Rachel Fitzjerrells, a Bioinformatics and Computational Biology PhD student in the Mangalam Lab, won the prestigious Max Smith Oral Presentation Award at the 71st Iowa Section AADOCR on February 13th, 2024. Her presentation, “Machine Learning Approach Identifies Dysbiotic Oral Communities in Multiple Sclerosis,” explored innovative methods for analyzing the oral microbiome. Rachel's presentation was selected as the best from over 40 graduate student and post-doctoral presentations, demonstrating her excellent communication skills, cutting-edge research, and engaging delivery.