Ana Elisa Pérez Quintero – 2008-09 Fellow

- Briefly introduce yourself, describe your background (personal and educational).

Qué tal? My name is Ana Elisa Pérez Quintero and I’m a humanities student in the University of Puerto Rico, in a great Individualized Studies Program, in the Department of Interdisciplinary Studies. There I have the liberty to combine my areas of interest. Ecology is based in interactions and growing up in the heart of the city of Río Piedras I’m constantly seeing connections between the people who live it and the many organisms who share it. I guess that’s why I’m passionate about ecology especially when you combine it with social urban aspects. My BA is named just after that: Urban Ecology and it not only combines ecology and anthropology, but also my other passion, visual arts. Art and especially film can be used as a mechanism to both study ecology and anthropology but also combine them in a medium. With this principal we created GAIA Grupos Ambientales Interdisciplinarios Aliados (Alliance of Interdisciplinary Environmental Groups), an outreach socio-ecology group in the city, were we work with children and youth towards the stewardship of the resources and towards active eco citizen participation! This is in collaboration with many groups including AKKA, our SEEDS Chapter in the University of Puerto Rico, Río Piedras campus.

- Please describe your fellowship research.

The summer before I applied for the Fellowship I was doing some agroecology work in Puebla México, with many indigenous, local, and community groups. We did a lot of practical work, and I loved it, but when I came back to school there were too many things that remained unanswered. That is why I went back for my fellowship research, but to another area that had always intrigued me, Chiapas. There I kept working with farmers, doing research on their fields comparing organic vs. conventional weed management. Herbicides are to a vast degree contrary to integrated weed management and have direct and indirect negative social and environmental effects on agroecosystems. I think I’m so attracted to agroecosystems because they are as my mentor calls them the “Cinderella of Conservation”, a nice way to conserve areas, but also they have a strong human component. Plus we all rely on that earth for living; it’s what gives us our energy: food. If we treat agroecosystems with pesticides and other chemicals we are also getting ourselves intoxicated, so we depend on healthy agroecosystems to maintain healthy systems in our own bodies. By evaluating and researching how “arvenses” (useful herbaceous that grow without being planted) are used in the crops and the role they have in promoting ecological diversity in the farmers’ plot we can achieve more sustainable practices. In Huitepec, a suburban farming community were my research was based I interviewed farmers about how they learn and incorporate weed management into agricultural productions. Different practices were compared to evaluate the process of production; interviews were analyzed and compared with data acquired through experimental quadrants as well as weed sampling in five organic and five conventional farms identifying the more useful weeds, their richness and uses for an integrated weed management that eliminates further herbicide use.

- How did you become interested in ecology?

My life has been a constant field trip always in the beach or in the rainforest, when I didn’t have the money or the time I could continue the filed trips painting, writing or reading about the same things I found so exhilarating in the field. The more I learned about ecology and about our environment the more passionate and aware I became of the problems facing it and the more I wanted to do something about those problems. That’s why from a young age I started creating and becoming involved with different initiatives that addressed exactly the issues that most concerned me. At first I decided to deal with the different problems concerning my closest environment through art, by this time I hadn’t actually seen ecology as an answer to many problems we were facing. I hadn’t noticed that the model I was using to organize was very similar to the scientific method. Then my father’s death of cancer awoke in me an even keener interest and greater sensibility for different social aspects. First of all because his disease was very related to environmental hazards and secondly because he was a researcher of the labor movement and I found that the best way to honor him was to transform his research into actions that form part of our reality.

I feel ecology research is made to give answers to those problems that we face constantly. This was made clear to me when it came to actually turning all of these ideas in to practice. For around five years now, I’ve been advocating for the protection of one of the most incredible spaces on Earth: the Northeastern Ecological Corridor. We developed a Coalition dedicated to make this area a reserve, since it’s been for many years in the eyes of two mega hotel developments, the San Miguel Four Seasons and the Dos Mares Marriot Resort. Finally it was declared a reserve last year, but with the new government in power we are afraid it will again be in danger.  In this coalition I have re-enforced the importance of science knowledge and the preservation of our natural resources. The Northeastern Ecological Corridor has numerous ecosystems from virgin forest, to bioluminescent bay, to estuaries, to mangroves, until it faces the Yunque rain forest. It is a very valuable land not only for its biodiversity, but also for its people. I have noticed that one of the groups that knows the most about the species that live there are the fishermen that depend on the Corridor, and in part for that reason try to keep its diversity in balance. Right now one of the things keeping the hotels from constructing there is the leatherback turtle that has chosen for many reasons the Northeastern Ecological Corridor as its nesting ground, a species in danger of extinction. When lobbying ecological information and knowledge has been crucially important, and now for the reserve management ecological surveys and research are needed.  This type of initiatives are what keep me so motivated in learning more and more about ecology.

