The seminar, which celebrates scientific research and inquiry, showcases the work conducted by Hollins science and mathematics students throughout the current academic year.
On Wednesday, April 5, at 7:30 p.m. in Niederer Auditorium, Wetherill Visual Arts Center, Olson will present “The Science of Bias: Implicit Attitude Formation, Change, and Impact.” His research centers on implicit bias, prejudice reduction, and intergroup relations. More broadly, he applies a dual-process approach to a variety of domains, including prejudice correction, close relationships, sexual aggression, and most recently, suicide.
Olson has served as associate editor of Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin and The Journal of Experimental Social Psychology. He is currently completing a textbook on the psychology of prejudice.
The Science Seminar will spotlight student research posters on Friday, April 14, from 1:30 to 3 p.m. in the Dana Science Building. The poster session will be held in Dana’s first and second floor hallways.
The conference is the culmination of Gangwani’s year-long participation in the ACC Young Scholars Program, which aims to provide promising young students with an introduction to the field of cardiology and strengthen the pipeline of talent for the future. High school and college students from across the United States are selected to get hands-on experience and mentorship in clinical cardiology and cardiovascular research, including the opportunity to participate in their mentor’s research projects and gain professional skills.
“The Young Scholars Program has solidified my interest in pursuing a career in cardiology,” she explained. “I was able to learn first-hand from mentors and ACC Fellows, and by attending bi-weekly educational webinars on heart diseases and heart health.”
“The ACC Young Scholars Program recognizes the best and brightest students from across the country and helps the next generation of cardiologists find and nurture their passion for science, research, and helping patients,” said ACC President Edward T.A. Fry, M.D., F.A.C.C. “I’m honored to congratulate the 2022 cohort on a successful year of cardiovascular research and mentorship.”
The ACC is the global leader in transforming cardiovascular care and improving heart health for all. As the preeminent source of professional medical education for the entire cardiovascular care team since 1949, ACC credentials cardiovascular professionals in over 140 countries who meet stringent qualifications and leads in the formation of health policy, standards, and guidelines.
Hollins University is one of the founding partner institutions for a new women-focused professional development program that offers students technology and career readiness skills.
Hollins and Sweet Briar College are joining with technology company Cognosante as the Falls Church, Virginia-based firm launches its Women in STEM Alliance, which seeks to prepare women for careers in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.
According to Jeffrey White, director of Career Development and Life Design at Hollins, the partnership offers students of most any major the opportunity to engage their liberal arts competencies in a tech and government work environment. “Although the program emphasizes STEM,” he explained, “Cognosante also has a need for interns in a variety of departments such as human resources, research, and communications.”
“Proactively addressing gender inequity in the workforce is essential to enhancing diversity within the federal government contracting industry,” stated Cognosante Chief Administration Officer Jennifer Bailey. “The women’s colleges we partnered with share our commitment to eliminating gender bias through meaningful opportunities and developing the next generation of leaders.”
The Women in STEM Alliance features a 10-week paid Summer College Analyst Program, which assigns students with managers and departments aligned to their academic goals; a semester-long paid Scholars Program, in which students can earn college credit while working full-time at a Cognosante office; and the Cognosante Campus Connection, a series of on-campus seminars, speaking engagements, and mentoring. As part of the program, Cognosante customizes aspects of the experience to address known challenges for women in the workforce, specifically securing opportunities, gaining access, and developing leadership skills.
“This opportunity can help take Hollins students to a new level of career readiness and marketability,” noted White.
“This immersive program provides hands-on experience to accelerate the start of a STEM career. It also gives students with non-technical aspirations the chance to work in the tech industry and develop the skills needed for a career in business, strategy, or operations,” said Jackie Ackerman, vice president of data science at Cognosante. “We are excited to provide Hollins and Sweet Briar students with an opportunity to develop highly applicable skills and expand their professional network.”
Collaborating with her psychology professor and mentor, a Hollins alumna has published an article in a national, peer-reviewed journal that sheds new light on the connection between self-concept and mental illness stigma.
“Mental health stigma and psychological distress have been shown to be a barrier in help-seeking*,” Malik said. “The topic of help-seeking and its predictors in addition to stigma remains essential in an effort toward improving mental health campaigns.”
