The Nicholas lab had a day doubled up with the PhD Candidacy Advancement examinations for Kiara Wiggins and Miranda Lopez. At 11am, Kiara shared her vision for studying the microbiome and it’s direct relationship to reproduction. At 2 pm, Miranda Lopez brought the whole day home with her proposal studying prebiotics in aging. Both of these students blew away their committees with their organization, knowledge, and passion for their research. I am incredibly proud and so is the entire Nicholas lab. Of course we celebrated with some pumpkin pie! We look forward to seeing their research projects progress and the vision come to life.