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.

What are you up to now?

Alex W. Ireland
Summer Research Program '06

Mentor: David Foster
Project: Post-Settlement Forest Dynamics of a Central New England Basin Examined by Pollen, Tree Ring, and Historically Documented Records (abstract)
Hometown: Indiana, PA
College: Clarion University

What you miss most about the Summer Research program:
A life of scientific immersion with no other responsibilities.

What you miss least about the program:
Communal living quarters, which was fine at the time, but does not seem appealing now.

What about the program has stuck with you:
I have continued along the same research path.

Have you stayed in touch with other Summer students?
Yes. My wife (Alison Grantham) and I met as REUs in 2006. Another 2006 REU alum (Meagan Woltz) was in our wedding.

Did your Summer Research experience support or change your school/career plans?
Yes. My REU experience led me to graduate school.

What are you up to now?
In May, I earned my Ph.D. in the Earth and Environmental Sciences Department at Lehigh University. I am currently a Postdoctoral Research Associate and a new father. I do not know what comes next...

What are you up to now?

Stephanie Day
Summer Research Program '06

Mentors: Aaron Ellison
Project: Historical and Contemporary Research into Sarracenia Moth Associates (abstract)
Hometown: Memphis, TN
College and major: Howard University, class of 2007, Biology

What you miss most about the Summer Research program:
Ability to do research and camaraderie.

What you miss least about the program:
Mosquitoes.

What about the program has stuck with you:
The things I learned throughout the research process.

What are you up to now?
I am a government contractor in cultural resource management; I'm trying to get into the environmental compliance field.

What are you up to now?

Kate Farley
Summer Research Program '08

Mentors: Primrose Boynton / Anne Pringle
Project: Dispersal of Yeasts in the Sarracenia purpurea metacommunity (abstract)
Hometown: Rye, NY
College and major: Harvard University, class of 2010, Environmental Science and Public Policy

What you miss most about the Summer Research program:
I miss living in such a beautiful natural environment and getting to learn about all the cool projects other REU students were working on.

What you miss least about the program:
Mosquitoes. Also, since I didn't have a car of my own, limited transportation.

What about the program has stuck with you:
A lot of the methods I learned about have been very useful, even after I graduated from college.

Did your Summer Research experience support or change your school/career plans?
I continued my summer work at school, but ended up going in a very different direction with my career plans.

What are you up to now?
I am a research assistant at the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy, a think tank based in Washington, DC. I focus on industrial and agricultural energy policy. I'm hoping to go to grad school for a MPP in another year or two.

What are you up to now?

David Franklin
Summer Research Program '03

Mentor: David Orwig
Project: The effects of the hemlock woolly adelgid on throughfall N concentrations
Hometown: West Caldwell, NJ
College and major: Lehigh University, class of 2004, Earth and Environmental Science

What you miss most about the Summer Research program:
Being surrounded by so many talented, unique, and motivated individuals.

What you miss least about the program:
Giant Western Massachusetts mosquitoes.

What about the program has stuck with you:
The summer program was responsible for setting me down the path that would eventually lead me to a masters degree and teaching positions at local colleges and universities.

Have you stayed in touch with other Summer students?
Yes, it has been great having a network of students that I was at HF with. I have met up with a few, especially on long road trips across the country.

Did your Summer Research experience support or change your school/career plans?
My summer experience supported and motivated me in my academic career.

What are you up to now?
I am currently bouncing between teaching environmental science at the local community college and ecology the local university, depending on their needs in different semesters. I am also managing a small brewery.

What are you up to now?

Bennet Leon
Summer Research Program '05

Mentors: Audrey Barker-Plotkin
Project: Evolution of pit and mound microtopography 15 years after a simulated hurricane (abstract)
Hometown: Sudbury, MA
College and major: Bates College, class of 2007, Geology

What you miss most about the Summer Research program:
Being around enthusiastic students with similar interests and spending all day in the hemlock forest or simulated hurricane experiment.

What you miss least about the program:
Having Lyme disease--check for ticks!

What about the program has stuck with you:
A better understanding of our dynamic landscape and renewable forest resource.

Have you stayed in touch with other Summer students?
Yes.

Did your Summer Research experience support or change your school/career plans?
My experience at HF added a unique element to my geology major at Bates and gave me a different perspective on my work with the Massachusetts Division of Fisheries and Wildlife after college. When at Harvard Forest, I did not expect that I would end up studying forest ecology and applied forestry as a graduate student.

