Outstanding Seniors in the College of Science: Olivia Fernflores

This fall, the College of Science recognized ten outstanding seniors for their contributions in and out of the classroom. Olivia Fernflores is this semester's recipient from Molecular & Cellular Biology.

The College of Science caught up with Olivia to learn more about her experiences at the University of Arizona and what is on the horizon after graduation.

Why did you choose to study Bioinformatics?

I started college as a bioinformatics major, because I am really interested in the integration of biology and data science. I decided to add a major in MCB to learn more in-depth about biology, and I also added a major in Information Science to get more programming experience. My combination of majors has allowed me to take classes across a broad spectrum from very applied programming and statistics courses to wet lab molecular biology courses, and everything in between. I really enjoy both biology and data science and I look forward to continuing to do research in this area in the future. 

Tell us about a class or research project you really enjoyed.

I've really enjoyed working in the Gutenkunst Lab in MCB. We study population genetics, and my specific project is to infer demographic histories and distributions of fitness effects of populations of wild house mice. Currently, I'm working on inferring distributions of fitness effects for mutations in genes from different gene ontology categories. The goal of this project is to identify drivers for the shape of the distribution of fitness effects, which is really interesting because it allows for the possibility that mutations in certain classes of genes have minimal fitness effects compared to mutations in other classes of genes. 

What is one specific memory from your time at UA you’ll cherish forever?

When it snowed on campus during my sophomore year! It was fun to see everyone on campus so excited at the same time! 

What are you most proud of having accomplished in your time at UA?

Finishing my research project for my honors thesis and getting to present it as a poster at a conference.  

What is next for you after graduation?

In the spring, I will continue at the U of A in the Accelerated Master's Program in MCB. I will graduate with my MS in Summer 2025 and then plan to pursue a PhD in biology starting in Fall 2025.