One predictor that has received little investigation, Malik noted, is self-concept clarity (SCC). “The broad definition of self-concept is the perception of oneself, influenced by the interaction between the environment and subsequent experiences,” she explained. “SCC is the extent to which self-beliefs are clearly and confidently defined, internally consistent, and stable over time. A lower SCC is associated with mental health illnesses such as depression and anxiety, resulting in psychological distress.”
Malik stated that mental health stigma “can be further classified into personal stigma and perceived public stigma. Personal stigma has been shown to be negatively associated with help-seeking, but perceived public stigma was not found to be associated with help-seeking in previous studies**. The current study altered the perceived stigma reference group from ‘public’ to ‘peer’ to investigate whether this change would influence the association with help-seeking.”
Mann added, “Social norms typically influence health behaviors, so we wondered whether a more precise variable of perceived peer-group stigma would show more relevance.”
Assistant Professor of Psychology Caroline Mann: “I’m not just proud of Hinza’s work, but I’m inspired by working with her.”
With 111 Hollins University undergraduate study participants, Malik and Mann sought “to develop a better understanding of the relationship between SCC, stigma, and help-seeking behavior,” Malik said. “To our knowledge, this was the first study to explore the concept of SCC and help-seeking together.”
The researchers developed four hypotheses. “The first hypothesis predicted a positive correlation between SCC and help-seeking,” Malik stated, “and the results showed that individuals who have a higher SCC have a more positive attitude toward seeking mental health services.
“A negative correlation between SCC and psychological distress was the second hypothesis. We found that as SCC increased, psychological distress decreased.
“The third hypothesis predicted a positive correlation between personal and peer-group stigma. This was the first study to investigate peer-group stigma. We did find that higher perceived stigma in the peer group corresponded with higher personal stigma. As perceptions help shape personal beliefs, the direction of respondents’ personal stigma matched their perceived peer group stigma.
“The fourth hypothesis predicted no correlation between perceived public stigma and help-seeking, but a negative correlation between both personal and peer stigma with help-seeking behavior. Consistent with previous literature, personal stigma continued to be associated with help-seeking, whereas perceived public stigma was not associated with help-seeking; however, perceived peer stigma was associated.***”
“Sometimes when you’re not finding an expected effect, it’s because you’re not measuring it precisely enough,” Mann said. “It makes sense that the reference group for young college students is not ‘the public’ at large but their own sociodemographic group.”
Because the data was collected during the COVID-19 pandemic, and the research “utilized a convenience sample, which greatly limits the generalizability of our results,” the authors stressed caution in interpreting their findings. However, “One of the major strengths of the current study is that we investigated the relationship between variables that have not been studied before to help fill in the gaps in the literature. Being the first study that we know of to explore SCC with help-seeking, replication is highly recommended.” They also noted that “this is a population, young people with lower SCC and higher distress, that needs to be targeted by not only mental health help-seeking intervention programs, but also anti-stigma campaigns. Youth mental health was categorized as a crisis by U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy at the 2022 American Psychological Association convention.”
“Predictors of Help-Seeking” became one of the first recipients of the Psi Chi: Journal of Psychological Research’s new Diversity Badge. According to Psi Chi Editor Steven V. Rouse, the badge recognizes projects that “examine whether psychological phenomena differ as a function of human diversity, highlight psychological characteristics within a historically marginalized group, or identify factors that are related to diversity-based prejudice or discrimination.”
For Malik, the publication is gratifying in a number of ways. “By disseminating our research to mental health professionals and the public at large, we can start removing barriers to treatment.” On a personal level, inclusion in a peer-reviewed journal reflects the degree of scholarship that Malik has achieved, a key factor in earning acceptance into a Ph.D. program. “Doctoral programs in clinical psychology are very competitive. It’s important for them to see your experience in the research cycle: Formulating your hypothesis, collecting and analyzing the data, and writing up and disseminating the results. If you’re not prepared, you won’t succeed.”
