Spider Sense
Nadia Ayoub, professor of biology, loves sharing her passion for open-ended scientific exploration with colleagues and students.
Biology
W&L’s Robert Humston Receives Grant to Study the Trout Population in the Jackson River
The director of environmental studies and professor of biology received the funding from the Virginia Departments of Wildlife Resources and Environmental Quality.
Where the Wild Things Are
Marcie Bernard ’25 explored the different avenues of veterinary medicine in the Amazon Rainforest as she worked to rehabilitate and rewild animals at Hoja Nueva.
W&L Army ROTC Student Earns Prestigious Award While Completing Basic Training
Kylee Cross ’27 received the Soldier Leader of the Cycle Award at her graduation ceremony on August 1.
Saving the Sea Turtles
At the New England Aquarium, Julia Luzzio ’25 is expanding her horizons and gaining hands-on experience working with wildlife.
In Case You Missed It
W&L Outcomes: Pari Ahmadi ’24
Pari Ahmadi ’24 will be working as a clinical research coordinator at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute before attending medical school.
Five W&L Students Awarded Gilman Scholarships to Study Abroad
The Gilman Scholarship Program offers awards of up to $5,000 to U.S. undergraduate students who are Pell Grant recipients.
W&L’s Catherine McKean ’24 Selected For Fulbright to Germany
McKean has been awarded a Fulbright English Teaching Assistantship to teach English in Germany.
W&L Alumni and Student Awarded NSF Fellowships
Emma Aldrich ’22, Tanajia Moye-Green ’23 and Jules Seay ’24 have received pre-doctoral graduate research fellowships from the National Science Foundation to support their research.
Alicia Reigel Published in the Journal Communications Biology
The first-year biology professor co-authored a paper titled “Sponge-derived matter is assimilated by coral holobionts.”
W&L’s Reigel Published in the Marine Ecology Progress Series Journal
First-year biology professor co-authored a paper titled “Microbiome environmental shifts differ between two co-occurring octocoral hosts.”
W&L Student Co-Authors Paper Published by the Pain Medicine Journal
Lucy Worthy ’24 assisted in the research and helped publish the results alongside two W&L alumni.
W&L Outcomes: Lauren Shelby ’23
Lauren Shelby ’23 will be pursuing her master’s degree at New York University.
W&L Professor Receives Two-Year Grant from the USDA Forest Service to Perform Data Analysis and Modeling on Water Quality
Robert Humston will assess over 30 years of data collected by the U.S. Forest Service within the George Washington and Thomas Jefferson National Forests.
A Model of Possibility
Professor of Biology Robert Humston’s Spring Term course takes a deep dive into environmental problem-solving.
W&L Professors and Students Co-Author Peer-Reviewed Paper on Web-Weaving Spiders
Professors Nadia Ayoub and Kyle Friend, and students Jamal Magoti ’23, Maria Luzaran ’23, Cooper Lazo ’24 and Eman Muamar ’24 all contributed to the paper that appeared in the open science platform Frontiers.
W&L Presents Senior Recital with Sam Boyd ’23
Boyd’s piano recital will be held in person and via Livestream on May 17 at 7 p.m.
W&L’s Jules Seay ’24 Awarded Two Prestigious Scholarships to Support Her Undergraduate Studies
Seay has been selected for the Goldwater Scholarship to support a research career in science, mathematics and engineering, and also earned the Udall Scholarship in the environmental category.
W&L’s Ava Boussy ’23 Awarded Fulbright to India
Boussy has been awarded a Fulbright-Nehru research grant to study Buddhist shrines and temples in India.
W&L Professor Receives the 2023 Portion of Multi-Year Grant from the U.S. Department of the Interior
Bill Hamilton will utilize the grant to fund his ongoing research on ecosystem health in Yellowstone National Park.
Meet a Colleague: Mike Hepner
Mike Hepner serves as a laboratory technician for the biology department.
