Sophia Gomez is a first-year Master’s student in the Department of Biology at Virginia Tech, in the Barrett Lab and as part of Virginia Tech Stream Team. Originally from Fort Lauderdale, Florida, she graduated from Florida State University in Spring 2023, worked for the University of Georgia from Fall 2023-Spring 2024, and began her Master's in Fall 2024. Sophia is interested in studying the impacts of climate change as reflected in shifting biogeochemical cycles in streams and soils. Her thesis focuses on biologically mediated carbon and nitrogen cycling in the ecotone between streams and soils in the McMurdo Dry Valleys, Antarctica.