- What has been your experience with SEEDS?

SEEDS has encouraged me to see the interdisciplinary aspects of life where the pursuit of knowledge from different perspectives contribute to a better understanding of life’s complexities. I believe ecology helps you understand and respect things that otherwise you wouldn’t and in giving participation to everyone in ecological research we are promoting and helping other’s develop the tools necessary to work through the problems we constantly face. The SEEDS family helps you do this, it’s that organism that promotes interactions and facilitates (like the weeds I study) networks. Those webs of people that are passionate about the same things you are and are keen and anxious to learn about each other; people that like creating knowledge together. I’m very glad to be part of the SEEDS system, the students participating in the program amaze me, and they truly are shaping the future of ecology.  

- What do you hope to accomplish in your lifetime? 

I truly believe that the union between different groups and diverse people is fundamental for a healthier planet. My biggest passion at the moment is GAIA, Grupos Ambientales Interdisciplinarios Aliados, an NGO composed of groups of various ages and social sectors that join to move beyond the school walls and create a link between school and community for a comprehensive environmental education based on issues of ecology, art, culture and environmentalism. I guess this is in part what I want to accomplish and do: manage NGOs, continue studying but at a graduate level, do a lot of participatory action research, do lots of media work (films), give everyone the tools so that they also research, film and tell there stories; and continue discovering different regions of the world, with different types of biological and cultural diversity. I have always thought that one of the best ways to learn is by applying what we hear, what we know and what we speak. Especially learn by actions and actions must be first thought and investigated, we must research so that we can apply our knowledge in the future.  By working together and combining different areas of knowledge and study we can develop even more coherent and complex solutions for a more sustainable environment.

Helda Morales 2008-09 Fellowship Mentor to Ana Elisa

What has been your experience with SEEDS and what effect have you seen it have on students? (optional if you are new to SEEDS)

My first experience with SEEDS was when I met Melissa Armstrong during her visit to Chiapas. Her experience working with underserved students inspired me to apply some of the SEEDS ideas to our own program at El Colegio de La Frontera Sur. Just starting a discussion about discrimination and the importance of diversifying ecology has opened the eyes not only of the students but also the professors.

I had also the great opportunity to host a SEEDS field course in Chiapas, to attend a SEEDS meeting at Duke and to work with Ana Elisa Perez, a SEEDS fellow.  SEEDS brings amazing opportunities for the students to learn about ecology, leadership and life. It has being a learning experience for me too. I’m really grateful for that. You are not only planting seeds, you are making them disperse and grow

Briefly describe your relationship with your fellowship mentee and his/her project and interests.

Ana Elisa and I are both interested in food, traditional knowledge and public education. I have tried to give her research skills in agroecology and opportunities to work with kids in San Cristobal de Las Casas. She started a research project documenting traditional weed management and the consequences of that management over the weeds` seed bank. She developed a wonderful relationship with many of the farmers and with the kids where she taught a weed workshop.

What are your interests in ecology?

I’m interested in the relationship between agroecosystems and conservation, especially how agroecosystems contribute to ecosystems services, such as pest management. I have been documenting the impact of traditional Mayan agricultural practices on biological control agents and pest avoidance.

How did you become interested in ecology?

Jack Schuster, my biology teacher at Universidad del Valle de Guatemala is responsible for that. I was a computer science major, but he made me fall in love with bugs and ecology. He was so knowledgeable, funny and honest that I wanted to be him. He gave me great opportunities. I had to work to pay my college tuition, and I could not attend the labs that were in the mornings. He allowed me to do the labs by myself in the afternoons and latter on he hired me as her teaching and research assistant.