Malik praised Mann for her guidance with “Predictors of Help-Seeking,” which she completed as part of the first cohort of students in the psychology department’s clinical and counseling concentration. “Dr. Mann inspired me to explore my interests. I learned theory and got to apply my skills in a real-world clinical setting,” performing a supervised field placement at Blue Ridge Autism and Achievement Center in Roanoke. “She also encouraged me to apply for grants that made it possible for me to present my research at various conferences.” Notably, the Janet L. MacDonald and Beatrice E. Gushee Award ensured Malik could attend the National Conference on Undergraduate Research, the L. Starling Reid Psychology Research Conference at the University of Virginia, and UCLA’s Psychology Undergraduate Research Showcase.
In addition, Malik credits Mann for urging her to submit her research for publication and go beyond simply completing it as a requirement for her thesis. Mann, she said, directed her to the Psi Chi Journal as a good fit for undergraduate research.
“What sets Hollins apart from other schools is that you build these very strong relationships with your mentor. You get a lot of chances for one-on-one direction.”
Eventually, Malik hopes to specialize in clinical neuropsychology. Her ideal work environment, she said, would be in an academic medical center. “I want to incorporate my equal affinity for research, teaching, and clinical practice. I could have a research lab, and I could train future psychologists and mentor them as research assistants. A clinical practice would inform my research and vice versa. I like that integration.”
“I know Hinza will continue to make great contributions to the science and treatment of mental illness and brain diseases,” Mann stated. “She arrived at Hollins with a passion for psychology, which was a joy to witness, but what blew me away was her focused determination and her willingness to put that into practice, even during the hardships of the pandemic. Hinza expanded her research and clinical skills every single year. I’m not just proud of her work, but I’m inspired by working with her.”
**Boerema, A. M., Kleiboer, A., Beekman, A. T., van Zoonen, K., Dijkshoorn, H., & Cuijpers, P. (2016). Determinants of help-seeking behavior in depression: A cross-sectional study. BMC Psychiatry, 16(1).
Eisenberg, D., Downs, M. F., Golberstein, E., & Zivin, K. (2009). Stigma and help seeking for mental health among college students. Medical Care Research and Review, 66(5), 522–541. https://doi.org/10.1177/1077558709335173.
***Golberstein, E., Eisenberg, D., & Gollust, S. E. (2009). Perceived stigma and helpseeking behavior: Longitudinal evidence from the healthy minds study. Psychiatric Services, 60(9), 1254–1256. https://doi.org/10.1176/ps.2009.60.9.1254.
Research projects by two recent Hollins University graduates were recently featured at the Virginia meeting of one of the world’s largest life sciences societies.
Isabella Jessee ’22 and Geneva Waynick ’21 presented their work at the 2022 American Society for Microbiology Virginia Branch Annual Meeting, held November 4-5 at Laurel Ridge Community College in Middletown.
Assistant Professor of Biology and Environmental Science Mary Jane Carmichael served as coauthor of Jessee and Waynick’s individual research studies and accompanied them to the conference.
Jessee delivered an oral presentation on “Variability in Antimicrobial Properties on Multifloral Honey in Southwest Virginia,” representing her thesis work at Hollins. Currently working as a medical scribe for Carilion Clinic Pediatric Orthopaedics in Roanoke, she is building clinical hours as she prepares to pursue her M.D.
Waynick gave a poster presentation entitled “The Influence of Infant Formulae on the Growth of Commensal and Pathogenic Streptococcus Species in the Infant Oral Cavity,” also based on her Hollins thesis. She works in the COVID testing lab at Fralin Biomedical Research Institute at VTC in Roanoke and is applying to graduate school at the University of Virginia and the College of William and Mary.
Top photo (from left to right): Isabella Jessee ’22, Assistant Professor of Biology and Environmental Science Mary Jane Carmichael, and Geneva Waynick ’21 attend the 2022 American Society for Microbiology Virginia Branch Annual Meeting.
Over the past 10 weeks, the students “engaged in a wide variety of projects tackling real world problems in many disciplines,” said Keri Swaby, director of Virginia Tech’s Office of Undergraduate Research. “I am humbled by the quality of work, and I hope [these students] have been inspired to continue exploring.”
The 240 students collaborated with 24 organized funded programs and a number of independent labs and gave a record-breaking 206 poster presentations.
