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University Communications

University of Richmond Professor Wins VFIC Summer Fellowship

April 27, 2005

April Hill, associate professor of biology and Coston Family Fellow in Molecular Biology at the University of Richmond, will receive the 2005 Virginia Foundation for Independent Colleges summer fellowship. The award, sponsored by VFIC and the Council of Undergraduate Research, provides $3,500 for an outstanding student to conduct research with Hill. She has selected Lisa Lint, a junior from West Chester, Pa., as her research partner.

The summer fellowships are awarded on a statewide competitive basis, with a national review committee from CUR making the final selection.

Hill and Lint will continue Hill’s research on sponges. They plan to collect sponges from the Chesapeake Bay and examine a variety of evolutionary conserved genes that in more complex animals are involved in the development of the nervous system.

“We believe that understanding the fundamental roles of these genes will not only help scientists elucidate how animals evolved, but will also aid in the understanding of the role these genes have in more complex organisms,” said Hill.