Former Villanova women's soccer student-athlete Kristin Barbour '20 is two years into her five-year PhD at UC Irvine.  The former Wildcat is pursing a PhD in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology (EEB) with a concentration in microbial ecology and just had her first chapter released last month, which will be formally published in Soil Biology and Biochemistry in September 2022. 
Barbour credits her time at Villanova for preparing and guiding her in her PhD studies. 

"My time at Villanova helped prepare me for my graduate career at UCI. As a student athlete, I had to quickly learn how to juggle multiple responsibilities at once (academic, athletic, extra curriculars, etc.). This skill has been essential for me in graduate school where I have needed to balance class, research, teaching, and professional development all together.

Also, science is never conducted in isolation, it is done through collaboration and teamwork. So, my time on Villanova women's soccer made it much easier for me to hop into that cooperative team environment and feel comfortable sharing my ideas and contributing in group settings. The rigorous academic environment and research opportunities at Villanova also equipped me with the skills to handle the demands of graduate school.

I had never considered pursuing a PhD until I was a senior at Villanova! For most of my time at Villanova, I was interested in a career in medicine and intended to attend medical school following graduation. However, when I was a sophomore, I was given the opportunity to join Dr. Dennis Wykoff's research group where I was able to conduct independent research for two years. I really enjoyed pushing the boundaries of scientific knowledge and loved the collaboration involved in research. Ultimately, I decided to pursue a PhD after taking microbiology and microbial ecology in my later years at Villanova where I learned about how important microbes are for Earth's ecosystems which ignited my passion for the field."

UC Irvine moved the Colorado native closer to her family while also giving Barbour an excellent research team to work with. 

"I was originally interested in UC Irvine because they have an incredible team of researchers who are currently at the top of the field, I was interested in completing my graduate work in. There was one researcher in particular, Jennifer Martiny, whose work I was extremely excited about, and she is now my mentor! The program also really emphasized collaboration and had built an amazing community of scientists which was very attractive to me as an early career researcher. Attending UCI also allowed me to move closer to my family which was very important to me."

Barbour shared her first PhD chapter titled Bacterial community response to environmental change varies with depth in the surface soil "was a surreal experience to get my first PhD chapter published. Having the opportunity to share my research with other scientists as well as the public is one of my greatest accomplishments not only in graduate school but also in my entire life! I am incredibly grateful for my mentors and lab mates for their guidance and willingness to read the many many drafts I produced."

"When people hear about microorganisms, like bacteria, they often think of disease-causing microbes. In reality, microbes influence our lives in a number of different ways beyond disease," said Barbour.  "Microbes help produce some of our favorite foods (like cheeses and yogurt) and help us break down the food we eat! These tiny organisms also exist in the environment and help break down dead plant material that builds up on the soil surface. This decomposition influences how much carbon is stored in soils and how much is released into the atmosphere. My research specifically investigates how these soil microorganisms respond to environmental disturbance and climate change. In my publication, we looked at how microbial communities in surface soils responded to a combination of drought and wildfire, two disturbances that are expected to increase in frequency and severity in many parts of the world including in southern California where I do my work. We found that microbes respond differently to these disturbances based on their depth in the surface soil: whether they are right at the surface or deeper! This means that scientists need to take soil depth into consideration when predicting how carbon storage in soils may vary under future climate change. Right now, I am also looking at how soil microbes effect the way plants respond to drought which has the potential to influence the way we protect crops and natural ecosystems from drought damage."

Following her PhD, "I hope to become a professor at a medium-sized university (like Villanova) where I would be able to focus my research lab on uncovering solutions to environmental and climate-change related problems using microorganisms. I also hope to continue collaborating with local land management and park service organizations to help develop more effective solutions for non-native species control and natural land restor