Emma Wallace is currently a third year pursuing a BS in Genetics and a BS in Zoology with a minor in Evolutionary Biology at NC State. Always having a passion for genetics and marine animals, it was a high school course called Vertebrate Biology and Marine History that shaped her current interests for understanding how the life on earth has changed overtime and why. At NC State, her first independent research project in class was investigating the relationship between Sim1 genes and obesity; exploring why this relationship would have developed in nature using Drosophila melanogaster as a model organism. She joined the lab working on DNA extractions for Emily Reed’s research on the invasive Asian Tiger Mosquito Aedes albopictus.  Aside from school and outreach, she enjoys scuba diving (and anything else related to water activities), reading, and volunteering for the Camp Kesem chapter at NC State.