Biology alumni, Juan Calix wins the University of Alabama Birmingham's "Samuel B. Barker Award" for Excellence in Graduate Studies at the Doctoral Level. “The Barker Award,” named for UAB’s first graduate dean, Dr. Samuel Booth Barker, is given each spring to one Ph.D. student and one Masters student, both of whom expect to receive their degrees within the calendar year. Juan is currently a MSTP graduate student at UAB and studies the dynamics of serotype evolution in Streptococcus pneumoniae. Juan will receive the Barker Award and be recognized as the outstanding student in the Microbiology graduate program at the UAB Honors Convocation.