What are you up to now?
I am a Masters of Forestry Candidate at the University of Maine School of Forest Resources. I am looking forward to a career as a consulting forester, and possibly seeking a policy role some day concerning the forest resources of New England, the nation, and the world.

What are you up to now?

Dunbar Carpenter
Summer Research Program '07 and '09

Mentors: Kristina Stinson, David Foster, Jonathan Thompson
Project: Landscape-scale Ecological Drivers of Alliaria Petiolata Invasion in Western Massachusetts  (2007); Biomass Energy and a Changing Forest Landscape: Modeling the Effects of Intensified Harvesting of Massachusetts' Forests for Biomass Energy Production (2009)

Hometown: Portland, OR
College and major: Harvard College, class of 2008, Organismic and Evolutionary Biology

What you miss most about the Summer program:
Being at Harvard Forest surrounded by great peers and scientists. Working closely with mentors. The exposure to a wide range of ecological research.

What you miss least about the program:
Petersham, while charming, can be a bit isolating.

What about the Summer program has stuck with you:
A lot - learning about the scientific process, the tedious and hard work necessary for scientific learning and discovery, many of this skills involved in field work and analyzing data, and scientific collaborations.

Have you stayed in touch with other Summer Program students?
Yes.

Did your Summer Research Program experience support or change your school/career plans?
My first summer in the program opened my eyes to the world of environmental science and ecological research. The following year I got a bit academically burnt out, but when I came back for another summer I had a great experience and it confirmed to me that I wanted to continue in ecology.

What are you up to now?
This summer I'm working as a field assistant at the Teakettle Ecosystem Experiment in the Sierras in California. In fall 2011 I'm starting a masters in forest ecology at University of Wisconsin-Madison. Eventually I would like to be doing applied research and education in forest landscape ecology.

What are you up to now?

Cassandra Rivas

REU '08

Mentor: Audrey Barker Plotkin

Project: Forest type transition directly influences the seed bank

Hometown: Edinburgh, TX

College and major: University of Texas-Pan American, class of 2008, Biology/Music

 

What you miss most about the REU program:

I miss the east coast forests, the fire tower (great for meditation & an easy get-away), afternoon thunderstorms, and all the wonderful people I met that summer.

What you miss least about the REU program:

The humidity and mosquitoes.

What about the REU program has stuck with you:

The field experience (botany/forestry) I gained that summer . It definitely got my foot in the door for other field jobs with agencies such as, the Bureau of Land Management, National Park Service, U.S. Geological Survey, and most recently, the U.S. Forest Service.

Have you stayed in touch with other REU students?

Yes, through Facebook and recently, I met up a few REU buddies in the west coast for some more outdoor adventures!

Did your REU experience support or change your school/career plans?

Most definitely. Prior to my REU experience I was doing research in a lab and for the most part, hated it. After that summer, I realized I wanted to work outside as much as possible, but not necessarily doing research. That summer, I also decided to take time off before grad school - and couldn't be happier with that decision.

What are you up to now?

Since my summer at the Harvard Forest and graduating college, I have held many biological science tech positions with various government agencies focusing on conservation & restoration efforts throughout the Sierra Nevada (CA). Recently, I applied to a few master's programs in Natural Resource management, as well as the Field Naturalist program at UVM. This fall (2011) I will be moving to the east coast for my top choice - UVM!

What are you up to now?

Jennifer Popham
REU '09

Mentor: Ed Faison
Project: Seedling & Sapling Composition Influences Browse Intensity of Ungulates in Massachusetts

Hometown: Gardner, MA
College and major: University of Massachusetts-Amherst, class of 2010, Wildlife and Fisheries Conservation

What you miss most about the REU program:
Being surrounded by people who are passionate about the environment and ecology.

What you miss least about the REU program:
Rainy days in the field when it rained so hard, for so long, that even the Write-In-The-Rain paper gave up.

What about the REU program has stuck with you:
The memories of spending every day out in the Quabbin Reservior Watershed. It was such a peaceful place to be five days a week.

Have you stayed in touch with other REU students?
Yes! There are a group of us who chat often and update each other on our lives. We hope to get together for a reunion someday.

Did your REU experience support or change your school/career plans?
My REU experience actually made me realize that I do not want to do research for a career. It was too much of a long and tedious process for me and I'm glad that I realized that during the program and not after I went to grad school to do research.

