Launched in 2017, the Hollins Partnership program gives select Hollins undergraduates the opportunity to identify possible mentor-mentee connections/relationships for their future graduate training. This summer, Aqsa Fazal ’23, Olivia Sacci ’24, and Jessica Willebeek-LeMair ’23 enjoyed close collaborations with faculty from the Global Change Center at Virginia Tech, partnerships that enhanced their research experience portfolios.

Fazal, who is majoring in chemistry with a concentration in biochemistry and minors in biology and physics, researched mosquito-borne diseases. Building on her experience working with amphibians in both a clinical and zoological setting, Sacci studied the symbiotic microbial communities that reside on amphibian skin as well as the microbiome-parasite interactions in honeybees. She is a biology major and chemistry minor on the pre-veterinary track at Hollins. Willebeek-LeMair, an environmental science major, assisted in using data from wildlife viewer surveys to write scientific reports. The experience enhanced her data analysis and scientific writing skills and provided her with a new social perspective on environmental conservation issues in the Appalachian region.

Fazal, Sacci, and Willebeek-LeMair participated in the Fralin Life Science Institute’s Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship program in conjunction with activities organized by the Virginia Tech Office of Undergraduate Research.