Last year introduced us all to a new set of challenges that have brought hardship and tragedy to many. However, despite these difficulties, good news did exist during 2020, and here I will present some of the reasons for celebration that occurred for the E2G2 graduate students!

• Three new graduate students started their PhDs with us! Maria Castaño, Matthew Lindsay, and Xiaomi Liu!
• Rose Driscoll, a PhD student in the Brisson Lab, received the GRFP, recognizing her great skills as a researcher and promising contributions to science!
• Emery Logan received the Edward Peak Curtis Award for excellence in teaching as a graduate student!
• The University of Rochester hosted the second Great Lakes Annual Meeting of  Evolutionary Genomics! Despite needing to shift to an online platform, the meeting has a huge success with many fascinating presenters!
• Four PhD students passed their qualifying exams: Rose Driscoll, Lauren Gregory, Jeremy Summers, and Nilima Walunjkar!

2021 will be sure to offer its own set of challenges, but we hope that the members of our community will continue to do great things!