“Summer affords undergraduates the opportunities to dedicate significant time and effort to the planning, execution, and analysis of a research project,” explained Jill Sible, associate vice provost for undergraduate education and professor of biological sciences at Virginia Tech. “They have also had the chance to become authentic members of research teams by working with faculty, graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, and research staff.” She shared the university’s appreciation for “the diversity of ideas and cultures that [these students] have brought to our research programs.”
The following undergraduates represented Hollins at the 2022 Summer Research Symposium:
Malaika Amin ’25/ Biology Fullerene-functionalized Metal Chalcogenide Nanosheets for New Electron Transport Material in Flexible Solar Cells
Aqsa Fazal ’23/Chemistry with a Concentration in Biochemistry Amphibian Feeding Mosquitoes Are Potential Vectors of Viruses
Kiran Gautam ’23/Mathematics with a Concentration in Data Science and Applied Economics How Do Wars Affect the Stock Market?
Vanity Hernandez ’24/Psychology The Impact of Childhood Poverty on US Latinx Adults’ Financial Literacy and Management
Makda Kalayu ’23/International Studies Erasing Tigray: Ethiopia and the Use of Cultural Erasure as a Tool for Ethnic Cleansing
Jennifer Noyes ’23/Biology Detection of Taeniid Cestodes in Wild Canids in Virginia
Olivia Sacci ’24/Biology Changes in the American Toad Microbiome During Development
Yareli Sosa Antunez ’23/Psychology Investigating the Impact of Latine Ethnicity on Public Stigma Toward Men with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder or Depression
Nina Lauren Valdisimo ’24/Business (Finance Track) As Inflation Surges, How Long will this Inflationary Episode Last Compared to Other Episodes in History?
Jessica Willebeek-LeMair ’23/Environmental Science Investigating Factors of Perceptions of State Fish and Wildlife Agency Prioritization of Wildlife Viewing
Top Photo: Ten of the 12 Hollins undergraduates who presented at the Summer Research Symposium
Aqsa Fazal ’23, Olivia Sacci ’24, and Jessica Willebeek-LeMair ’23 will be spending this summer collaborating with faculty from the Global Change Center at Virginia Tech.
The opportunity is made possible through the Hollins Partnership program, which gives select Hollins University undergraduates the opportunity to identify possible mentor-mentee connections/relationships for their future graduate training.
A rising senior majoring in chemistry with a concentration in biochemistry and minors in biology and physics, Fazal will work with Assistant Professor of Biochemistry Chloé Lahondère on researching mosquito-borne diseases. Specifically, she will study Culex Territans mosquitos, which feed primarily on amphibians. Fazal will investigate the pathogens these animals carry and transmit. She plans to pursue graduate studies in the future.
Olivia Sacci ’24
Building on her experience working with amphibians in both a clinical and zoological setting, Sacci will partner with Professor of Biological Sciences Lisa Belden to research the symbiotic microbial communities that reside on amphibian skin as well as the microbiome-parasite interactions in honeybees. A rising junior, she is a biology major and chemistry minor on the pre-veterinary track at Hollins and hopes to enroll in a dual DVM/Ph.D. program after she completes her undergraduate studies.
Jessica Willebeek-LeMair ’23
Willebeek-LeMair, a rising senior majoring in environmental science, will work with Ashley Dayer, an assistant professor of human dimensions in Virginia Tech’s Department of Fish and Wildlife Conservation. She will assist in using data from wildlife viewer surveys to write scientific reports, which will enhance her data analysis and scientific writing skills and provide her with a new social perspective on environmental conservation issues in the Appalachian region. Through Hollins’ affiliation with the School for Field Studies, Willebeek-LeMair spent this year’s spring term studying abroad in Tanzania.
The Hollins Partnership program was initiated in 2017, but has been on hold since 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The gut microbiome is the community of bacteria, viruses, fungi, and other microorganisms that live in the human digestive system – and a very big deal in terms of our ability to fight disease.
“The gut microbiome is the most important scientific discovery for human healthcare in recent decades,” said James Kinross, a microbiome scientist and surgeon at Imperial College London, in a July 2021 article in The Guardian. “It’s a vital organ in your body and you need to look after it,” noted Professor Tim Spector, an epidemiologist at King’s College London, in the same piece. “If you do that, it will look after you.”
