Beans and best friends: A KBS summer in the Evans Lab

I heard of the W.K. Kellogg Biological Station from a friend who was an undergraduate research assistant, or URA, last year and highly recommended the program. I added it to my summer applications list and thought nothing of it. Fast-forward a few months, and I think this experience just could have changed the trajectory of my life.

Prior to my summer at KBS, I was a burned-out, bored and depressed engineering student finishing up their junior year. I thought I was broken because I couldn’t find any engineering programs that really interested me and made me feel like I was making a difference. In turn, this made the application to summer positions very draining. I was able to put together a pretty solid application for KBS, and sure enough, I got an email, followed by an interview, followed by an acceptance letter. This was my reason to push through the end of the semester to the summer.

A brand new field

The week leading up to KBS I was very nervous about entering a new field and meeting new people. Once I got here, I was greeted by my mentor, Jennifer, who showed me everything I needed. Shortly after, I met my roommate who was the best roommate I could have asked for this summer. Within the first five days I had planted all of my soybeans. After that, it felt like everything just fell into place.

In reality, there were lots of gears turning. Jennifer introduced me to lots of people who were all amazingly helpful and friendly. She was quick to discover that we were both very visual learners, and she catered demonstrations toward that fact. She was not afraid to let me become more independent in conducting my experiment and, eventually, creating my poster. She was also very supportive of me exploring the other worlds of ecology at KBS, leading me to try butterfly surveying, turtle tagging, and soil coring.

Meeting goals and eating ice cream

Beyond Jennifer and the Evans lab, I had an amazing support network of friends as well as a cat or two. Some days were tough, but they always made it fun. We made an effort to plan things every night; from ice cream trips to swimming to Kalamazoo farmers market adventures to ice cream trips again. I made wonderful memories with some of my favorite people.

Overall, I met three out of my four goals for this summer: I kept all of my soybeans alive, I got to see them develop beans (just barely!), and I ran all the way around Gull Lake. I didn’t get to use a pressure bomb, but I did get to see an ancient one.

After this summer, I feel much more confident and accomplished in my ability to conduct research and, most importantly, to work while having fun and creating friendships.

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Sofie Iwamasa is a senior at Case Western Reserve University, studying chemical engineering. Her KBS mentor was Jennifer Jones in the Evans Lab.
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