Holden Scientists Host High School Students for Senior Projects

May 19, 2023

This week, the Long Science Center and the Leach Research Station were filled with enthusiasm as we welcomed seven high school students for their junior or senior projects!

Hanna Busby and Abby Bauer got their hands dirty in the Soil Ecology lab! Among other projects, they learned how DNA Extraction and PCR are useful for studying the organisms belowground that aide in forest health. (See the Ecological Integrity of Forests project for more details).

The Evolutionary Ecology lab hosted Hannah Anderson and Olivia Walker, who used microscopes and computers to study plant cells in duckweeds. Dr. Na Wei’s research using the bioenergy plants, duckweeds, investigates how duckweeds and their microbes can be leveraged to mitigate climate change. This research is recently funded by the National Science Foundation!

Oliva Walker and Hannah Anderson in the lab.

In Working Woods, our 67-acre forest management demonstration site, Ella Johnson and Liam Logan helped survey invasive plant species. This work is helping us understand how different land management strategies affect the trajectory of the forest plants.

Rosie Bennett worked with many of the plants that make up HF&G’s rhododendron collection at the Leach Research Station. There was much to learn about plant curation and breeding within the 60 acres dedicated to rhododendrons at this station. (More information is available on the Rhododendron Collection Curation project page.)

The staff in the Research department had a great time hosting these students and getting to do some science with these budding scientists!

Group photo of some of the high school students who volunteered at HF&G (in a number of different departments, including Research, Education, and Conservation) as part of their high school projects.

Sarah Kyker, PhD

Postdoctoral Research Associate

Dr. Sarah Carrino-Kyker is a microbial ecologist interested in the influence of environmental change, both natural and human-caused, on microbial communities. Because microorganisms are small in size, they are environmentally sensitive. Yet their health and functionality can have a large impact on the overall health of a habitat due to their role in ecosystem processes. Her current research is focused on the soil communities of forests, how they’re impacted by environmental changes, and how these impacts in turn affect the health of the overall habitat or ecosystem.

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