Biology majors Ally Rice, Krystal Moore-Nicks, and Aurora Lewis each received a Flores Undergraduate Research Award in Biology for the 2025-2026 academic year. All three students are active researchers and will explore different questions as part of their St. Mary’s Projects.
Rice is using this grant to fund her project "Developmental timeline of gonadal and non-gonadal Wolbachia densities in adult female Drosophila" in Professor Kevin Emerson’s lab. Rice hails from New Market, Maryland and plans to attend dental school after graduation.
Moore-Nicks is exploring "Feedbacks between snail grazing and fungal endophyte communities" with Assistant Professors Elizabeth Hamman and Lorena Torres-Martinez. Moore-Nicks is from Baltimore, Maryland, and is a dual major in biology and marine science.
Lewis is looking at "Evolution of pathogenesis and incidence of an invasive fungal pathogen among populations of wild relatives of avocado in the United States" in Torres-Martinez’s lab. Lewis grew up in Delaware and is very interested in agriculture.
The Flores Award is a research grant of up to $5,000 per award, which covers research materials and a stipend for about 350 hours of research.
