Welcome!
I am currently a PhD student in the Biological Sciences Department at Duquesne University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and part of Dr. Nancy Trun's lab. I study passive remediation systems built to treat abandoned mine drainage (AMD).  Specifically, I focus on the impacts microbial communities have on passive systems. Through the use of Next-generation sequencing (NGS), I look for potential bioindicator species and metabolic genes that can be used to predict the current and future state of the systems. 
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News and Events 

First Place Oral Presentation at 2019 ASMR Meeting, Big Sky, MT
Received First Place for my oral presentation on the impacts bacteria have on passive remediation systems built to treat abandoned mine drainage at the 36th Annual Meeting of the American Society of Mining and Reclamation (ASMR). The meeting was held in Big Sky, MT on June 3-7, 2019. 
2019 Bayer Fellowship Recipient 
​(Duquesne University) 
2019 Science Communication Graduate Fellow (National Center for Science Education) ​
Presented an Oral Presentation at the 2019 Annual Meeting of the Pennsylvania Academy of Science, Cedar Crest College (Allentown, PA)
Presented an Oral Presentation at the 2019 Duquesne University Graduate Research Symposium  (Pittsburgh, PA)
2019 Research Grants Received ​
  • Geological Society of America Research Grant - Gould Research Recipient (April 2019)
  • Sigma Xi Grant-in-Aid of Research (May 2019)
  • ​On To the Future Program (OTF) - Geological Society of America (July 2019)
"A Day in the Life" vlog for NCSE  
As part of my fellowship with the National Center for Science Education, I participated in a video blog where I recorded entries involving different aspects of my fellowship. I had such a fun time filming this! My favorite part was interviewing other scientist to see why they went into science and what they like to do outside of science. It even comes with a wonderful table of contents in the description that lets you jump around the video!
First Place Environmental Microbiology Oral Presentation at The Allegheny Branch of the American Society of Microbiology
Received First Place for my oral presentation on the impacts bacteria have on passive remediation systems built to treat abandoned mine drainage at the Annual Meeting of the Allegheny Branch of the American Society of Microbiology (ABASM). The meeting was held at Gettysburg College, PA on November 9-10, 2018. 
Duquesne University 
258 Mellon Hall
600 Forbes Avenue 
Pittsburgh, PA 15282
bollingerm@duq.edu