Why do you support diverse people and diverse thought in ecology?

First, I think that is my way to pay back all the opportunities that several people that believe in me provided. I’m the only one in my family with a post-graduate degree, from a country where only 3.6% of the population can afford to go to college. Second, because by studying ecology I have learned that diversity brings resilience. Diverse people and diverse thought allow the ecological sciences to adapt and have a positive impact to our ever-changing world.

What essential skills and qualities will future leaders in ecology need to have?

Besides a strong scientific background, that they are already getting in the traditional schools, the future leaders in ecology need to able to work and communicate with people from all backgrounds. The new leaders need to learn how to work in multidisciplinary teams, to be able to communicate their science to the general public, the media and politicians, to communicate with all kind of stakeholders and especially they need to learn how to listen and learn from people and ideas outside academia.

Sarah Renteria 2008-09 Fellow

Hello my name is Sarah Renteria and I was born and raised in the desert southwest. I recently graduated from the University of Texas at El Paso with a degree in Environmental Science. My SEEDS fellowship research was done near Fairbanks Alaska at the Caribou Poker Creek Research Watershed. There I studied phosphorus uptake in a stream with underlain permafrost. I become interested in ecology my freshman year when I volunteered to work in the aquatic ecology lab at UTEP. I was always interested in being outside and studying nature, but I never thought I could do it as a career. I knew that ecology was for me during my first SEEDS experience on a trip to Chiapas Mexico in 2007.

It was there that I realized that “this” is what I’m supposed to do! It's corny to say but SEEDS really has changed my life. I have been able to travel and complete research in amazing places, allowed me network with top ecologists and like-minded individuals, and opened the door to my future career in ecology. SEEDS is my own personal niche where we come together, dream and share ideas and make them bigger and real. I feel that SEEDS has made me a stronger more confident individual and has given me a grand appreciation for the world we live in and its people. In my lifetime I plan to continue to work with programs like SEEDS, giving underrepresented and disadvantaged kids an opportunity to travel and study science abroad. I am also interested in science education and outreach, hopefully one day bridging the gap between the scientific community and the local community.

Jeremy Jones 2008-09 Fellowship Mentor to Sarah

What has been your experience with SEEDS and what effect have you seen it have on students?

I think the SEEDS program has had a profound impact on the students involved.  The research opportunities afforded to students is unprecedented and I expect that many of the students will go on highly successful careers, whether it is ultimately in ecology or another discipline.

Briefly describe your relationship with your fellowship mentee and her project interests.

Working with Sarah has been a wonderful experience.  Sarah has been investigating phosphorus uptake and cycling in a stream in interior Alaska.  It has been rewarding to work with Sarah to develop her project and then tackle the wilds of Alaska to conduct the research. 

What are your interests in ecology?

My research interests focus on two general themes: 1) carbon and nitrogen cycling in streams, rivers and soils (especially in the context of land-water interactions), and 2) watershed-scale carbon cycling and climate change.  A central theme of my research is the role of hydrology, both surface and ground water, in linking ecosystems and governing biogeochemical transformations.  A second theme involves the role of permafrost and permafrost thaw in controlling ecosystem structure in boreal forest and arctic ecosystems.  Working in Alaska, I am particularly interested in how climate change and thawing of permafrost will alter watershed hydrology, and cycling of carbon, nitrogen and other elements.

How did you become interested in ecology?

I have had a fascination with streams and aquatic ecosystems since I was a kid.  I grew up in the highly engineered environment of Southern California.  On family vacations I was always drawn to rivers and streams, and fascinated that they were not flowing through a concrete channel.

Why do you support diverse people and diverse thought in ecology?

The challenges we face with environmental change are too great for people to solve individually.  Many of the solutions to issues we are facing will come through the synergism resulting from diverse groups.  For myself, I enjoy the intellectual stimulation of having a diverse lab group and the different perspectives people bring to the table.

What essential skills and qualities will future leaders in ecology need to have?

