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.

What are you up to now?

Daniella Rodriguez
REU '09

Mentor: Shannon Pelini

Project: Under warmer conditions, the advantage of improved foraging is negated by increased mortality in Aphaenogaster rudis (abstract)

Hometown: Yuma, AZ

College and major: Arizona State University, Conservation Biology and Ecological Sustainability, class of '11

What you miss most about the REU program:
My mentor and the friends I made.

What you miss least about the REU program:

Living with 20 other people.

What about the REU program has stuck with you:
How to start and go about a science project - and that research can take a lot of work but it can also be a lot of fun!

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

Whether your REU experience supported or changed your career plans:
A little bit of both.

What you're up to now:
Right now I am working on my first semester here at ASU and just hoping to do well in my classes.. and hopefully by January start looking for REU's for next summer!

What are you up to now?

Alana Belcon

REU '03

Mentor: Aaron Ellison

Project: Distribution and diversity of bog vegetation at Tom Swamp

Hometown: Arima, Trinidad & Tobago

College and major: Mount Holyoke College, Environmental Studies, class of 2004

What you miss most about the REU program:
The camaraderie between participants. It was awesome being with so many other young people who were all environmentally/ecologically minded.

What you miss least about the REU program:

Working in the bog (Tom Swamp) by myself. I enjoyed my project but it was difficult doing it solo.

What about the REU program has stuck with you:
So many things - the people, the beauty of Harvard Forest, the knowledge that if I could do that project by myself then I can do anything.

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

Whether your REU experience supported or changed your career plans:
Supported, as I was already an environmental studies major with a GIS focus.

What you're up to now:
I'm currently in grad school at Duke University doing my PhD in tropical climatology with a focus on the South American/Caribbean region.

What are you up to now?

Corietta (Cory) Teshera-Sterne
REU '09

Mentor: Emery Boose

Project: A Software Engineering Approach to Scientific Data Provenance (abstract)

Hometown: Seattle, WA

College and major: Mount Holyoke College, Biology/Computer Science, class of '10

What you miss most about the REU program:
Being around scientists all the time, the food, my friends, and the forest right outside my door.

What you miss least about the REU program:

The insects, indoors and out.

What about the REU program has stuck with you:
My project - it's continuing on to be my senior thesis, so I'll be stuck with it for a while yet!

Have you stayed in touch with other REU students?:
Very much so - I'm dating one! A bunch of us also met up in Boston a week or two ago to catch up, and we stay in touch on the net.

Whether your REU experience supported or changed your career plans:
One of the stated goals of the REU program is to provide some of the experience undergrads need to determine whether or not they want to pursue research as a career. Although I already planned to go on to grad school and pursue research, having this summer experience greatly supported that decision and gave me much greater motivation to follow through on my plans.

What you're up to now:
I'm starting my final year of my undergraduate college career, beginning my senior thesis based on my REU project, and thinking about grad schools.

What are you up to now?

Rob Hanifin
REU '04

Mentor:

Project: First year reproductive responses of two forest herbs to experimental soil warming

Hometown: Deptford, NJ

College and major: Dickinson College, Biology/Environmental Science, class of '06

What you miss most about the REU program:
Tim's food. Interacting and working with so many interesting people, from a variety of backgrounds, studying different but interesting and relevant topics.

What you miss least about the REU program:

Four of us rooming together in the same room.

What about the REU program has stuck with you:
That there are many intelligent contemporaries interested in ecological research.

Have you stayed in touch with other REU students?:
A couple now and again. Not very often though.

Whether your REU experience supported or changed your career plans:
I was interested in research, and continued to follow that same path. Since then, I've veered slightly.

What you're up to now:
Activities since college graduation (Spring 2006):
May 2006 - August 2007 - research assistant, MBL soil warming projects at Harvard Forest
Oct-Dec 2007 - Part time and nightshifts in neuroscience lab at Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia.
Nov-Dec 2007 - worked on a UPS delivery truck
January 2008 - present: USDA-ARS, Davis, CA. I work for a USDA researcher who is based in the Viticulture and Enology Dept. at UC Davis. We study how vineyard soil chemistry inpacts grape quality and quantity, vineyard soil/plant water relations, and few other odds and ends.