Creating Generations of Change
By Amber Finley

On Thursday, December 18, 2008 it was my great pleasure to make a site visit to the first SEEDS High School Chapter at Wilcox High School in Santa Clara, California. The SEEDS High School Chapter is a direct result of the first ever SEEDS Education and Outreach Initiative field trip which was held at the 2007 ESA Annual Meeting in San Jose, CA. At the meeting a very dedicated group of SEEDS students conducted the first outreach fieldtrip that directly impacted and involved the ESA Annual Meeting’s host community. A small group of high school students from Wilcox High School along with their teacher, Dennis Dowling attended the fieldtrip. The students were part of a summer environmental science course and at the end of the field trip, Mr. Dowling announced that the students were set t o become the next generation of youth mentors to a group of middle school students. From that fieldtrip the “seed” was planted and Wilcox High School became our first ever High School SEEDS Chapter about a year later.

During our site visit, Raynelle Rino and I met with a small group of students and their advisor, Dennis Dowling. The students were enthusiastic and welcoming. They engaged us in conversation about the SEEDS program and the many opportunities that the senior students could look forward to once they entered college. We discussed with them some of the projects that they were involved in and their advisor, very proudly informed us that the students would be going into the field later in the day to plant more native plants at Ulistac Natural Area. According to Mr. Dowling the students work with junior high and elementary students, guiding them in planting Native California plants in the Ulistac Restoration Project.

Although we were unable to go out with the students that afternoon, Raynelle and I were invited to Ulistac Natural Area with Dennis after the SEEDS meeting. He gave us a wonderful tour of the area and showed us some of the amazing work that the students had participated in. Ulistac Natural Area is 40 acres of open space that showcases seven distinctive natural habitats -- including grasslands, woodlands, wetlands, and savannah. Originally used as a seasonal encampment for the Ohlone Indians (Ulistac was the name of an Ohlone chief), the site also served as a pasture for grazing cattle and sheep in the 1800s, and strawberry fields and pear orchards in later years. From 1961 to 1988, the land was the Fairway Glen Golf Course and the City of Santa Clara purchased the acreage in 1974. Ulistac Natural Area opened in Santa Clara on May 12, 2001 after months of volunteer efforts to restore California native vegetation and preserve wildlife habitat (http://santaclaraca.gov/park_recreation/pr_ulistac.html). The most commendable part about this project is that the high school students volunteer with and mentor the junior high and elementary students, creating yet another layer of mentoring in our continuously growing SEEDS family. 

The Wilcox High School SEEDS Chapter will also participate in the College Solar Decathalon competition sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy. The Solar Decathlon joins 20 college and university teams in a competition to design, build, and operate the most attractive and energy-efficient solar-powered house. Wilcox SEEDS students will be supporting Santa Clara University students in this effort, by making a menu of food that is locally grown in the Washington D.C. area. For more information about the Solar Decathalon you can visit the website at http://www.solardecathlon.org/about.html.

The students are also seeking to raise funds to place water filters on the high school drinking fountains so students will actually DRINK water from the fountains.  Right now the 'taste' of the water is so bad that they purchase water in plastic bottles.  So in an effort to increase water fountain consumption and decrease plastic bottle waste, the students are brainstorming some ways to complete this project.

Overall after this visit, I have to commend Dennis and his students on all their hard work. This is a very dedicated group of high school students with great ambition. I look forward to keeping up with all the projects as they progress. This invigorating site visit was just what I needed to keep me working for the cause, Congratulations Wilcox High School SEEDS Chapter! Keep up all the wonderful work.

SEEDS Visit to Iowa State University
By Jeramie Strickland

SEEDS Alum (also former SEEDS Student Coordinator) Jeramie Strickland conducted a site visit to Iowa State University (ISU) 19 February 2009.  ISU joined the SEEDS Campus Ecology Chapter family in 2006.  Since 2006, their chapter has grown from 7 members to greater than 20 active members today.  Dr. Fred Janzen, a faculty member in the Department of Ecology Evolution and Organismal Biology (and a 2009-10 SEEDS Fellowship Mentor), is the ISU SEEDS Chapter Advisor.  Jeramie and ISU SEEDS Chapter Student Representative, Holly Howard, spoke to a Natural Resources Ecology and Management orientation class, and a Learning Community class consisting of Natural Resource Ecology and Management majors.  Jeramie and Holly’s classroom presentation focused on career options in the ecology field; the importance and need for strengthening and diversifying the field of ecology; and encouraged undergraduate students to get involved with the Ecological Society of America and SEEDS, along with taking advantage of upcoming SEEDS opportunities. They also distributed information about internships, scholarships, and other opportunities that are available for students that wish to pursue ecology degrees or careers.