What are you up to now?
I graduated from UMass in May 2010. I want to be a National Park Ranger, so I've been applying for positions all over the country.

Harvard Forest Get-Together at the ESA Annual Meeting

This year, Harvard Forest organized a social event at the Annual Meeting of the Ecological Society of America in Pittsburgh, PA. The goals of the social were to bring together past and current folks who have worked at the Forest to catch up with each other and to provide an occasion for any undergraduates attending the ESA Meeting to come learn about opportunities at the Forest.

On August 3, 17 people attended the social at Olive or Twist, a martini bar close to the Convention Center in Pittsburgh. 7 past REU students, 5 past researchers, 4 current researchers, and 1 potential future REU student were able to connect with each other, chat about current projects at the Forest, and learn about how Harvard Forest has influenced their lives and career paths. It was great to learn that several REU alumni have attended or are now enrolled in graduate ecology programs around the country!

Thanks to everyone who attended this event – we’ll hope to see more Harvard Forest alumni in the future!



[Morgan Tingley (REU '00 & '01), Sarah Butler (current researcher and mentor for REU program), and Jen Johnson (past research assistant) chatted about current projects at the Forest]



[Marit Wilkerson and Jens Stevens, both REU Alumni from '05, caught up with each other while discussing the benefits of the Harvard Forest program with Ava Hoffman, an undergraduate at the University of Virginia.]



[Naomi Clark and Matt Lau, both REU alumni from '03, were excited to re-connect at this event]

What are you up to now?

Brian Warshay
REU '05
Mentor: Jacque Mohan
Project: Physiological Girdling of Forest Trees: Developments of a New Method to Understand Soil Respiration

Hometown: Eastchester, NY

College and major: Cornell University, Natural Resources & Environmental Engineering Technology (double major)

What you miss most about the REU program:The people and friends met there and the good times we had after our work days were complete.

What you miss least about the REU program:
The mosquitoes and humidity.

What about the REU program has stuck with you:
My appreciation for the dedication and efforts that ecologists devote to their research and the sciences that support it, despite the long hours, backwards politics, and modest pay.


Have you stayed in touch with other REU students?

Yes. I still catch up with Jens Stevens fairly regularly and have recently been reacquainted with Katherine Lenoir.

Did your REU experience support or change your school/career plans?
Definitely. I actually learned that I did not want to pursue pure research as a career. I admire those who do but realized that I didn't have the intrinsic motivation for the meticulous field work and effort necessary to do research full time. It was an invaluable experience. I've never enjoyed something that I didn't want to do so much.

What are you up to now?
After working for three years as an environmental consultant I quit my job and am now attending the Masdar Institute of Science and Technology in Abu Dhabi, UAE studying for a masters degree in Engineering Systems and Management with a focus on renewable energy, sustainability, and biofuel life cycle assessments. I anticipate graduating in May 2011 and getting a job in sustainability consulting or another related field.

(Brian maintains a blog about his life in Abu Dhabi. Check it out!)

What are you up to now?

Alison Grantham
REU '08

Mentor: Steve Wofsy
Project: Aboveground Woody Detrital Biomass Decreases and Respiration Increases in the 5 Years Following Selective Harvest

Hometown: Los Angeles, CA
College and Major: Harvard College, Biological Sciences / Environmental Studies, '08

What you miss most about the REU program:
The setting and atmosphere was so nice for focusing on science and making great friends. I loved going for evening runs in the woods and taking weekend hikes and trips with other REUs.

What you miss least about the REU program:
The mosquitoes.

What about the REU program has stuck with you:
The project I worked on has guided my subsequent career moves, so I guess C and N dynamics and climate implications stuck.

Have you stayed in touch with other REU students?
Yup! I'm engaged to fellow HF REU alum, Alex Ireland, and have stayed good friends with Megan Woltz and kept in touch with a few others.

What you're up to now:
I'm currently the Research Manager at the Rodale Institute, an organic agriculture nonprofit and exploring options for graduate school.

Read a great interview published about Alison in summer 2010 by the Huffington Post.

What are you up to now?

Charlotte Chang

REU '08

Mentor: Mike Kaspari

Project: Soil salinity in a temperate forest ecosystem impacts ant foraging behavior (abstract)

Hometown: Santa Barbara, CA 
College and major: Pomona College, Biology, class of 2010

What you miss most about the REU program:
I miss Tim's cooking, the house full of REU love, and the woods.

What you miss least about the REU program:
Being far from home was about it.