Future leaders will need to have well developed quantitative skills, remain open to new approaches, ready to tackle and embrace new technologies, and open to building bridges with other disciplines.  I think we are on the verge of some radical changes in how we approach ecological research.  How these changes shape the future of ecology will depend on how future leaders embrace the changes in approaches an

SEEDS in the Rocky Mountains

From June 7-13, 2009, 19 students shared an incredible experience in the mountains of Gothic, Colorado, at the community-oriented Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory (RMBL), fondly pronounced “rumble”. Also participating were Cindy Wilber, Stanford University SEEDS chapter adviser and Teresa Mourad, ESA Director of Education and Diversity Programs. The program provided students an understanding of marmots, the White Crown sparrows, and the long-standing Climate Change experiment. A rich discussion on ecology as a career stimulated much thought thanks to David Inouye, ESA’s elected Secretary, Johannes Foufopoulos and three graduate students, and Kellen Marshall, our very own SEEDS star who will begin her graduate studies at Univeristy of Illinois this fall. Students also designed and conducted their own mini-research with support from Ian Billick, Director of RMBL, and RMBL senior personnel, Jennifer Reithel and George Aldridge. A full report will be posted on the SEEDS website later this summer. Special thanks to all of RMBL staff and especially to Dave Larson for all the logistical arrangements. 

When my advisor presented me with the SEEDS field trip application, I had no prior knowledge of ESA or SEEDS, let alone what a field trip to the Rocky Mountain Biological Station would entail.  In fact, applying to the SEEDS field trip was simply an attempt to fill what seemed like an endless summer with something more productive than a part time job at the local Sonic Burger. Instead, what I found during that week in the mountains was a unique, educational experience where I learned about much more than ecology.

As a rising junior at Occidental College, I had declared an environmental biology major. However, my plans for the future ended at that. I had no idea what my options were after graduation. However, by applying to the SEEDS field trip, I had unknowingly set myself up for a small adventure that would present a myriad of information regarding graduate school, and, ultimately, perhaps a career in field ecology. I was able to speak face-to-face with many of the researchers and graduate students that had decided to make RMBL their home for the summer. Through their talks, I learned of many different areas of field ecology research ranging from marmot behavior to climate change and sparrow diseases. Overall, this experience opened my eyes to the options available after graduate school and gave me an optimistic view of a future in a career of field ecology.

However, I personally believe that during this field trip, I learned the most not from the published researchers and graduate students, but from the other SEEDS students. During our first night together, we were able to gather in the common rooms of our cold, rustic cabins and speak to each other almost as if we were simply a group of life-long friends that hadn’t seen each other in a while. Soon, we found ourselves sharing our life stories and struggles, often touching on emotional subjects and areas of disagreement. As the week progressed, these discussions became the highlight of my day. Each time we would disperse from our late-night talks I would lie in bed hours after thinking about each person’s story, what they had gone through, and how they made it through to college, and ultimately, on this SEEDS field trip with me.

Through their stories, I was able to put my own life in perspective. I realize now that during that trip, I got to know some of the most inspiring and amazing people I have ever met, and they are my age. They are going through many of the same struggles as I am, and they are succeeding despite any past hardships or stereotypes that may hold them back. I can honestly say that many of the people I met gave me hope for my own future, as well as the future of my generation. Although these talks were never organized by SEEDS specifically, I have to give them my thanks because, without them, I don’t think I ever would have been able to find a group of friends quite like the one I developed. Our cultural backgrounds and unique life histories would have otherwise made us completely incompatible, but something about having to survive the 20 degree nights and the reeking outhouses brought us together for a once in a lifetime experience that I know I’ll never forget.

SEEDS at the MANRRS Career Fair and Training Conference

By Jeramie Strickland

SEEDS Alum, Jeramie Strickland attended the Minorities in Agriculture Natural Resources and Related Sciences (MANRRS) 24^th Annual Career Fair and Training Conference 26-28 March 2009.  The conference was held in Indianapolis, Indiana with the theme “Expanding Our Horizons, Embracing the Challenge and Preparing for the Future”.  This theme certainly aligns with the mission and purpose of SEEDS and ESA, which is to help support and embrace ethnic and cultural diversity in the field of ecology and agriculture by promoting opportunities that help seal leaks in the diversity pipelines. 

