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SIS alumna named to Dean’s List at University of St. Andrews
Anika Snyder
Anika Snyder, who is a member of the Class of 2020 of Saipan International School, has been named to the Dean’s List at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland.
In order to be named to the Dean’s List, students must have a credit-weighted mean for the year at 16.5 of above, which is intended to honor high intellectual achievement across the entire spread of a student’s modules in a given year. The award will be included in the Higher Education Achievement Report (transcript) of the student’s studies at the university.
The University of St. Andrews was ranked the No. 1 university in the United Kingdom for 2023 by the Guardian University Guide, ahead of Oxford and Cambridge for the first time. It is the oldest of the four ancient universities of Scotland and the third-oldest university in the English-speaking world. St Andrews was founded in 1413.
Anika is studying BSc (Honors) Ecology and Conservation. It is a four-year course run by the School of Biology. This year, Snyder’s studies shifted from core, broad-themed modules to more specialized modules that allow students to prepare for their honors degree. Next year, she will continue specific through student-led, inquiry-based learning on the topic of rapid evolution.
Snyder will investigate the rapid evolution of a cricket species in Hawaii, causing it to lose the ability to produce sound as a response to a parasite. However, the gene that causes the wing to lose the ability to make sound has also been linked to higher immune response in drosophila flies. In theory these crickets also have a higher immune response and she is testing this theory.
This summer Snyder will return to Saipan where she will work in a summer internship with the Department of Fish and Wildlife, hosted by the Division of Coastal Resources Management, where she will learn more about the local coastal and coral programs. (PR)
