Sarah Kane, a high-achieving doctoral student within Texas Tech University’s Department of Animal & Food Sciences, is one of a half-dozen students within the university selected to receive a Graduate Research Fellowship from the National Science Foundation to assist their educational experience. These fellowships are extremely competitive as NSF received some 44,000 applications and awarded only 2,000.

 “I am incredibly honored to have received this award” Kane said. “In addition to the prestigious nature of this award, this fellowship provides financial security so that I can pursue academic interests and unique research opportunities, which may otherwise not be possible. I believe this elevates the level of research I am able to conduct here at Texas Tech.”

Kane’s academic interests include canine olfaction, specifically in odor generalization and discrimination. Today, she works as a research assistant within Texas Tech’s Canine Olfaction Research & Education Laboratory, which is led by Associate Professor of Companion Animal Science Nathaniel Hall. Earlier this year Hall received a Chancellor's Council Distinguished Research Award, the highest faculty honor in the university system. 

 “Sarah Kane's award allows her to pursue unique and creative research ideas within our program, and really push the science forward on our understanding of olfaction and cognition in animals,” Hall said. “I’m excited and impressed by Sarah's work. She is setting a new standard of research for detection dog science.”

Kane received her bachelor's degree in biology from Hamilton College in Clinton, New York. Prior to her starting her NSF fellowship studies in 2021, she worked as a research assistant at the Penn Vet Working Dog Center in Philadelphia. At the center, she helped on projects studying canine detection of invasive species, ovarian cancer and wildlife diseases. In addition, Kane collaborated on a 2015 project studying the efficacy of diabetic alert dogs in Bristol, England.  

CONTACT: Clint Krehbiel, Dean, Davis College of Agricultural Sciences & Natural Resources, Texas Tech University at (806) 742-2808 or Clint.Krehbiel@ttu.edu

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