LIFESTYLE 4/20/26 8:37pm

Billy Impagliazzo demonstrates a procedure in one of the biology labs in McMichael Science Center April 10.

Student research discovers suspected cause of plant disease

During his freshman year, now-senior Billy Impagliazzo took two classes taught by biology professor Antonio Izzo. When he got to Elon, Impagliazzo said he knew he wanted to take part in research projects. In his sophomore year, Impagliazzo went to Izzo to discuss research opportunities he had in his lab. Izzo said he believed Impagliazzo would conduct research for only a semester, but almost three years later, Impagliazzo has identified the main microbe infecting the blue curls plant and has presented his research on SURF Day. 


LIFESTYLE 4/20/26 12:37pm

Elon student digs into Burlington’s past after historic hotel demolition

The Rockefeller Integrated Hotel stood on Burlington’s Maple Avenue before being demolished a few weeks ago. Created by McBride “Mack” Thompson, a prominent African American entrepreneur in the Jim Crow South, the hotel was both his home and a place for Black travelers to stay somewhere safe. A single box of papers was recovered from the demolition site by a neighbor. Marshall Sears, a sophomore researching African American entrepreneurship in Petersburg, digitizes documents including those found in the demolition, as a part of his undergraduate research.



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