Emma Glass – Evelyn Soucek Memorial Scholar
1st Year Scholar, PhD candidate, Biomedical Engineering
University of Virginia

Research:
The aim of Emma's research is to develop innovative ways of treating bacterial infection without the use of conventional antibiotics. Specifically, computational metabolic models of bacteria in conjunction with big-data and machine learning techniques will be used to uncover unique functional signatures in groups of pathogens. These unique functions can guide predictions of new antimicrobials, which will be validated with wet lab experiments. 

How will an ARCS Award Benefit Your Research?
An ARCS Award will give me the freedom to explore more avenues of my research that I have not yet had the chance to explore. This award will allow me to continue to think creatively about solving the problem of antimicrobial resistance by developing computational models to guide the design of innovative therapeutics. Specifically, I hope to use computational metabolic network modeling to identify therapeutic probiotic consortia for treating pathogenic bacteria as an alternative to antibiotics.

Further, outside of my research, becoming an ARCS scholar will allow me to connect with other like-minded young scientists who are devoted to DEI in science. I believe it is so important to bring different perspectives into the scientific conversation and remove barriers to achievement that are so often present in minority groups. I am proud to be an ARCS scholar and be a part of an organization that so highly values both scientific achievement and DEI.

Career objectives:
After graduate school, I plan to enter the biotechnology industry. I hope to use my computational skills including high performance computing, machine learning, and data science to solve healthcare-related problems. Furthermore, as a scientist who both generates computational models and performs in vitro validation experiments, I have been able to see first-hand the value of interdisciplinary work. Because of this, biotechnology companies collecting experimental data to inform models generated by computational teams are most exciting to me. Down the road, I would hope to become a senior director within a biotechnology company managing projects that have significant potential to improve the lives of real patients.