Judy D. Wall
Professor Judy D. Wall received her PhD in biochemistry from Duke University and a bachelor’s degree in chemistry from the University of North Carolina, and now works on a variety of research areas in MU's biochemistry department including environmental microbiology, bioremediation of toxic metal, and the genetics and biochemistry of sulfate-reducing bacteria. Her three current students have nominated her for the faculty mentor award.
Daniel Rusk Hess, one of Wall’s recent undergraduate researchers who is now enrolled in a graduate program at the University of Delaware, remembers when he first met Wall, “I first met Dr. Wall when I interviewed for an undergraduate research position in her lab. It was immediately apparent that she had a great deal of passion for science and was adamant about sharing her enthusiasm with others. That day, she encouraged me to attend a seminar on metabolically engineered yeast presented by Dr. Jay D. Keasling. Now when I look back on that day, I consider it the most academically influential day of my life. It was the day I was first exposed to the field of study in which I plan to pursue my life's work: metabolic engineering.”
Another of her undergraduate lab assistants, junior biochemistry major Matthew Begemann, says, “Dr. Wall's guidance through lab meetings and individual mentorship has not only allowed me to ask the right questions and develop experiments that will answer the question, but also what to make of the answers and further questions to ask.... [Her] mentorship has encouraged me to investigate a variety of aspects of biochemistry and other life sciences that will help me to make future decisions with respect to graduate school and career choices.”
Dr. Wall's third and final undergraduate assistant, senior Matt Shirley, attended the Virtual Institute for Microbial Stress and Survival (VIMSS) in Berkeley, California with Wall. “This was my first professional conference, and the collaboration with other researchers allowed me to see how some of the most successful labs operate,” Shirley says. “By showing me how to collaborate and communicate with scientists at other research institutions, Dr. Wall has prepared me for a lifetime of successful research.”