Nature Microbiology: Behind the Paper blog post For my paper about groups of marine jumbo phages in the ocean (link), I shared the story of how we came about reconstructing genomes of jumbo phages and focusing on those in the ocean by writing a blog post (link) for the Behind the Paperblog site run by the Nature Microbiology community.
Nature Ecology and Evolution: Behind the Paper blog post For my paper about a group of phages that encode an RNA polymerase homolgous to that of cells (link), I shared the story of how we happened upon this group of phages (which I was hoping were actually aliens lol) and the amazing opportunity this gene allowed us to put phages in the Tree of Life by writing a blog post (link) for the Behind the Paper blog site run by Nature Ecology and Evolution community.
Virginia Tech Science Festival 2020 For Virginia Tech's annual Science Festival, I designed a virtual exhibit for two 7th grade classes where we talked about whether or not viruses are alive. We then discussed whether you can actually "kill" a virus.
Girls Launch: The DNA of You and Me Girls Launch is an ongoing project that monitors the interest in science of girls as they progress from kindergarten through elementary school and how the exposure to female scientists in kindergarten affects their perception of women in science. This effort includes regular visits of different female scientists to kindergarten classes. For this project, My labmate Carolina and I designed an activity where kindergarteners were introduced to the idea of DNA and a genes. They learned a little about how all life has DNA and that our DNA can affect how we look and our preferences. We used colored stickers to "create our genome" based on features like our hair color, eye color, and what types we like most (i.e. spicy, sweet, etc.). We then talked about how a lot of our DNA is the same in bananas and monkeys- we're not all that different from each other or even a banana!
Undergraduate endeavours Blog: Sea Gazing This blog originated as an independent honors assignment I had developed for a biological oceanography class I had taken with Dr. Monica Medina. Though the class is over, I'm continuing the blog, but with a more entertaining approach. Please feel free to comment on the blog and suggest new topics, papers, or ways to improve my writing style!
Blog Post: "Chicken Pox" of the Sea -- Corals Can Get Sick Too As part of an extra credit assignment in the biological oceanography course I had taken with Dr. Monica Medina, I wrote this blog with my partner Shane Pusey and submitted the entry to No Bones, the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History blog about invertebrates. The post describes different coral diseases and how these diseases impact coral health. ((Note** I realize coral diseases are caused by viruses and/or bacteria, I used "chicken pox" in the title as a play on words (not as an inference to the biological basis) with the coral disease White Pox.))
Women in STEM Day Penn State hosts a Women in STEM Day every year for middle school girls. My science club participates by carrying out an hour-long activity on a science-related topic. This was the first year I planned the presentation and activity, which I centered both on conservation. For the activities, I designed a bingo game with a recycling theme and a personality quiz, "Which Endangered Species is Your Spirit Animal?"