The highlight of the conference was a career fair which provided the perfect venue for students and professionals to meet with representatives from government, industry, and academia.  Additionally, the career fair was an excellent opportunity to network and develop contacts for future opportunities such as internships and jobs.  Jeramie helped recruit students for future SEEDS/ESA opportunities, and faculty/staff to become apart of SEEDS Campus Chapter networks.  Jeramie also helped exhibit for Iowa State University’s (ISU) College of Agriculture and the Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Organismal (EEOB) Biology.  This opportunity was made possible with financial support from SEEDS, ISU’s EEOB department, and ISU’s MANRRS campus chapter.

Jeramie has personally benefited from attending previous MANRRS conferences both academically and professionally.  Previous MANRRS endeavors have helped open doors for Jeramie through graduate assistantships with ISU, internships with Michigan State University, Purdue University, the United States Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resource and Conservation Service, employment opportunities with ESA/SEEDS, and the US Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS).  It was at the 2004 MANNRS conference that Jeramie was introduced to SEEDS and ESA, and the 2005 conference where he became familiar with the Graduate Minority Assistantship Program at ISU.  During the 2009 MANRRS conference, Jeramie was able to network successfully and obtain a position with the (USFWS) through the National Council for Science and the Environment’s Campus to Careers Internship Program.  Jeramie starts his new position with USFWS in May 2009 and is so fortunate to be apart of the ISU, SEEDS, and MANNRS family.

Thanks MANRRS, SEEDS/ESA, and ISU for making my agricultural and ecological dreams a reality!

Welcoming Lina and Matt

Lina Oliveros is the SEEDS Intern. A native of Colombia, Lina studied Pre-Veterinary Medicine at Broward Community College and received her B.S. on Marine Biology from Florida International University, where she participated in research on the diving behavior of yellow belly slider turtles with and without a model predator.  She volunteered at a veterinary office where she promoted pet health awareness to reduce abuse and neglect. She led the logistics of the research on Coral Reef Project of Veterinary Care and Human Services helping to map the distribution of the Staghorn coral (Acropora cervicornis). Lina exhibits an enthusiastic interest and ability for the marine sciences and sciences in general. Her main interests are community engagement and awareness of wildlife.

Matthew Ripley is the Education Intern.  He was born and raised in Silver Spring, MD and spent much of his summers on the Chesapeake Bay.  It is this that sparked his interest in the environment and ecology.  He currently attends The Ohio State University in Columbus, OH, pursuing a dual degree in Environmental Science and Zoology.  At OSU, he works at the Olentangy River Wetlands Research Park in the experimental wetlands.  He is also an Environment and Natural Resource (ENR) Scholar; a select group of science-minded students.  He is also an officer in Block “O”, the organization that oversees the official student sections at Ohio State athletic events.  After graduating with a pair of B.S.’s from OSU, he intends on pursuing a Ph.D. in Wetlands Ecology.

Farewell from Erin Vinson

I sit here in my office at ESA, with photos of SEEDS students and events surrounding me, and am so grateful for the inspiration, the friendships, and the knowledge I have gained from my short time working with the SEEDS program at ESA.  As many of you already know, I will no longer be with ESA after June.  I have decided to move to upstate New York to a place that is closer to wilderness and to loved ones, both of which have been entirely too far away from me.  But I take with me such an incredible gift, one that many of you already have and one that I hope many of you will have – the gift of SEEDS.  The SEEDS program truly is a special gift in the world.  Every single person involved with SEEDS has something to share and add to the gift, creating a stronger and more supportive SEEDS family every day! 

I have absolutely adored working with SEEDS and most importantly, getting the chance to work and get to know all of the wonderful SEEDS students, advisors, and mentors.   I have been utterly blown away by the levels of enthusiasm, intellect, and leadership that I have seen with SEEDS every day since I started with ESA.  From my very first field trip to Santa Barbara to Bonanza Creek to Harvard Forest; from my first Leadership Meeting at Duke University to this year’s at Sevilleta; from my first ESA Annual Meeting in Milwaukee;  from every chapter visit and every conference  – I think of the huge impact SEEDS has had on my life and can’t help but smile and be grateful.  You have all been a part of that! 

Thank you all for sharing your lives with me (and I hope continuing to!) and for the inspiration you have given me to not only try myself to make this world a better place but to inspire others to do so as well.