“We discovered it – or rediscovered it – in the age of genetic sequencing less than 15 years ago. The only organ which is bigger is the liver,” Kinross added, while also admitting, “We don’t really know how it works.”
Hana Olof ’22 intends to become one of the scientists who unlocks the mysteries of the gut microbiome and harnesses its potentially considerable impact. The biology major and psychology minor first learned about the investigation of gut health when she took a microbiology class at Hollins with Assistant Professor of Biology and Environmental Science Mary Jane Carmichael.
“We were encouraged to read recent articles in that field and were assigned a weekly article review. Through that, I discovered the gut microbiome,” Olof said. “It introduced me to a whole new different area of study, and since then I’ve been reading more and more about it. I’m so fascinated with it. I didn’t realize gut microbes were associated with different diseases, or that you could also use them to reduce the effect of diseases, such as irritable bowel syndrome.”
Investigating the gut microbiome has solidified Olof’s burgeoning interest in biomedical research. “It has been really helpful to work with the different faculty in the biology department. My classes and lab experiences have trained me on how to do research, prepare lab reports, and analyze data. They create an environment where asking questions is encouraged.”
Hana Olof ’22 (right), Soha Munir ’23 (center), and Visiting Assistant Professor of Psychology Alex Wooten (left) represented Hollins at the 68th Annual Meeting of the Southeastern Psychological Association in March.
Olof said that foundation has been invaluable in the experiences she’s enjoyed as an undergraduate beyond the classroom. In the summer of 2020, she participated in an internship through Eastern Virginia Medical School and sponsored by the Hollins biology department where she worked with a team to develop a hypothetical treatment for COVID-19. The project was conducted entirely online with video technology due to the pandemic. Drawing on her psychology minor, she was awarded a Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship the following year and conducted research on the topic of “The Influence of Prior Suspect Familiarity on Cross-Race Effect.” This March, Olof and Soha Munir ’23 presented a poster on the topic at the 68th Annual Meeting of the Southeastern Psychological Association.
“Their work was motivated by the large number of wrongful convictions that have been due to the cross-race effect, which is the finding that witnesses to a crime are worse at correctly identifying a suspect of a different race than their own,” Visiting Assistant Professor of Psychology Alex Wooten explained. “This has unfortunately led to a disproportionate amount of innocent Black individuals being falsely identified.”
Wooten noted that Olof and Munir’s research is significant in that it establishes that “the cross-race effect also applies to situations where the suspect is casually familiar, which has yet to be shown before. The findings suggest that just because an eyewitness says they are familiar with a suspect following a crime does not guarantee they will make an accurate identification, particularly when the suspect is of a different race.”
“I want to thank the psychology department and Dr. Wooten for all the valuable skills I learned,” Olof stated. “The fellowship really helped me to see the steps that go into research design.”
Engaging in those remote projects served her well during the 2021 January Short Term, when she completed an internship at the Atlanta Botanical Garden remotely from her home country of Ethiopia. “I didn’t have a lot of experience in botanicals but it was a really amazing experience to work with them because they helped me to learn about the conservation of plants and grow my skills at analyzing data.” Olof added that the Garden staff graciously accommodated her circumstance working from home. “They were kind enough to factor in the time difference. So, instead of meeting in the morning, we would meet in the evening to talk about what we did throughout the day.” She was also challenged by less-than-reliable internet service, “and there were times when I had to go to different places to get a connection. But in the end it worked out well.”
For the 2022 January Short Term, Olof and two other Hollins students completed a Signature Internship with San Antonio-based Vascular Perfusion Solutions (VPS), which is developing ways to help transplanted organs last longer outside of the body. “We observed procedures related to the preservation of hearts for transplantations,” she explained. “Currently, the preservation time is only four hours and their aim is to extend that so that people in distant locations can have more of an opportunity for organ transplantation.”
Olof said the opportunity for her and her fellow students “really taught us a lot. This is when I really appreciated what I learned at Hollins. We already had so many experiences writing articles and so we were asked to edit some of VPS’s articles before they were published. We analyzed a lot of data for them as well, and our experiences through our different biology classes enabled us to do that accurately.” Because of Hollins biology department’s emphasis on query and examination, Olof was comfortable initiating a dialogue anytime she came across something she didn’t understand, and that confidence enabled her to call attention to an error she found during her VPS data analysis.
