WVU names 2023 class of Ruby Fellows

Established in 2011 by the Hazel Ruby McQuain Charitable Trust, the fellowship provides financial support that allows incoming doctoral-level scholars to dedicate themselves fully to expanding their studies and using their research to benefit the people of WVU, the nation and the world.

Recipients must be pursuing a graduate degree in one of the following fields: energy and environmental sciences, biological, biotechnical and biomedical sciences, or biometrics, nanotechnology and material science, security, sensing, forensic sciences and related identification technologies.

Since the Ruby Fellows program’s inception, a total of 50 students have received financial support to continue their research at WVU.

“We are proud to welcome yet another exceptional group of scholars to our campus this fall through the support of the Ruby Fellows program,” Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs Maryanne Reed said. “I’m continually impressed by these fellows — their curiosity and creativity, their commitment to learning and their dedication to serving others through their work.”

First-generation college student Anderson came to WVU as an undergraduate studying civil engineering with hopes to pursue a career in architectural design. However, that changed as Anderson found his true passion and enjoyment on the environmental side of engineering.

“I really like to be challenged and keep my mind working,” Anderson said. “In environmental engineering, no matter what you do, there is always something to learn in the world around you.”

Anderson aspires to continue his education to obtain a professorship and develop a research group of his own after graduation.

Huckaby initially attended college with the intention of becoming a doctor. However, she changed course when she found her enjoyment of research while fulfilling a requirement for medical school.

“I enjoy learning new things and, with research, I get that and even more,” Huckaby said. “There is just so much I love about research and I could not imagine myself not doing it.”

Currently, Huckaby works in an immunology pathogenesis lab, where she helps others with their projects as they try to develop a new vaccine for Lyme disease.

“It is inspiring to see how much knowledge, confidence, self-assurance and technical skills they have gained, and this motivates me to continue learning and developing as a scientist,” Huckaby said.

Huckaby will continue to do research during her doctoral studies at WVU. After graduation, she plans to become a research scientist working on biomedical assay development.

Rawson has always been driven by the love for his state and the urge to learn more. When people told him West Virginia offered nothing for a successful career, he feared he would have to leave the people and place he called home.

However, upon discovering that world-changing research was being done close to home, he attended WVU, where he fell in love with what he studied and received his bachelor’s degree in immunology and medical microbiology.

“There were a lot of labs where I got hands-on experience,” Rawson said. “Just learning about the immune system and how complicated it is intrigued me.”

As an undergraduate, he did a lot of work with neonatal sepsis under Cory Robinson. Now, Rawson is a lab technician in Ivan Martinez’s lab, where most of his work focuses on SARS-CoV-2 infection, human papillomavirus and different types of cancer.

“Rawson aspires to pursue a career in academia and eventually have his own lab where he can teach others valuable information.

The Hazel Ruby McQuain Charitable Trust established the Ruby Scholars Graduate Fellows Program in memory of its namesake. Hazel Ruby McQuain was involved in philanthropic giving to support WVU for more than 20 years before she died at the age of 93 in 2002. One of her many gifts includes an $8 million gift towards the construction of J.W. Ruby Memorial Hospital, which is named after her late husband.