Later on 19 February 2009, the ISU SEEDS Chapter held a meeting surrounding the theme of career opportunities within environmental biology and ecology. The meeting consisted of a main keynote speaker, John Burnett, along with Fred Janzen, Jeramie Strickland, and Holly Howard. Each spoke about career options and the wide range of opportunities in the field of ecology. Following the meeting, there was a great deal of new energy and dialogue between the new chapter members about upcoming chapter plans, and SEEDS opportunities (e.g., field trips, leadership and professional development endeavors, ESA meeting travel awards, and undergraduate research fellowships, and internships). Jeramie and Dr. Janzen spoke about their career pathway into the ecology profession and shared other insights about career development, including how to competitively apply to graduate school and create a winning resume.  Another huge component of this chapter meeting was John Burnett’s discussion about ecological employment and educational opportunities.  Mr. Burnett is a student advisor in the Department of Natural Resources, Ecology, and Management at ISU, and one of the main components of his job is to assist students obtain internships and employment both while attending college and after graduation. After Mr. Burnett spoke, there was an extended question-and-answer session. The students were quite interested in the topics.

Holly states “before the meeting occurred there was a large amount of planning. The biggest issue was student attendance. To recruit new members and establish a strong club membership there was heavy advertisement of the meeting. Catchy flyers were created and placed in conspicuous places to be noticed by many. Another route, the most effective at recruiting, was sending out the meeting information to various list serves on campus. In addition, SEEDS members talked to several classes informing the students of the meeting and the mission of the SEEDS program.”

Currently, the ISU SEEDS Chapter is working to recruit underserved students for the TREE (Turtle Camp Research and Education in Ecology) program. TREE consists of high school students from Iowa and Illinois, along with undergraduate and graduate students, comprising an economically and racially diverse group. Participants will converge at a research field site (Turtle Camp) in June. At Turtle Camp, students worked toward four main goals: research experience, education, local outreach, and mentoring. Visit http://www.public.iastate.edu/~fjanzen/TREE/TREEsplash.html for more information about TREE. TREE is funded by a SEEDS Special Project Grant, as well as REU supplements and RAHSS supplements to Fred Janzen’s NSF LTREB grant. For more information about ISU and other SEEDS Chapters please visit http://www.esa.org/seeds/activities/CampusEcologyChapters.php.

UPCOMING SEEDS FIELD TRIPS
 

Spring Field Trip to Rocky Mountain Biological Lab

The next SEEDS field trip will take place at the Rocky Mountain Biological Lab in Crested Butte, Colorado from June 7-13, 2009.  The location of this field trip is about 9,500 feet above sea level.  This field trip provides a unique opportunity for students to learn from, and perhaps contribute to, scientific research programs taking place at the research station. During the field trip, students will tour RMBL, meeting with many faculty, staff and graduate students.  Students will not only learn of the research being conducted at RMBL, but will also have the opportunity to conduct group investigations and present their results. In addition, students will visit the town of Crested Butte, enjoy hikes in the area, and a career panel, participate in a writing workshop, and learn about the important cultural history of the area.  A career panel discussion will also give students some ideas of the diverse career paths in ecology. Opportunities for undergraduate students at RMBL will be presented, including Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) opportunities.
The application deadline is passed for this field trip, but keep an eye on our website for the next field trip application.  We are currently accepting applications for the Fall 2009 field trip (see below).

