SEEDS: Newsletter > Volume 4, Issue 3 - April 2006

SEEDS Highlights: Christina Wong, 2005-06 Undergraduate Research Fellow

I am a senior Biology major at Occidental College in Los Angeles, California and am interested in the fields of urban ecology, biogeochemistry and ecosystem ecology. My love for science and the environment began in my junior year of high school as a member of the Student Conservation Association’s (SCA) San Francisco Urban Youth Corps Program. For two years, I participated in bi-weekly workshops that addressed local environmental issues and in community restoration projects of city parks, Toyiabe National Forest, California and Denali National Park, Alaska. SCA educated and exposed inner-city youth from underrepresented communities to the importance of nature and conservation.

My journey as an ecological researcher began in the summer of 2004 with Dr. Rebecca Ostertag, University of Hawaii at Hilo, and Dr. Susan Cordell, USDA-Hawaii, on a NSF-REU project that assessed the impacts of invasive plants on Hawaiian lowland wet forests. In the spring of 2005, I studied abroad in Costa Rica where I explored sustainable agriculture by comparing avian diversity of local sun and shade coffee plantations. This past summer, I participated in the Institute of Ecosystem Studies (IES) NSF-REU program with Dr. Katalin Szlavecz, John Hopkins University, and Dr. Richard Pouyat, USDA- Baltimore, at the Baltimore Ecosystem Studies. I evaluated the impact of urbanization and heavy metals on soil communities throughout the Washington D.C. and Baltimore metropolitan areas. As a 2005-06 SEEDS fellow, I am working with Dr. Nancy Grimm, Arizona State University and current ESA President, and Dr. Ryan Sponseller, Arizona State University, at the central-Arizona Phoenix Long-term Ecological Research (LTER) site. My project is investigating the effects of anthropogenic nitrogen deposition on N2-fixation rates of biological soil crust in rapidly urbanizing central-Arizona. Excitingly, this is my first exposure to biogeochemistry and desert ecosystems. The fellowship is a phenomenal opportunity since it combines all of my ecological interests, thus permitting me to create a project I feel is intriguing, challenging and fun.

Ultimately, as an ecologist, I hope to change the common “urban perception,” that divides cities from nature, by working to restore, expose and understand urban ecosystems. In the future I see myself as an international researcher, urban planner, and policy maker who will assist in the development and design of sustainable and equitable cities.

I was introduced to the SEEDS program by Sharon Ziegler-Chong, Director of the Hawaii NSF-REU program. In November of 2005 I attended the SEEDS fieldtrip to the USGS National Wetlands Research Center in Lafayette, Louisiana. The fieldtrip allowed me to ride through swamps, critically examine marshes, interact with ecological researchers, and question, contemplate and discuss the threats confronting Louisiana’s wetlands. SEEDS has inspired me to pursue a career as an ecological researcher by providing me with a community of students and scientists who are passionate about ecology and diversifying the ecology profession. I share the knowledge and wisdom I have gained from my SEEDS experience with other students as co-founder of the Scientific Scholars Achievement Program (SSAP) at Occidental College. SSAP helps underrepresented students from under-funded public high schools successfully pursue their scientific passions. We offer student mentoring and tutoring sessions and strongly support community activities. In the future, we hope that our students will become science ambassadors by volunteering in inner-city public schools and minority communities. Recently, we received the Occidental Urban and Environmental Policy Institute Community Action award.

The best advice I can give fellow students is to: investigate and utilize all available resources, get involved in research projects, seek academic and professional advice from professors and other students, study abroad, and choose a subject and field that you truly love.

For more information on the SEEDS Undergraduate Research Fellowship, visit http://www.esa.org/seeds/activities/FellowshipsInfo.php