George "Bert" Cortina

Hometown

Poquoson High School and Governor's School for Science and Technology

Why WM?

I toured a dozen colleges and seriously considered six. I was, at first, reluctant to attend William and Mary since it was so close to my hometown. Therefore, to narrow my decision I did a lot of research. In early August, I visited William and Mary for an optional interview. I left the interview very excited about the school specifically after hearing about its close-knit active student community. In March, I returned for the Murray Scholars Finalist weekend and here I got to talk to other students and meet many professors and I realized that William and Mary was perfect. It is small enough where students could easily interact with their professors, yet large enough that there were many different opportunities and activities available.

Major

Biology

Extracurriculars at WM

• Running Club
• SHARP Biodiesel Project
• Works at WM Information Technology Support Center
• Research on international environmental governance

Research at WM

I am in Professor Mark Forsyth's microbiology lab studying Helicobacter Pylori, a bacteria that resides in 50% of people's stomach. I am particularly interested at the whether H. pylori enters the stomach cells and if so then how it survives the change from the extracellular environment to intracellular environment.