GREENVILLE, Pa.-- Thiel College conservation biology and environmental science double major Alana Rudolf ’27 was one of four undergraduate students selected for a fully funded international research experience that took her from Virginia Tech to the Austrian Alps this summer to study bacteria that can help water freeze.
Rudolf, a member of Thiel College’s Dietrich Honors Institute, participated in the National Science Foundation-funded International Research Experiences for Students program from May 26 through July 31.
The program focused on ice nucleation—the process through which ice begins to form. While water is commonly associated with a freezing point of 32 degrees Fahrenheit, very pure water can remain liquid at much lower temperatures without particles that provide sites for ice crystals to form. Certain bacteria are particularly effective at triggering that process.
The Springdale, Pa. native and 2023 Springdale High School graduate began the program working with David Schmale, Ph.D., and the Schmale Lab in Virginia Tech’s College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. She then traveled to Vienna, Austria, where she spent six weeks conducting research in the laboratory of Hinrich Grothe, Ph.D., at TU Wien (Vienna University of Technology).
The experience took Rudolf beyond the laboratory and into the Austrian Alps, where she and other researchers hiked to alpine lake systems to collect water and air samples. The students conducted microbiology fieldwork and laboratory analysis as part of their investigation into ice nucleation at the interfaces of water, soil, vegetation and the atmosphere.
After returning to Virginia Tech, Rudolf analyzed the research and presented her findings on ice-nucleating bacteria at the university’s annual Summer Undergraduate Research Symposium on July 30.
Rudolf was one of four students selected for the competitive program, which was open to undergraduate students from universities across the United States. The experience was fully funded and included a $7,000 stipend as well as travel, housing and meals in Blacksburg, Va., and Vienna.
The program gave Rudolf the opportunity to conduct hands-on scientific research alongside faculty members, graduate students and undergraduate researchers from other institutions while building on her environmental science and conservation biology studies at Thiel.
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