The Art of: Brushing Up
Katie Wall Podracky '05 painted the landscape of more than 40 state parks during the COVID-19 shutdown.
W&L’s Ayoub and Toporikova Awarded NSF Grant for Research in Circadian Rhythm of Spiders
The grant funds a three-year study in collaboration with Pennsylvania State University and East Tennessee State University.
W&L’s Ayoub Presents Nobel Prize Symposium Talk
Nadia Ayoub, professor of biology, will discuss this year’s Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine on Wednesday, Feb. 8.
The Art Of: Taming the Current
After nearly three decades of training, Laura Goodwin '99 accomplished her lifelong dream: to swim the English Channel.
W&L’s Sarp Sahin ’26 Selected to Present at Sports Medicine Conference
First-year Johnson Scholar to offer preliminary research on foot-limb dominance and neuromuscular asymmetry in pediatric soccer players.
Stepping Stones in STEM
Bonner Kirkland '23 conducted biomedical research this summer in the Children’s National Hospital’s Department of Genetic Medicine.
Becoming a Better Scientist
Lucy Worthy ’24 is conducting clinical research and shadowing a physician at the Mayo Clinic.
W&L Outcomes: Leah Jackson ’22
Leah Jackson ’22 always knew she wanted to pursue the health field. Thanks to summer internships and dedication, she heads off to Harvard this fall to follow her passion.
‘One Step Closer’
Sarah Burd ’24 is spending her summer working for a medical technology company in Vienna, Austria, that specializes in prosthetic limbs.
Summer of Hands-On Research
Bridget Osas ’25 is researching behavioral impacts on the development of metabolic syndromes like obesity.
Science Advisory Board Funds New Student Opportunities Endowment
The STEM-focused endowment will support internships, research opportunities, academic conference costs and other student experiences.
Four W&L Students Awarded Gilman Scholarships to Study Abroad
The Gilman Scholarship Program offers awards of up to $5,000 to U.S. undergraduate students who are Pell Grant recipients.
W&L’s Samantha Carley ’22 Awarded Fulbright English Teaching Assistantship to Georgia
Carley will serve as an English language teaching assistant in a school in the former Soviet republic.
Life on Two Legs
In this Spring Term course, Washington and Lee students are making data science look like a walk in the park.
Spring Term Course Brings CSI To Life
CSI: W&L students are learning forensic science with the help of a real FBI evidence response team.
New Podcast Episode Spins Web of Wonder
The new episode of "W&L After Class: The Lifelong Learning Podcast" features biology professor Nadia Ayoub, who explains her research with black widow spiders.
The Bluebird of Happiness
Chris Tucker '23 spent the summer researching Western Bluebirds in Missoula with a biology professor from the University of Arizona.
W&L’s Ayoub Interviewed in Wired Article
Professor Nadia Ayoub was interviewed in a Wired article about her work with spider silk.
W&L’s Lanier Publishes Article in Nature Communications
Leah Lanier recently published a journal article titled “Activation of Prp28 ATPase by phosphorylated Npl3 at a critical step of spliceosome remodeling.”
W&L’s Cecily Stern ’23 Receives Gilman Scholarship
Stern will travel to South Korea this summer to study in Seoul, South Korea.
Immerse Yourself in Spring Term!
It's the most wonderful term of the year, so keep an eye on @wlunews social media and this post for a daily dose of W&L's deeply engaging four-week term.
Students Volunteer with Local Farmer
Helping with sheep at Tom Stanley's farm is providing Isaiah Medina '22 and Abby Hamilton '22 with valuable experience that they can include on future veterinary school applications.
Community-Based Learning Thrives Amid COVID-19
The pandemic has presented challenges to working and learning within the community, but virtual and distanced projects have allowed those partnerships to continue to bear fruit this year.
Student Researchers Assist Ayoub with PLOS ONE Article
Associate Professor of Biology Nadia Ayoub collaborated with students and alumni to publish a research article in the open-access journal PLOS ONE titled “The common house spider, Parasteatoda tepidariorum, maintains silk gene expression on sub-optimal diet.”
