite leading a hybrid team that spans multiple time zones and many states, Moira’s dedication to Breeding Insight has fostered an environment of inclusion and cohesiveness. Breeding Insight and Cornell are so fortunate to have had the pleasure of five years of Moira’s exceptional service. We’re all looking forward to celebrating the next five - by which time when you go to the grocery store you might be eating BI impacted food!

Ying Yang – 5 Years

In the summer of 2019, Ying Yang joined the Center for Life Science Ventures as a part-time Assistant Director, with the other half of her effort dedicated to the Sloan Masters of Health Administration Program as an instructor and lecturer. She later transitioned to full-time effort at the Center, and she currently divides her time as the Associate Director of both the Center for Life Science Ventures and the Praxis Center for Venture Development. Both incubator programs have benefited immeasurably from her efforts and keen ability to streamline and standardize operations, and clients in both incubators have benefited immeasurably from her coaching and mentorship. Ying's exceptional talents and drive have been integral to the success of incubation programs at Cornell.    

Dongyan Zhao – 5 Years

Breeding Insight and the Institute of Biotechnology at Cornell University are excited to recognize Dr. Dongyan Zhao for her 5-years of excellent service. Dongyan’s dedication, enthusiasm, and scientific insight are truly inspiring. Dongyan has been with Breeding Insight since its inception, and her consistent presence is a stabilizing and calming presence.  Dongyan served as a Genomics Coordinator starting at Breeding Insight and has been promoted to Genomics Lead where she manages a team of genomics and bioinformatics scientists that assist USDA-ARS specialty plant and animal breeders. In her role, Dongyan has brought genomic and bioinformatics tools to species with complex genomes that never thought they would be included in the genomics revolution. Her solutions are scientifically sound and easily approachable and are being cited in numerous scientific articles. On behalf of everyone at Breeding Insight and Biotechnology thank you for sharing your time and talents with us.

Beth Anderson – 10 years

Beth Anderson joined the BRC Proteomics Facility team as a Technician III in the spring of 2014. Her responsibilities have significantly evolved since then and she is currently a Research Support Specialist II for the facility. Since 2020, Beth has been responsible for sample preparation in both proteomics and metabolomics services. She has made tremendous contributions to the success of many research projects across Cornell and with outside research institutions. Beth is a truly outstanding team player with a customer-service oriented attitude and willingness to help others at any time. She is a positive inspiration to her colleagues on the proteomics and metabolomics teams, and is highly regarded by our clients for her topnotch support of the Cornell research community.  

Lynn Johnson – 10 Years

After a full decade working as a Programmer with the Buckler Lab, Lynn Johnson is wrapping up her career and is planning on retiring this January. She joined the Buckler Lab in August of 2014 as a Programmer. She currently leads the programming efforts related to database and field management systems, is a core contributor to the development of the Practical Haplotype Graph, and ensures that groups’ code is well documented. Lynn continually challenges herself with new projects and is a patient and helpful guide to those with code issues! She is generous and respectful, and it is always a pleasure to work with her, or even just have a nice chat early in the morning, as she is always in the office before anyone else. We will so much miss not only her commitment to rigorous software development and testing, but the in-person chats about the hikes and nature that we saw over the weekend.

Jerri Lee – 10 Years

Jerri Lee joined the BRC Bioinformatics Facility Bio-IT desktop support team in 2014, and has been a favorite with all our clients for her stellar customer service attitude ever since. She is a dedicated and knowledgeable team player who is constantly finding new ways to both improve our service offering and provide our customers with the kind of personalized computer care she's become known for.  We are thankful every day that she's with us on our Bio-IT team and congratulate her on 10 years of service at Cornell! 

David Phillips– 10 Years

Breeding Insight and the Institute of Biotechnology are excited to recognize Dave Phillips for his 10 years of excellent service at Cornell. Dave joined BI in 2021 as an application programmer with the IT and Software team. Dave brought a wealth of programming experience from several domains to the unfamiliar domain of plant and animal breeding at BI.  Over the past three years, he’s gained important domain knowledge through his thoughtful questioning and closer participation with breeders. His skills and experience have made noticeable impacts in BI’s DeltaBreed software, as well as its interoperability with other software like Field Book. On behalf of everyone at Breeding Insight and Biotech thank you for sharing your time and talents with us.

Jeff Glaubitz – 15 years

Dr. Jeff Glaubitz is a Senior Research Associate with the Biotechnology Resource Center (BRC) Bioinformatics Facility BioHPC team, which involves coding, troubleshooting and system administration. In addition, he is also a member of the Bioinformatics LIMS team. His contribution to BioHPC itself is essential, but also at the same time he is actively supporting various research projects and providing research related support for our users.  He is often requested by name by our users as a person they want to talk to. His patience, understanding and talent to explain difficult things are deeply valued. We are all looking forward to many more years working with Jeff and congratulate him on 15 years of service at Cornell!   

Jen Grenier – 15 years

Dr. Jennifer Grenier came to Cornell in 2009 and first worked with Andrew Clark, professor in the Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics, on Drosophila evolutionary genomics projects before launching the RNA Sequencing Center (RSC) in 2014, which was later renamed to encompass more of the services provided to the Transcriptional Regulation and Gene Expression Facility (TREx). In 2019, Jen launched the Genomics Innovation Hub, a novel collaborative genomics technology development lab with the goal to make open-platform genomics methods and resources available to the Cornell research community.  In the summer of 2023, she assumed the directorship of the Biotechnology Resource Center (BRC) Genomics Facility, integrating the facility with TREx and the Genomics Innovation Hub.  Jen is an exceptional scientist, leader, and colleague who conducts herself with the utmost integrity and is unfailingly committed to equitable and inclusive practices.  She is an ardent advocate for her staff, promotes a culture of mutual respect, continued learning, and professional development, and sincerely supports work/life balance. Jen is equally conscientious and caring about her colleagues and is always thoughtful and engaged in BRC organizational needs and strategy. We are incredibly fortunate to benefit from Jen’s skill, drive, and vision as a leader and scientist and congratulate her on 15 years of service at Cornell!

Terry Casstevens – 20 years

Terry Casstevens started working with Ed Buckler way back at the turn of this century, while they were both at North Carolina State University. While Terry’s position moved to Cornell when Ed came to Ithaca, he remained in North Carolina - long before remote work was a thing. He has been the sole member of the North Carolina Buckler Lab office for the last 20 years. Terry is the lead software engineer of the Buckler Lab, primarily focusing on TASSEL (used by over 20,000+ annually), and this software has now trained 2 to 3 generations of scientists on how to relate genetic and trait variation. Terry is also a YouTube phenom, who has introduced 100,000s people to how birds nest and eat through his clever engineering of nest boxes and feeders. He is also the one that reminds us to get together - at exactly 12 pm - and eat lunch and enjoy one another's friendship! Congratulations on 20 years at Cornell, Terry!