Biological Sciences Faculty Member Goller Wins Michael Dickey Outstanding Research Mentor Award

May 4, 2022 Staff 2-min. read

A student presenter talks to Bret Smith, dean of University College

On April 26-27, NC State’s Office of Undergraduate Research (OUR) hosted its annual Spring Undergraduate Research and Creativity Symposium. After being held online during the COVID-19 pandemic, this year the event returned to an in-person setting in Talley Student Union.

At the event, 287 students from colleges across the university presented their research and creative work in a series of poster and oral presentations as well as exhibitions and performances.

Also at the event, OUR presented the Michael Dickey Outstanding Research Mentor Award to Carlos Goller, an associate teaching professor in the Department of Biological Sciences. This award recognizes an individual who has demonstrated excellence in mentoring and supporting undergraduate researchers.

“In short, Dr. Carlos Goller has been far more than just a research mentor to me during my time at NC State,” said Rahul Sharma, Goller’s student mentee. “I transferred to NC State after my freshman year at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte amidst COVID, and I was also very unsure of what to study during college. Meeting with Dr. Goller and asking about biotechnology was one of the main reasons I chose to pursue the field. He was so enthusiastic when he spoke about it and it was infectious.

“Since then, I have been researching with Dr. Goller for almost two years now, and he has made me love research. He is always going above and beyond to teach you everything he can, making every opportunity a lesson. While he is always checking up on me and asking how things are going, he also gives me lots of independence to let my creativity and ideas run the project. He always makes students feel accepted in his lab and he shows such a passion towards teaching that it makes it hard to leave. He will also do everything to find opportunities for you and share them, whether it is a research grant or an NC State internship. If there is someone that deserves this award, it is definitely Dr. Goller.”

Two people standing in front of a projector screen with the words "Michael Dickey Outstanding Research Mentor Award Nominees" above a list of names — Professor Carlos Goller (left) and Rahul Sharma at the symposium

Given annually at the Spring Symposium, the Michael Dickey Outstanding Research Mentor Award was first given in 2020 to its namesake, Michael Dickey, Alcoa Professor in Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering. The award was given to professor Thomas Parker from the Department of History in 2021.
Learn more about the Undergraduate Research and Creativity Symposium and learn about each of the projects that were presented here.

This post was originally published in DASA.