I will be joining the SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry (ESF) Adirondack Ecological Center in Newcomb, New York as their Education Specialist in July.  I’ll be working in the wilderness of the Adirondack Preserve: creating educational programs, visiting local schools, designing new diversity and leadership programs, and doing all else that I can to pass on this great love of ecology!  I am looking forward to working with ecologists, educators, policy-makers, undergraduate and graduate students, as well as middle and high school students!  There are great opportunities for students and researchers at SUNY-ESF and the Adirondack Ecological Center – so come on over for a visit!  Please keep in touch (erinlv26@yahoo.com).  I wish all the best to you and for all your dreams to become reality.

With unending gratitude to all of you,
Erin

Earth Day 2009 Celebrated at Alcorn State University

By Dr. Alex Achonolu

Alcorn State University’s SEEDS Ecology Chapter co-sponsored an Earth Day Celebration in April with the Department of Biological Sciences on the theme: “the Green Generation”. It was attended by over 200 members of the Alcorn State University community. Among the highlights were an “Experts Symposium on the Environment” and a Public Officials Symposium”. Student activities included an essay contest, a recycling competition, dormitory room clean -up and a signing of Earth Day pledges and the “Green Generation Manifesto”.

ESA Executive Director Visits with Puerto Rico SEEDS Chapters

By Katherine McCarter

It was a privilege to have the opportunity to meet with students and chapter advisors of the University of Puerto Rico, Bayamon, Humacao and Rio Piedras SEEDS Chapter this past March.  I am grateful to Elvia Melendez (Advisor to the Rio Piedras 2008 SEEDS Chapter of the Year) who organized this opportunity while I was visiting Puerto Rico for a meeting of scientific and engineering society executives. Each representative presented an overview of their chapter and of the many activities and events that they sponsor.  The concern of the chapters for the local ecology, the linkages with the community and other related organizations and the dedication of the individual chapter members was very impressive.  I continue to be in awe of the enthusiasm and energy of our SEEDS chapters—and this visit solidified that impression.  It is an honor for ESA to have such active chapters and to have a role in encouraging and supporting their work.

SEEDS alumni receive the NSF Graduate Research Fellowship

Three SEEDS students were among the talented pool to be awarded the 2009 National Science Foundation (NSF) Graduate Research Fellowship: Israel Del Toro, Kimberly Komatsu, and Christina Wong!

Israel Del Toro, a recent graduate of University of Texas at El Paso, will be attending the University of Massachusetts for a Doctorate program in Organismic and Evolutionary Biology Program (OEB).  As part of Israel’s graduate research, he will be investigating how terrestrial invertebrate communities (specifically ant communities) are likely to be affected by regional climate change in New England.  Israel will be working with Dr.  Aaron Ellison and will conduct much of his research at the Harvard Forest LTER.

“When I first received the notification of the NSF Fellowship, I literally shouted out loud and ran a victory lap around the lab. I know this is a big deal, and I realize that this means that I have a lot of hard work ahead of me. I’m thrilled to be part of this group but I know the pressure is on, and there are a lot of expectations (from my academic colleagues as well as from myself) to succeed in meeting my research goals.”

Israel says the SEEDS has played a vital role in getting him where he is now. “The first time I heard about the NSF fellowship was at last year’s ESA Meeting in Milwaukee, during the SEEDS mentoring session. My mentor Amy Freestone (from the Smithsonian Institution) informed me about this opportunity and encouraged me to apply. I followed her advice and here I am today, happy as can be. SEEDS has truly been a supportive network that I can count and has magnified the excitement I have about the field of ecology. Any success that I have had to this point is most definitely partially attributed to the spectacular SEEDS chapters, members and coordinators.  I look forward to continuing my participation with SEEDS and give back to the network that has given so much to me.”

Kimberly Komatsu received her Bachelors degree at the University of California, Irvine in 2007 and is currently in a Doctorate program at Yale University in Ecology and Evolution.  Kimberly was “shocked and amazed” to discover she had been awarded the NSF Graduate Fellowship.  “A friend congratulated me before I got the email, and I didn’t believe him.  Apparently, the third time really is the charm!”

Kimberly is interested in top-down and bottom-up controls of grassland communities and the process that interact to determine levels of productivity and community composition.  She is interested in teasing apart the direct and indirect mechanisms through which vertebrate and invertebrate herbivores and resource availability (water, light, nutrients) control plant communities.

