What are you up to now?

Susie Irizarry
Summer Research Program '09

Mentor: Audrey Barker-Plotkin
Project: Resilience of Acer rubrum after sustaining damage in an experimental blowdown (abstract)
Hometown: Palm City, FL
College: Clemson University, class of 2011, Environmental and Natural Resources

What you miss most about the Summer Research program:
I miss seeing the friends I made that summer. I also enjoyed being able to easily access Boston on the weekends.

What you miss least about the program:
While I was very appreciative of living onsite and having a minimal commute to work in the morning, the social dynamic in the Fisher House with 25 students living in the house was too much for me to handle.

What about the program has stuck with you:
Confidence in doing physical field work and collecting accurate data. The HF summer program was my first real experience in experimental design as well. The skills I gained that summer definitely helped me progress as a student and now as a researcher.

Have you stayed in touch with other Summer students?
Yes, four of my girlfriends from that summer.

Did your Summer Research experience support or change your school/career plans?
My REU experience supported my career plans as an undergraduate. It motivated me to look for more ecological research-based internships as an undergraduate. Ultimately, I have decided to pursue a different area of research, but I am in a master's program now designing my own field study, which my time at HF contributed to.

What are you up to now?
I am currently a masters student in the University of Idaho's Conservation Social Science Department. I am researching wilderness day users at Yosemite National Park for my thesis research, and I am supported by a grant from Yosemite National Park to do this data collection. I currently live in Idaho during the school year and Yosemite National Park during the field season.