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As a child growing up in Italy, Barbara Gandolfi cried on the first days of school and often played hooky to spend time with her grandfather.

But now, in an extended academic career, she has been recognized with the Award for Excellence in Postdoctoral Research, which includes a $500 prize.

This week, the university recognized Gandolfi, a postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Population Health and Reproduction in the School of Veterinary Medicine, and 31 others for outstanding graduate student teaching, dissertations and postdoctoral research.

The Graduate Studies Honors and Awards event is sponsored by the Office of Graduate Studies and the Graduate Council.

"I am proud that, at ºÙºÙÊÓƵ, research and teaching are closely intertwined and mutually reinforcing — each making the other better," Ralph Hexter, provost and executive vice chancellor, told the gathering of about 125.

Jeffrey Gibeling, vice provost of Graduate Education and dean of Graduate Studies, said, "It's the linkage between teaching and research that's so vital in defining our character."

Hexter said ºÙºÙÊÓƵ graduate students and postdoctoral researchers, on the front lines of teaching and research, deserve much credit for the excellence, stature and impact of the university. "You are junior colleagues who are already making a difference, and who will make even greater contributions in the future," he said.

Gandolfi, who has worked in Professor Leslie Lyons’ feline genetics lab since 2010, focuses on cat diseases with applications to human health. She has published three papers as a postdoctoral fellow, is co-author of five other manuscripts and has two first-author manuscripts in review. She has presented her research at major academic conferences and received thousands of dollars in grants.

Gandolfi, who earned three degrees at the University of Milan before coming to ºÙºÙÊÓƵ, has accepted a research assistant professor position at the University of Missouri in Columbia beginning in July.

"I like freedom," said Gandolfi, who in her early education struggled with the constraints of school. "In my research, I feel like I can express myself."

Also presented with the same award was Eliza Bliss-Moreau, a postdoctoral fellow with the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences in the School of Medicine. Seventeen scholars were nominated.

Also recognized at the event were 10 winners of the Outstanding Graduate Student Teaching Award and winners of five dissertation awards. The names of all the are posted on the Graduate Studies website.