Jacob Miller Rewarded Outstanding Teaching Assistant Award

“If you go into a class wanting to learn a concept, the grade will follow.” –Jacob Miller

Jacob Miller

Jacob Miller, a graduate student in microbiology, recently received the University’s 2018 Outstanding Teaching Assistant Award. The award is designed to recognize and reward graduate assistants for their outstanding performance in teaching and instruction.

Miller, a graduate student in Dr. Susanne DiSalvo’s Lab, has been cited as going above and beyond his duties as a teaching assistant, often attending lectures and working with students outside the classroom.

“Jacob is one of the most committed students I have ever had,” commented DiSalvo. “He has really gone above and beyond what is typically required of graduate assistants and the students are very responsive to him.”

As an active participant in his own learning, Miller has harnessed an impressive ability to access students, broadening their understanding of often perceived complex topics.“As a graduate teaching assistant, I am also a student myself,” said Miller. “It is important to stay connected—I remember what it was like to be a student conceptualizing a new subject for the first time,”

Outside of his excellence in teaching, Miller can be found researching that which we cannot visibly see—bacteria, specifically the interactions between amoeba hosts and their bacterial symbionts. “My experience at SIUE has been great. I will leave the lab published in two papers and I am really thankful for that,” commented Miller.

Though he may feel thankful, Miller himself, as an assistant and student, has demonstrated great independence and an enduring interest in research. Upon graduating from the University he plans to pursue a career in osteopathic medicine.

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