UD Class of 2023 University of Delaware landscape architecture graduate Lexi Dart is working towards her Ph.D. in design with a concentration in landscape architecture. Dart combines her interest in site engineering and her skills in design and community outreach to analyze how architects can measure different aspects of the landscape and how designs can impact communities. During her time at UD, Dart worked with the Coastal Resilience Design Lab (CRDS) and the Center for Applied Demography and Survey Research (CADSR) where she was able to apply the skills she learned in class to real-life scenarios that prepared her to go onto her graduate studies.

Joe Patria, a molecular biology Ph.D. student at UD, unexpectedly pursued poultry research under Professor Mark Parcells, focusing on Marek’s disease virus (MDV). He is exploring the molecular virology of MDV and its evolution to become more virulent over time. His work has implications for both poultry and human health, as the virus causes a lymphoma that is similar to some human lymphomas. Studying the virus in chickens provides unique insights into viral interactions and cancer development, shedding light on potential parallels in human malignancies having a viral origin like Hodgkin’s lymphoma.

From the laboratory to the farm and from the track field to the swimming pool, CANR student-athletes are starring in their courses and in the athletic arena.