What about the REU program has stuck with you:
The research skills I gained, the friendships I made, bike rides (soars?) down the steep hill to the left of Harvard Forest, and the cows.

Have you stayed in touch with other REUers?:
Absolutely!

Whether your REU experience supported or changed your career plans:
Participating in the REU program has made it much easier for me to continue doing ecological research, and anything related to environmental science. I gained skills that helped me conserve my school's own field station (the Bernard Field Station, home to a critically endangered coastal sagebrush habitat). The literature I read and conversations I heard/had at Harvard Forest helped me pick up techniques to address this issue.

What you're up to now:
In summer '09, I studied grassland birds in Montana, some of which are endangered because of poor land management practices. I’m still working toward getting my school to not destroy our field station.

What are you up to now?

Jessica (Scott) Pascoe
REU '00

Mentor: Rebecca Field

Hometown: Albuquerque, NM
College and major: Swarthmore College, Biology and Environmental Studies, class of 2000

What you miss most about the REU program:
Being surrounded by amazing scientific researchers, and daily bird counts.

What you miss least about the REU program:
55 mosquito bites on one hand, waking up at 4:30am every day for bird counts.

What about the REU program has stuck with you:
I met one of my best friends at Harvard Forest and we both maintain Harvard Forest was one of the best summers of our lives.

Have you stayed in touch with other REU students?:
Yes!

Whether your REU experience supported or changed your career plans:
I really loved the field experience. I wanted to be a Field Ornithologist but learned through my summer at Harvard Forest that I am horribly allergic to mosquitoes. Instead of doing field work, I decided to go into education to translate scientific principles to the general public.

What you're up to now:
I currently serve as the Director of Education for the Colorado Chapter of the U.S. Green Building Council. Previously I was the Director of Sustainability for Lewis and Clark Community College. I also worked at the St. Louis Science Center as the Ecology and Environment Gallery Leader, and served as the Director of Education for the National Great Rivers Research and Education Center.

What are you up to now?

Amanda (Park) Miller
REU '03

Mentor: Dave Orwig 
Project: Vegetation and Nitrogen Dynamics Following Selective Hemlock Logging

Hometown: Wolcott, NY 
College and major: SUNY College of Env. Science and Forestry, Syracuse U.; Environmental and Forest Biology, class of 2003

What you miss most about the REU program:
It was an incredible experience for many reasons. The people you meet are fantastic, interesting, and intellectual, resulting in friendships that have persisted over time. The facilities at Harvard Forest were wonderful, from the labs down the housing! And of course, the research projects were a great experience too. My mentor was just about the best mentor in the world!

What you miss least about the REU program:
Nothing really. It's like summer camp for curious, scientifically minded people.


What about the REU program has stuck with you:
The friendships and the research. Both are peerless.

Have you stayed in touch with other REU students?:
Yes!

Whether your REU experience supported or changed your career plans:
It affected my plans for a while at least. Then life caught up with me and I went with the flow.

What you're up to now:
I worked for the USDA doing microbiology research, went to grad school at Northern Arizona University, then dropped out to open a restaurant. I am now a Development Director/ grant writer/ fundraiser/ chief communications officer for a Community Health Center in North Idaho! Of course, I miss science dearly, but have found another calling in the non-profit sector.

What are you up to now?

Gui Woolston
REU '03

Mentors: Kathleen Donohue, Kristina Stinson

Project: The influence of habitat on the demography, meristem allocation, and fecundity of Allaria petiolata

Hometown: New Haven, CT

College and major: Harvard College, Economics, class of '06

What you miss most about the REU program:
The people, the fun, and the research.

What you miss least about the REU program:

Almost nothing.

What about the REU program has stuck with you:
Life-long friends.

Have you stayed in touch with other REU students?:
Yes.

Whether your REU experience supported or changed your career plans:
It got me more interested in research.

What you're up to now:
I am getting a PhD in Economics at Stanford. I am also taking a year off to work in Washington at the White House Council of Economic Advisers, a group that advises the President on economic policy.

What are you up to now?

Megan Woltz

REU '06

Mentors: Kristina Stinson, Kathleen Donohue

Project: Garlic mustard population demographics differ among forest habitats at the Harvard Forest LTER (abstract)

Hometown: Afton, NC

College and major: North Carolina State University, Environmental Sciences, Ecology Concentration, Class of '07

What you miss most about the REU program:
Sitting around Fisher House cracking jokes with other REUs and Tim's excellent cooking.