Kimberly says it is because of a connection she made on her first SEEDS field trip to the Sevilleta LTER in 2005 that she has landed where she is today.  “I was traveling in South Africa this spring with my current advisor, Melinda Smith, and Scott Collins (who Kimberly met during the 2005 SEEDS field trip) and I thought how funny it is how one four-day fieldtrip can really change your whole life”.

Christina Wong graduated with a Bachelor’s degree from Occidental College in 2006 and is pursuing a PhD in the in Sustainability Science at the School of Sustainability at Arizona State University (ASU), working with Dr. Nancy Grimm.  Christina has been fortunate to be awarded both the NSF Graduate Fellowship and the Ford Foundation Diversity Pre-Doctoral Fellowship (2008). Christina’s gratitude for these opportunities is great and she says “simply, I aspire to honor the award histories, the successes of past scholars, and the commitment of society to support young scholarship”.

Christina’s research interests span the disciplines of biogeochemistry, ecosystem ecology, ecological economics, international development and urban studies. She is interested in ecosystem services, and enhancing the connection between ecosystem processes and services. Currently, Christina hopes to study urban water provisioning systems by evaluating the tradeoffs between the benefits derived to cities and the costs of foregone ecosystem services. Christina will ground her work in the Central Arizona Phoenix Long-Term Ecological Research (CAP LTER) site. Ultimately, she hopes to compare Phoenix with a Chinese city, and explore the similarities and differences of urbanization in a developed and developing nation.

Christina attributes much of her career path to SEEDS.  “Personally, none of this would have been remotely feasible if it weren’t for SEEDS. SEEDS introduced me to ecology and the array of opportunities within the field. SEEDS allowed me to envision a future where I could aspire to be a scientist, and to pursue an advanced degree. SEEDS showed me that my commitment to public service was not counterintuitive to intellectual rigor. In fact if it were not for SEEDS I would not have met my current adviser, who was my SEEDS fellowship mentor, and be a PhD student at ASU.”

SEEDS is extremely proud of the 2009 NSF Graduate Research Fellowship awardees, in addition to our alumni who received this award in the past: Jorge Ramos, University of Washington (2008), and Jarrod Blue, University of Tennessee, Knoxville (2008 honorable mention).  SEEDS students are on a roll!

REU SUPPLEMENTAL BIOS

Erin Cash

My name is Erin Cash; I am a junior at Auburn University (AU) in Auburn, Alabama majoring in Aquaculture. I was born and raised in Nassau, Bahamas and still technically live there although most of my time is now spent in good ol’ AU. I got interested in my major after a tenth grade biology project involving the Queen Conch and discovered that it will probably become commercially extinct due to overfishing. The conch is a staple food for the people of the Bahamas, and a favorite of mine, and I didn’t want to see it go away. I have done some genetics work with catfish (mostly extracting DNA) but little else in that field. I’ve always been interested in ecology, especially population dynamics. I find it fascinating how something as simple as the presence of a nutrient can affect the entire make-up of a system. This summer, I will be researching the effects that different types of zooplankton feces have on the productivity of phytoplankton in a system. Hopefully it won’t get too stinky. I will also help out Dr. Alan Wilson with his outreach educational programs at Callaway Gardens in Georgia. As cliché as it sounds, my soul is probably fed by helping others in any way possible, whether it be lending a dollar or a shoulder - either that or candy.

Sergio Gonzalez

Currently, I am a fourth year Wildlife Ecology and Conservation student at the University of Florida. This summer I will be involved in behavior research on Red-eyed Tree Frogs at the Warkentin/Vonesh lab in Gamboa, Panama.  Over the last few years, I have interned with the US Fish and Wildlife Service and the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. During the spring semester of 2008, I spent 3 months in Namibia with a new study abroad program designed for wildlife ecology majors. Last summer, I spent two weeks in Nicaragua, working on a project sampling for reptiles and amphibians in cloud-forest habitats and taking samples to test for chitrid in frogs. I am currently working in Dr. David Reed’s mammalogy lab at the Florida Museum of Natural History, where I prepare specimens and assist with curating of the collection.  I like to go camping whenever I can take a few days off. The rest of the time, playing guitar and baking keeps me sane.