Finding Ways to Give Back
Jerónimo Reyes '21 says he is so immensely grateful for the gifts in his life, including a QuestBridge scholarship to W&L, that he wants to become a doctor and devote his career to helping others.
Wastewater Testing Helps W&L Track Virus
Testing sewage samples for the virus that causes COVID-19 is helping W&L to do targeted human testing and identify asymptomatic cases before they trigger large outbreaks.
Parsing a Pandemic
Fifteen W&L faculty members and two alumnae have signed on to help teach a Fall Term course that will cover multiple aspects of the COVID-19 crisis.
Snapshot of a Pandemic
Chris Johnson ’00 uses his camera to document the COVID-19 crisis.
Spring Term Goes Virtual
Spring Term courses aim to provide innovative, one-of-a-kind educational experiences to W&L students. Online instruction during COVID-19 led to many new opportunities.
W&L’s Colin Berger ’20 Awarded Fulbright Grant to Spain
Berger has received a Fulbright English Teaching Assistantship to Spain starting January 2021.
W&L Donates PPE to Local Providers
Amid a national shortage of PPE, W&L employees put the IQ Center’s 3D printers to work making face shields and mask strap holders for local health care workers.
W&L Professors Awarded Virginia Department of Agriculture Grant
John Knox, Skip Williams, and Maryanne Simurda were awarded $15,000 for their research on Helenium virginicum, or Virginia sneezeweed.
W&L Faculty and Students Co-author Paper
Jackson Roberts ’19, Ryann Carpenter ’20 and biology professors Sarah Blyth and Natalia Toporikova co-authored a paper published in the Journal of Endocrine Research.
The Value of Community
Lainey Johnson '16 values connections with a variety of people from different backgrounds, which is something she learned to prize at W&L.
Eric Chaisson to Give Public Lecture at Washington and Lee
Chaisson’s lecture, which is free and open to the public, is titled “Cosmic Evolution.”
W&L’s Kahn to Lecture, Host Discussion on Amazon Fires
The event, which is free and open to the public, is titled "The Future of the Amazon Rain Forest."
A Goal in Mind
Working with ICU patients at Vanderbilt University Medical Center through the Allen Grant has reaffirmed neuroscience major Laney Smith's desire to become a surgeon.
Lunch with a Side of Love
Through coursework and connections, Hannah Archer '20 helped to create a school food service program to ensure that local children have enough to eat during the summer.
Community-Based Learning Tackles Food Insecurity
W&L courses in economics and biology used community-based learning to engage in partnerships and make an impact on food insecurity at a local level.
Quick Hit: Field Herpetology
In Professor David Marsh's Spring Term class, the Blue Ridge Mountains became a living laboratory for the study of salamanders.
A Brave New World
In the Genetic Engineering and Society SIn the Genetic Engineering and Society Spring Term class, students focus on the intersection of science, medicine, law, agriculture, ethics and public policy.pring Term class, students focus on the intersection of science, medicine, law, agriculture and public policy.
Down to Earth
Megan Hill Gambrill ’05 had long fantasized about a job where she’d get to play in the dirt all day.
W&L’s Hashim Syed ’19 Awarded Fulbright to Morocco
Syed is a biology major and a Middle East and South Asia studies minor.
Sophie Wilks ’21 Awarded Nemours Summer Undergraduate Research Scholarship
Sophie Wilks ’21 has won a $4,300 Nemours Summer Undergraduate Research Scholarship for her project.
Serving Others Is Her Style
Fon Teawdatwan '19 has led three service trips to Charleston, West Virginia, for Volunteer Venture, a service-learning, pre-orientation program for incoming students.
Wade Patterson ’20 Receives Prestigious DAAD RISE Internship
Patterson will be interning with a lab at the Senckenberg Natural History Collections in Dresden, Germany.
