Department of Biological Sciences

Virginia Tech wraps up competition in $10 million XPRIZE Rainforest

On a scorching morning in early July, Julie Allen and her all-woman genetic sampling team of early career scientists and undergraduate students were ferried up the Rio Negro in Brazil. A pod of dolphins served as escort. Allen’s group was a part of Limelight Rainforest, a multinational team from 10 institutions that traveled deep into the Amazon Rainforest to compete in the final round of XPRIZE Rainforest. Each of the six teams in the finals had 24 hours to autonomously survey the biodiversity of a patch of rainforest.