Olof’s search for the right graduate school to further her study of the gut microbiome and the immune system came to fruition when she learned of a faculty member at the University of Manitoba in Winnipeg who is focusing on that area. “I reached out and said I’d really like to work with her,” Olof recalled. “She called me for an interview, we talked more, and then I got accepted to her lab and to the university.” Olof will begin her two-year master’s degree program in September and can continue at the university if she decides to go on to earn her doctorate. “They offered me an opportunity to pursue my Ph.D. work there, and if I do that then there’s a potential for me to finish it faster than the typical six years because they would take my master’s degree into account.” If Olof chooses to enter the workforce after completing her master’s degree, “they have connections with industrial companies that focus on gut microbes.”
Olof is excited about the possibilities offered by gut microbiome research. “Nowadays there are many conditions that don’t respond to the traditional method of treatment – there are so many antibiotic-resistant bacteria. Plus, in developing nations such as my home country of Ethiopia, there is no easy access to medications. So, this idea of treating disease through dietary modification or reducing disease by taking a prebiotic feels very promising to me. And if we could find innovative treatments that won’t have as many side effects on people as drugs do, I feel like that would also be a great thing to pursue.”
Alea Rodriguez ’23 is a self-described “go-getter,” and that quality is a major reason why she’s on her way to achieving her goal of a career in women’s health and the treatment of infertility.
Since high school, the biology major/chemistry minor from Santa Clarita, California, has been drawn to human embryology, which seeks to help couples who are having difficulty achieving a pregnancy. “Human embryologists perform procedures such as in vitro fertilization or intracytoplasmic sperm injection,” she explained.
Throughout her time at Hollins, Rodriguez’s keen interest in reproductive health has underscored her commitment to advocate for herself both in the classroom and beyond. “If you know what you really want to do, you should definitely figure out a way to make it happen,” she said. “If you don’t put that out there, no one is going to know. Let yourself be seen.”
Rodriguez’s initiative has paid valuable dividends. In her sophomore year, she landed a January Short Term internship at a human embryology lab in California, an opportunity that she continued last summer. For J-term 2022, she shadowed a reproductive endocrinologist. And this spring, she embarked on research in a bovine embryology lab at Virginia Tech.
“I wanted to start planning my senior thesis as soon as possible and I was trying to come up with something on my own,” she recalled. “But then I thought, ‘Let me check with some of the professors at Virginia Tech and see what they do.’ I just cold emailed a bunch of faculty researchers, and Alan Ealy (associate professor of reproductive biology in VT’s department of animal and poultry sciences and the advisor for the bovine embryology lab) responded. He said, ‘I’d like for you to come in and shadow one of our grad students.’ I thought I was just going to watch her. But literally on my first day there, we were talking as she was preparing to do some lab work and suddenly she asked, ‘Do you want to do something? Put on some gloves, let’s go!’”
That “something” involved the extraction of oocytes, or eggs, from cow ovaries that are shipped to the lab from South Carolina. Rodriguez has engaged in that work for the past several weeks. “On the ovaries, you can see dots, which are follicles. Within each follicle is an oocyte, so you have to cut each of those little spots to release the oocytes.”
Rodriguez noted that the ovaries are transported in a cooler and processed immediately upon arrival at the lab to ensure good oocyte quality. “Once each follicle is opened, the ovaries are then swished in an oocyte collection media. Afterward, we filter that solution so that we get the oocytes and other debris that’s in there, and then it’s all transferred onto a search plate. From there, we use a microscope to search for and collect all the eggs. From start to finish, it’s about a 90-minute to two-hour process.”
Observing semen analysis with bull sperm and the subsequent fertilization process in the lab is informing Rodriguez’s senior thesis planning. “Dr. Ealy, (Hollins Assistant Professor of Biology and Environmental Science) Mary Jane Carmichael, and I are looking at this sperm separating device that divides the sperm based on sex. The sperm is then used to fertilize the oocytes we’ve collected. Then, we’ll watch the growth and see if it works. We’re also planning on exploring the role of certain inflammatory cytokines of the Interleukin 6 family (which are important in regulating immune systems) in embryo development. Dr. Ealy’s lab particularly focuses on that, and so to be able to incorporate it into my own work would be nice.”
