Sabeeha Merchant has been awarded the 2012 Darbaker Prize in Phycology for meritorious work in the study of microscopic algae by the Botanical Society of America. Sabeeha has been instrumental in developing the genetics and genomics of Chlamydomonas as a model organism. Her work has elucidated the role of metabolic cofactors and iron and copper utilization in the biogenesis of the photosynthetic apparatus, thus providing the basic understanding of chloroplast development for green algae and plants. More information about the Darbaker Prize can be found at this site.