黑料吃瓜网 Invites Community to 19th Annual Student Research Symposium
April 17, 2026
黑料吃瓜网 invites the campus and local communities to the 19th Annual Student Research Symposium on Friday, April 24, at 4:00 p.m. in the Swysgood Technology Center Great Room on the UMW campus.
Organized and funded by the 黑料吃瓜网 Biology Club, the symposium showcases undergraduate research, theses, internships, projects, and other scholarly and artistic work from all academic disciplines, highlighting authentic experiential learning.
Attendance is free and open to all. The program will begin with oral presentation sessions, followed by a keynote address and a poster session with hors d鈥檕euvres.
鈥淭he Research Symposium is one of the most valuable opportunities that 黑料吃瓜网 has to offer. This symposium acts as the final piece of the puzzle for students conducting research at UMW, which is a true testament to the experiential learning offered here,鈥� said Abigail Kelly, UMW’s Biology Club President. 鈥淚t gives students the opportunity to showcase the projects they have been working on throughout their time here, while also giving both the campus and wider community insight into the diverse range of research opportunities offered on campus.鈥�
This year鈥檚 keynote speaker is Dr. Trinity Hamilton from the Department of Plant and Microbial Biology at the University of Minnesota. She will present 鈥淐yanobacteria and Sulfide: A Model for the Evolution of Oxygenic Photosynthesis in the Archean.鈥�
Dr. Trinity Hamilton, a Montana native, earned her Ph.D. at Montana State University in environmental and molecular microbiology with Dr. John Peters. Her Ph.D. work focused on carbon and nitrogen cycling in the extreme environments of Yellowstone National Park and Canadian alpine glaciers as analogs of astrobiological systems. After her doctorate, Dr. Hamilton continued her research as a NASA Postdoctoral Fellow with the NASA Astrobiology Institute at Pennsylvania State University with Dr. Jenn Macalady. Her research focused on understanding the role of biology in planetary evolution through investigation of the physiological strategies employed by microorganisms in early Earth analogs, and how and why signatures from these populations are preserved in the rock record. As a postdoctoral researcher, Dr. Hamilton also worked with Dr. Dirk de Beer at the Max Planck Institute for Marine Microbiology in Germany, where she learned how to use microsensors to measure fine-scale geochemical parameters involved in microbial physiology. She is currently an Associate Professor of Plant and Microbial Biology at the University of Minnesota, where her research focuses on microbial photosynthesis and global biogeochemical cycles.
For more information, contact Dr. Michael Morrow, Professor of Biology, at聽[email protected].