Rodriguez’s research at Virginia Tech will continue through spring term this year and then resume for the fall and spring terms of the 2022-23 academic year. The title and details of her senior thesis are still in progress, but thanks to her collaboration with Ealy and Carmichael, “I’m able to do what I want, which is great.”
Calling the Dana Science Building her “second home,” Rodriguez praises both the biology and chemistry departments at Hollins. “They’re filled with a lot of great professors, and one of the main things I definitely appreciate about being at Hollins is your close relationship with them. Dr. Carmichael encouraged me to reach out and see what professors are doing at Virginia Tech and other universities. My advisor, (Janet W. Spear Professor of Biology) Morgan Wilson, is absolutely amazing. And every semester I’ve been at Hollins, I’ve taken a class with (Assistant Professor of Chemistry) Son Nguyen, who has been very supportive.”
On the cusp of fulfilling her dream of becoming a human embryologist, Rodriguez is considering what might also lie ahead in her future. Shadowing the reproductive endocrinologist this January, she was impressed with how the physician and the lab embryologists interacted and the bond the physician formed with the patients themselves. “I would love to be an embryologist, but my deep, deep passion, my calling, is telling me to go even further beyond that and pursue reproductive endocrinology. I’m thinking of going to medical school someday.”
Hana Olof ’22 and Soha Munir ’23 joined Visiting Assistant Professor of Psychology Alex Wooten in representing Hollins at the 68th Annual Meeting of the Southeastern Psychological Association (SEPA), held March 23 – 26 at Hilton Head Island, South Carolina.
Olof and Munir presented a poster on eyewitness memory research they conducted over the past year entitled, “The Influence of Prior Suspect Familiarity on the Cross-Race Effect.”
Soha Munir ’23 and Hana Olof ’22 chat with SEPA attendees about their poster presentation.
“Their work was motivated by the large number of wrongful convictions that have been due to the cross-race effect, which is the finding that witnesses to a crime are worse at correctly identifying a suspect of a different race than their own,” Wooten explained. “This has unfortunately led to a disproportionate amount of innocent Black individuals being falsely identified.”
Wooten noted that Olof and Munir’s research is significant in that it establishes that “the cross-race effect also applies to situations where the suspect is casually familiar, which has yet to be shown before. The findings suggest that just because an eyewitness says they are familiar with a suspect following a crime does not guarantee they will make an accurate identification, particularly when the suspect is of a different race.”
Preliminary data from Olof and Munir’s work was presented by Olof at the Virginia Tech Summer Undergraduate Research Conference, while Munir will do a poster presentation at Hollins’ Student Performance and Academic Research Conference (SPARC) on May 8. Their research will also be featured as part of the celebration of President Mary Dana Hinton’s inauguration on April 22. Currently, they are working on a follow-up study and plan to submit it to a peer-reviewed journal, either this summer or in early fall.
A senior from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, Olof is a biology major and psychology minor. She is also working on a research project that examines how glucose levels influence eyewitness accuracy. Her other interests include host-microbe interactions, specifically how microflora and dietary factors interact with the immune system to shape response to diseases. She plans on continuing her research in immunology after graduating from Hollins this spring.
Munir, a junior from Lahore, Pakistan, is majoring in psychology with a minor in biology. Eyewitness identification issues, evaluating risk taking in decision making, and developing better treatments for neurodegenerative diseases are among her research interests. This summer, she will attend a research internship program in neuroscience at the University of Florida.
SEPA is a regional psychological association affiliated with the American Psychological Association. Founded in 1955, its purpose is to advance psychology as a science, as a profession, and as a means of promoting human welfare. SEPA is the largest psychological organization in the southeast and one of largest in the United States.
Top photo (left to right): Visiting Assistant Professor of Psychology Alex Wooten, Soha Munir ’23, and Hana Olof ’22 at the 68th Annual Meeting of the Southeastern Psychological Association.
