Lana Bolin is a fifth-year Ph.D. student in Professor Jen Lau’s lab, where she studies how soil microbes influence adaptive plant responses to stress. Specifically, she is interested in how rapid changes to microbial communities may benefit plants in stressful environments, either through altering plant traits, altering the environment to make it less stressful, or influencing plant evolutionary responses to stress. She also applies her work to agricultural practices by studying whether irrigation may erode the ability of soil microbes to provide crop resilience under drought stress. Outside of the lab, Lana runs a summer research program called Science CORPS that she created for community college students. She also teaches a course that she designed for non-traditional students, including returning students and community college transfer students.