VIDEO: From Seed to Table
At W&L, sustainability starts with a seed and blossoms into sea change. Take a peek inside our gardening and composting effort to see how it's impacting our community — and the future.
W&L’s I’Anson Receives SCHEV Outstanding Faculty Award
The award recognizes faculty at Virginia’s institutions of higher learning who exemplify the highest standards of teaching, scholarship and service.
Expert in Paleontology Sculptures to Give Keynote Speech for SSA
The title of Gary Staab’s presentation is “Digital Dinosaurs: Fleshing out the Past."
‘Entranced by Science’
Deepthi Thumuluri '20 won a Virginia Academy of Sciences grant to continue her research into the relationship between diet-induced obesity, exercise and the gut microbiome.
‘Catapulted into a New Country’
After spending the summer teaching and exploring in Costa Rica, Taylor Casey '20 can't wait to return.
‘College is More Than Earning a Degree’
Whether she's leading the Student Association for Black Unity, acting in a play or volunteering in the community as a Bonner Scholar, Sasha Edwards '20 is ever mindful that education can happen anywhere.
Taking Independence to a New Level
Caroline Caruso '21 loved Costa Rica so much that she wants to open a medical practice there after graduate school.
Ayoub and Friend Awarded NSF Grant for Research in Spider Silk
The grant will help fund a multidisciplinary team from three institutions, including W&L, that will investigate how variation in adhesive-protein components of spider silk relate to differences in the glue’s material properties.
A Natural Inclination
As a senior ecologist with Trihydro Corp., Jana Heisler White '98 works on environmental protection and remediation.
Three W&L Students Awarded 2018 Critical Language Scholarships
Elizabeth McDonald heads to Japan, Emily Austin to Indonesia and Riley Ries to Kyrgyzstan.
W&L Students Receive National Science Foundation Awards
The NSF only funds about 11,000 of the 40,000 proposals it receives annually for research, education and training projects.
W&L Women Mentor the Next Generation
Women in Technology and Science gives girls from local middle and elementary schools an opportunity to perform science experiments in all disciplines during the academic year.
Climate Change and Sharks
As a research assistant at the Virginia Institute of Marine Science, Rachel Steffen ’18 gathered data on the environmental thresholds of juvenile sandbar sharks.
She Talks to Animals
For Christine Starer-Smith ’99, a love of animals led to a veterinary career and volunteer service at a remote Dakota reservation.
From Lab to Rescue Squad
Ethiopia Getachew '19 always had an interest in science, but working in the biochemistry lab and volunteering with local EMTs helped her future plans take shape.
Georgetown Professor Continues Equality and Difference Series with Research on Pregnant Women
Maggie Little, director of the Kennedy Institute of Ethics (KIE) at Georgetown University, will speak on “Research With Pregnant Women: A Moral Imperative.”
Down By the River
Over the summer, students worked with Professor Robert Humston to examine the potential effects of smallmouth bass on native brook trout populations in the Virginia watershed.
Lions, Giraffes and Photos — Oh My!
Olivia Kubli '18's summer volunteer work included photographing lions, giraffes and elephants in Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe.
‘An Active Participant in Solutions’
Through the Shepherd Higher Education Consortium on Poverty, Tyra Barrett '18 interned at the Camden Coalition of Healthcare Providers in New Jersey.
Advanced Research Cohort Program Marks Second Successful Year
Twelve Class of 2021 students visited W&L for a five-week Advanced Research Cohort program that allowed them to dabble in STEM projects and establish quality relationships.
Hormones, Fat and Infertility
Annie Jeckovich ’18 is studying the effects of obesity on reproduction in W&L's Fat Rat lab.
Heart and Soil
Dashiell Dericks ’18 and Jesse Evans ’20 are selling saplings grown from Colonnade oak trees in a new business that marries Dericks' love of silviculture and his fondness for W&L.
On the Origin of One of W&L’s Most Valuable Books
Washington and Lee University owns a first edition of one of the most important — and controversial — books ever written.
