Melina Woods, an Ada High School graduate and a junior biology major at Ohio Northern University, will be an artist-in-residence this summer.

 She was recently selected to participate in the Summer 2021 Artist in Residence program at the Vanderbilt Institute for Infection, Immunology and Inflammation, Nashville, Tennessee.

The AiR program is an opportunity for undergraduate students interested in art-science intersections to explore innovative means of science communication.

The residency consists of an artistic collaboration, within a research environment, with top-tier laboratories across the country.

Student artists will be immersed in the laboratories they are matched with to create artwork related to the labs’ research.

The goal of the residency is for work created during the 10-week program to be included in scientific manuscripts, submitted as cover art to various scientific journals and to promote the laboratories on public-facing platforms, including social media.

In addition to the labs’ promotion of the artists’ work, collaborations may be featured at VI4 events and other exhibitions sponsored by ArtLab or in other Vanderbilt exhibits.