What you miss least about the REU program:

Poison ivy and mosquitoes that bite through carharts!

What about the REU program has stuck with you:
.The conviction that I really love to do research and want to some day run my own lab.

Have you stayed in touch with other REU students?:
Yes, my old HF roommate is now one of my best friends. We visit each other once or twice a year, even though we live hundreds of miles apart, and talk on the phone pretty regularly.

Whether your REU experience supported or changed your career plans:
Supported - the experience reinforced my desire to pursue scientific research as a career.

What you're up to now:
I'm in my 3rd year in a PhD program in Entomology at Michigan State University.

What are you up to now?

Maggie Wagner

REU '09

Mentors: Dave Orwig, Audrey Barker-Plotkin

Project: Mortality, coarse woody debris, and nutrient cycling over 20 years in a virgin Tsuga canadensis forest in New Hampshire (abstract)

Hometown: Troy, MI

College and major: University of Michigan-Ann Arbor, Plant Biology, class of '09

What you miss most about the REU program:
The location-- I loved being in the forest with tons of opportunities for outdoor recreation. I also liked living with my friends and fellow students at Fisher House.

What you miss least about the REU program:

The fruit flies in Fisher House.

What about the REU program has stuck with you:
It was my first real taste of a professional research atmosphere. I feel much more prepared for grad school now, I know more about what to expect. I learned a lot this summer and met a lot of great people.

Have you stayed in touch with other REU students?:
Yes, several of them.

Whether your REU experience supported or changed your career plans:
My REU experience reinforced my plans to go into academic research.

What you're up to now:
I'm writing my honors thesis right now, to graduate in December. I am also applying to grad schools, which I hope to enter in Fall 2010. My research focus is on plant evolutionary genetics and ecology, especially in range boundaries and hybrid zones. I will probably get my MS before pursuing a PhD.

What are you up to now?

 

Jhessye Moore-Thomas
REU '08

Mentor: Audrey Barker-Plotkin

Project: Investigating Water Table Levels Affected by Topography and Clearcut Forest Harvest (abstract)

Hometown: Tampa, FL

College and major: University of Central Florida, Environmental Studies and Film, class of '09

What you miss most about the REU program:
I miss the mentors! They were so awesome!

What you miss least about the REU program:

The ticks and the deerflies!

What about the REU program has stuck with you:
The amount of hard work and the beauty of presenting what you have done and learned to other people.

Have you stayed in touch with other REU students?:
Yes I have, on a facebook basis and sometimes by phone.

Whether your REU experience supported or changed your career plans:
Supported, yes!!!!

What you're up to now:
I am applying to Americorps... and I am committed to an eco-journey for the rest of my life!

What are you up to now?

Jen Levye
REU '09

Mentor: Missy Holbrook, Jim Wheeler

Project: Implications of Sectoral Variation in Red Oaks and Red Maples on Sap Flow Measurements (abstract)

Hometown: Sharon, MA

College and major: Harvard College, Organismic & Evolutionary Biology, class of '11

What you miss most about the REU program:
I miss the amazing people I met this summer. I miss being able to go on hikes through the woods after a day in the lab, and I miss my lab, with the awesome set-up we had going.

What you miss least about the REU program:

The mosquitoes. But more seriously, there were times when my job got kind of tedious - I won't miss the days spent in the basement soldering sensors, or sitting poring over spreadsheets for hours. It was still good experience though.

What about the REU program has stuck with you:
One, that I'm definitely going to go into a research based field where I can go out and do field research, rather than going to medical school. I think I'm more confident in my ability to ask research questions and interpret data, and I made amazing friends and will have wonderful memories of the summer.

Have you stayed in touch with other REU students?:
Absolutely! A group of us got coffee last weekend (and I'm dating someone I met at HF, so we're in touch rather a lot).

Whether your REU experience supported or changed your career plans:
Yes, changed them - I'm pretty certain I no longer want to go to med school but would rather pursue a PhD in Ecology or a similar field.

What you're up to now:
I'm in my junior year, right now trying to figure out what I'm doing next summer. I might be working in my REU mentor's lab at Harvard this year, and thinking about thesis plans. I might do my thesis based on research we started this summer, but even if I don't, I might be coming back to Harvard Forest for a couple of weeks to help out with Jim's project.

Later, I don't know- probably grad school with some time off before that, either teaching or working in lab, if I can get a job.