KBS summer students from 2017 awarded SEEDS Fellowships

Beard presented at MSU’s (UURAF) in April 2018

The SEEDS program (Strategies for Ecology Education, Diversity and Sustainability) of ESA annually gives travel awards to undergraduates to attend the ESA annual meeting. This year, two 2017 KBS summer students, Torel Beard (Michigan State University) and Daimer Vega (University of Puerto Rico), were selected after submitting the research they conducted at KBS.

To be chosen, students must submit abstracts to present at the annual meeting, as well as have an interest in exploring a career in ecology, show promise as a science educator or future mentor, and demonstrate commitment to increasing opportunities for underrepresented students.

Beard spent summer 2017 as a URA (Undergraduate Research Apprentice) in the Gross Lab. Beard’s study, “Do trait differences among Panicum cultivars predict productivity in monocultures and mixtures?,” will be presented on Tuesday, August 7 in the ESA Exhibit Hall / Ernest N. Morial Convention Center.

Vega conducting field work

Vega also spent summer 2017 at KBS as an REU (Research Experiences for Undergraduates) working with mentor Kate Glanville in the LTER/Robertson Lab. Vega’s study, “Impact of changing rainfall patterns on denitrification nitrous oxide reductase lag,” will be presented on Thursday, August 9 in the ESA Exhibit Hall / Ernest N. Morial Convention Center. Vega is also back at KBS this summer continuing his research.

For those attending ESA, please stop by their poster presentation on August 7^th and 9^th, and welcome Torel and Daimer to ESA as fellow KBS alumni at the reception Wednesday evening at Gordon Biersch.

Other KBSers presenting at ESA include:

Lukas Bell-Dereske