Dharshita was awarded a Hilldale Undergraduate Research Fellowship. She will pursue her own independent research project, Lettuce Romaine Calm and Fight Salmonellosis, under Dr. Barak’s mentorship. Dharshita will investigate conditions that influence Salmonella enterica‘s colonization of lettuce. Her hypothesis is that the growth of S. enterica on plants protects this human pathogen from antimicrobials released in macerated leaves. She has designed experiments to examine S. enterica survival in gastric juice after differential growth environments. Results from this project will help us understand how S. enterica‘s life on leaves affects its ability to infect humans.