Kellogg Biological Station (KBS) LTER 2019 undergraduate summer researcher, Ashlyn Royce. She wrote about her KBS LTER Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) project working with the Marquart-Pyatt Lab. Ashlyn presenting at Mid-Sure, East Lansing, Michigan, July 24, 2019. The summer of 2019 I was selected to work with Dr. Sandy Marquart-Pyatt and her research team through the Michigan State University's Kellogg Biological Station (KBS) Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) program, specifically working with the KBS Long Term Ecological Research (LTER) Panel Farmer S
11.4.19
10.8.19
A Peek at Life Under a Wheat Field: Reflections from an LTER Fellow
MSU graduate researcher, Allison Zahorec, is a PhD student in Dr. Doug Landis’s lab in the Department of Entomology at Michigan State University. Allison Zahorec holding a core of soil taken out of a wheat field at the LTER. Photo by Kurt Stepnitz. When one envisions a typical midwestern farm, ‘biodiversity’ is hardly the first thing that comes to mind. Compared to more natural landscapes, agricultural lands can seem like ecological dead zones. Yet even the most intensively managed corn monocultures are teeming with life belowground. A few teaspoons of soil can contain over a billion
9.11.19
Global change is triggering an identity switch in grasslands
Konza Prairie Biological Station in northeastern Kansas. Humans and animals alike depend on grasslands for survival. In addition to providing land for cattle and sheep to graze, grasslands can also store up to 30 percent of the world's carbon. Photo by Kim Komatsu, Smithsonian Environmental Research Center. Grasslands make up more than 40% of the world's ice-free land and have sustained humanity and thousands of other species for eons. In addition to providing food for cattle and sheep, grasslands are home to animals found nowhere else in the wild, such as the bison of North America's
4.23.19
Learning to step out of my comfort zone at KBS
Kellogg Biological Station (KBS) 2018 undergraduate summer researcher, Selassie Lijelu, is a Forensic Chemistry major at the University of Saint Francis-Fort Wayne. She wrote about herKBS Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) project working with the Haddad Lab. The summer of 2018, I was selected to participate in the Michigan State University Kellogg Biological Station (KBS)Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) program. When I accepted the offer, I was extremely nervous and had no idea what the next eleven weeks in Hickory Corners, Michigan would consist of. I was
4.18.19
Poco a poco : The little nopalito in a cornfield
Kellogg Biological Station (KBS) 2018 undergraduate summer researcher, Nicholas Vega Anguiano, is an undergraduate student at Humboldt State University. He wrote about his KBS Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) project working with Kate Glanville in the Robertson Lab. Anticipation and nervousness of my impending interview with a W.K. Kellogg Biological Station (KBS) graduate student, Kate Glanville, sent my body into a state of nerves. Throat tight, palms sweaty, and a million doubts running through my mind. Seven minutes until we were scheduled to meet, via a
4.14.19
My time as an REU: learning the research process
Kellogg Biological Station (KBS) 2018 undergraduate summer researcher, Audrey Hogenkamp, an Applied mathematics and biology dual major at Augustana College. She wrote about her KBS Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) project working with the Evans Lab. There are pages and pages that I could write about everything that I learned during my summer at W.K. Kellogg Biological Station (KBS). Each individual that I encountered had such an incredible passion for their work that I felt like I was constantly inundated with new knowledge—from dinner table conversations with my friends
4.8.19
Microbial Communities in Long Term Research: Reflections from a Field Season at KBS
Reid Longley is a PhD candidate in the MSU Department of Microbiology & Molecular Genetics. He is a member of the Bonito Lab. Reid wrote about his research at the KBS LTER, funded by a 2018 Summer Fellowships for Long-term Ecological Research. Performing my field research at the W.K. Kellogg Biological Station (KBS) this summer was the first time I had ever been exposed to work in agriculture. Before coming to Michigan State for my PhD studies, I had not thought much about the amount of science that goes into
4.4.19
To research or not to research? How I discovered my passion at KBS
KBS undergraduate summer researcher, Maiya Wimbley, is a student in the Eli Broad College of Business at Michigan State University. She wrote about her Undergraduate Research Apprentice (URA) project working with mentor and KBS scientist, Kate Glanville, in the Robertson lab. Posted on the door leading to the Robertson Lab was a sign that read “Research Area: Do Not Enter.” Upon reading the sign, I promptly turned around, certain I wasn’t allowed back there—they were doing real science, I was just visiting. I wandered around for a few
3.30.19
Waders half full, or half empty?
KBS 2018 undergraduate summer researcher Sharon Carpenter is a junior at Michigan State University. She wrote about her Undergraduate Research Assistant project working with mentor Dr. Sarah Fitzpatrick. Carpenter was funded by a URA award from the Kellogg Biological Station. Taking a quick photo after a long day of data collection “Do you remember when you fell into the pond with your waders on?” says Madison Miller, a lab technician in Sarah Fitzpatrick’s lab. As we laughed with tears in our eyes, I knew I found my story for this blog post. Yes, you might be reading and wondering what
3.27.19
More than just an REU program
KBS 2018 undergraduate summer researcher Paige Drippe is a senior at University of Michigan. She wrote about her NSF REU project working with the MSU Hydrogeology Lab. When I entered the Research Experience For Undergraduates (REU) program I had the expectation that it will be exactly that - a research experience. I saw it as an opportunity to play grad student for 10 weeks, and expected that once the last day rolled around I would simply pack up and go home. I was lucky enough that that was not my experience. I was the only REU in my lab, and