In Her Natural Habitat
As director of Iowa State University's conservation camp, Jennifer Schieltz ’08 follows the lives of elk, deer, moose, bears, wolves and mountain lions.
Harrison Westgarth Awarded a Fulbright Research Grant to Brazil
W&L senior Harrison Westgarth has been awarded a Fulbright grant to Brazil, where he will study the “Development of an Animal Model of Direct and Congenital Zika Virus Transmission.”
Laura Beth Lavette: Welcoming First-Years with Open Arms
Meet Laura Beth Lavette ‘17, a senior with a passion for introducing first-year students to W&L.
Scott Boyd Joins W&L’s Board of Trustees
Scott Boyd, a neurosurgeon who graduated from W&L in 1986 with a B.S. in biology, was sworn in as a trustee of his alma mater on Feb. 10, in Lexington.
Ingredients for Social Change
A multi-disciplinary Community-Based Research project gave Washington and Lee University students a chance to help local organizations take a closer look at access to affordable healthy food.
Packing a Nutritious Punch
Sejal Mistry ’17, a biology major and poverty studies minor, has completed a service project that aims to improve the nutritional value of foods in the Campus Kitchen at Washington and Lee’s Backpack Program.
Meet the Johnsons: Harrison Westgarth
Meet Harrison Westgarth '17, a pre-med varsity athlete with a passion for teaching English for Speakers of Other Languages.
W&L Researchers See Coral Decline
Geology professor Lisa Greer, who has been taking students to Belize since 2011 to monitor the health of coral reefs, said their research indicates that the latest El Niño, on top of global climate change, may be harming the Belize Barrier Reef.
My W&L: Sejal Mistry
"My W&L experience has been defined by my love of biology and my passion for being active in my community."
Crisis Responder: David Sugerman ’99
David Sugerman '99 combines medicine with social service, responding to crises around the world and training those on the front lines of disease control. He will give a public talk on his career in public health on Tuesday, Oct. 25, at 5:30 p.m. in Science A214. .
Harrison Westgarth
Westgarth spent the summer interning at the NIH researching the rare congenital lysosomal storage disease, Neimann Pick Type C.
One Fish, Two Fish
Above or below the water, Sasha Doss '13 studies and connects with fish and their environment.
In Depth: Washington and Lee Launches Advanced Research Cohort (ARC) Pilot
12 exceptional students experience a unique summer program aimed at increasing retention in STEM majors.
Around the World: Scott Sugden ’15
Fort Dauphin, Madagascar.
In Depth: International Immersion
Recipients of W&L's Certificate of International Immersion reflect on their experiences abroad.
From the wluLex Blog: Steven Vranian ’15
A Q&A with Volunteer Firefighter Steven Vranian '15.
Unleashing the Girl Effect: Stuart Hogue ’96
Stuart Hogue '96 believes in the power of girls to end global poverty.
Interns at Work: Harrison Westgarth ’17
Biology and Spanish major Harrison Westgarth '17 researches a rare congenital disease at the National Institutes of Health.
My W&L: Bayan Misaghi ’15
"A liberal arts education hones transferable skills."
Interns at Work: Rachel Steffen ’18
Sophomore Rachel Steffen interns for the National Marine Mammal Foundation.
Summer Research Spotlight: The Salamander Squad
Kate McCreary and Kara Farroni spend their summer researching the endangered Peaks of Otter salamander.
Summer Research Spotlight: Testing, Testing
Azmain Amin '17 and Mina Shnoudah '17 look to automate testing of web services.
A Day in the Life: Stephen Himmelberg ’17
Johnson Opportunity Grant Winner Stephen Himmelberg '17 Studies Sport-Related Traumatic Brain Injury.
My W&L: Sequoya Bua-Iam ’17
"W&L manages to be a catalyst for adventure while still offering that 'welcome home' feeling."
Looking for older stories? See the complete Biology archive.
