Huihui Sun, a PhD student in the Department of Biosystems Engineering and Soil Science under Dr. Jie Zhuang, received a fellowship from the Graduate Advancement, Training and Education (GATE) program managed by The Science Alliance. The GATE fellowship, effective August 2020 through July 2022, supports collaborative research between the University of Tennessee Institute of Agriculture (UTIA) and Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL). Under the joint mentoring of UTIA faculty (Drs. Jie Zhuang and Mark Radosevich) and ORNL scientist (Dr. Shuo Qian), Huihui works on a research project that focuses on examining the retention and dispersion of bacteria and viruses in soil pores. The research is innovative and unique and builds on the complementary advantages and power of X-ray and neutron scattering techniques to investigate the roles and mechanisms of soil pore systems, especially how these affect viral communities. The results will provide a strong scientific support for assessing soil health and enhancing soil productivity. Huihui’s fellowship information is available at https://scialli.utk.edu/2020-2021-gate-awards/.