Lisa Ballance 2008-09 SEEDS Mentor to Adriana Leiva
1) Briefly describe your relationship with your fellowship mentee and his/her project and interests.
SEEDS first approached me with an inquiry from a fellow interested in Marine Protected Areas (MPAs). I have not been actively involved in research focused on the definition and effectiveness of MPAs because most of what I do involves open ocean systems at very large spatial scales. However, at that time, I was also involved in research efforts focused on the most critically endangered cetacean on the planet - the Gulf of California porpoise, vaquita. It earned this sad status after the Yangtze River Dolphin, the baiji, was declared probably extinct after a comprehensive survey in 2005 failed to find a single individual. A number of my colleagues (including my husband) had been on that survey and the results hit us hard. In response to the SEEDS inquiry I replied that although I was not conducting research on MPAs, I certainly knew of a species that would undoubtedly be saved by such and if their fellow was interested, I was too. Thus began my research collaboration with Adriana. We are both quite passionate about our project, despite the fact that it is rather untraditional! Adriana's fluency in Spanish has served her well (it was amazing serendipity that she has family and has lived in Mexico) and we look forward to her upcoming trip to visit the fishing communities of the northern Gulf of California as part of her research. In addition to being passionate about our project, we are both quite busy - so our communication since Adriana's summer visit has been sporadic, but productive. Adriana is as enthusiastic, as talented, and as motivated as they come and I have thoroughly enjoyed our research collaboration.
2) What are your interests in ecology?
I study seabirds and marine mammals. Most of my research is conducted in open ocean systems that span large spatial scales (millions of square km) in relatively unproductive regions, particularly the tropics. Foraging ecology of these organisms is an ongoing fascination for me - in the vastness of the open ocean, how do these animals locate and capture food, on what strategies do different guilds rely, and how do these differ geographically and taxonomically. I'm also interested in community ecology, particularly in species diversity patterns and trends in space and time on an interannual to regime shift scale. Finally, much of my research is geared towards management and conservation objectives and I have become actively involved in defining and practicing ecosystem-based approaches to management.
3) How did you become interested in ecology?
I've always been interested in ecology at the whole animal level and "upwards" - extending to communities and ecosystems, although I didn't identify these interests as "ecological" until well into my undergraduate career. I grew up in a small town in the mountains of northern New Mexico. The outdoors was always a big part of my life. It provided recreation (hiking, skiing, river running), relaxation (evening star-gazing with my dad on our deck), and a backdrop to everything I did, as wilderness was all around my house, my school, our community. My father was a scientist and my mother a renaissance scholar of a wide variety of fields and from my earliest memory I knew I wanted to make a career in the pursuit of knowledge. So, it was the interplay between my environmental surroundings as a child and the influence of my parents that sparked my interest in ecology.
4) Why do you support diverse people and diverse thought in ecology?
I suppose the standard answer to this question is because complex problems and questions can best be addressed by a diverse approach, and incorporating individuals with a diverse background will facilitate a diverse approach. Although I have long been aware of the value of diversity in any endeavor, I have become a proponent of supporting diversity only relatively recently in my career. And I have seen it work! Because of this, I will continue to strive to incorporate diversity in my team of graduate students, field scientists, and analytical researchers.
5) What essential skills and qualities will future leaders in ecology need to have?
I find it interesting that many of the world's great ecologists have become conservation biologists as they age. Many have admitted that they should have become more active in this field at earlier stages in their career. I believe these individuals are great role models for today's ecologists. Anthropogenic influences are pervasive throughout just about every system that we ecologists study. To ignore these influences is to ignore major drivers that play a role in the patterns that we as scientists strive to understand. Therefore, I believe future leaders in ecology must have not only a solid basis in ecological theory and in natural history, but be engaged in conservation biology and all it brings, including and not limited to involvement in mitigation research and policy development at the community to international level. I see these interests in the prospective graduate students that approach me, as well as those that begin their graduate careers at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography where I am an Adjunct Professor. This interest and the resultant shaping of our university gives me great hope for the future of ecology.

Sandra Clinton 2008-09 SEEDS Mentor to Brittany Miles
1) What has been your experience with SEEDS and what effect have you seen it have on students?
I am new to SEEDS but am enjoying the experience. While the opportunity to conduct research is extremely advantageous to these students, I have seen that going to the annual ESA meeting as one of the prime benefits. At the meeting, students have a chance to see the range of fields that make up ecology and network with researchers (and students) from across the country and the world.
2) Briefly describe your relationship with your fellowship mentee and his/her project and interests.
My mentee (Brittany Miles) is investigating nitrifier diversity in urban streams. Brittany has taken a strong leadership role in this work by defining the direction of her research. I provide appropriate guidance on research design and methods. Our association has been one where we are both learning about Bacteria and Archaea in urban streams and how to have the most productive mentee/mentor relationship.
3) What are your interests in ecology? I am a stream ecologist and am broadly interested in the relationship between structure and function in ecosystems. I have been fortunate enough to work on a variety of projects including groundwater-surface water interactions, floodplain soils, and urban streams.
4) How did you become interested in ecology?
I really did not know that ecology (as a science) existed until I was an undergraduate at McGill University and took a course in “Communities and Ecosystems”. I worked for 2 years as an undergraduate research technician for a postdoc and graduate student who were studying the microbial loop in lakes. By working as a technician I learned more about a career path in science and followed it along to my present position.
5) Why do you support diverse people and diverse thought in ecology?
Like many of the undergraduate students I teach, I am the first person in my family to go to university and more importantly, I was raised as an urban kid. I have found that many students have a misunderstanding of what scientists do and what one can do as an ecologist. These students bring new ideas and ways of looking at the world that we may not have considered. I believe only a diverse group of people with their individual experiences are going to advance the field and solve the environmental problems we are currently facing.
6) What essential skills and qualities will future leaders in ecology need to have?
At a hands-on practical level, these future leaders need to be able to work with large datasets and understand other fields of science (e.g. molecular biology, chemistry). Students need to be multidisciplinary and understand how to speak not only to other scientists but also to the non-scientific public and their own communities. Only by being examples to the next generation can we continue to broaden our perspectives.

Mattias Lanas 2009-10 SEEDS Fellow
My interest in the tropics and interactions between organisms (such as plants and their herbivores) is what originally drew me to ecology. I was fortunate to attend my first ESA Conference last summer with my meeting mentor, Dr. Catherine Cardelús, who works with epiphytes and canopy ecosystems in Costa Rica. I am half American, half Chilean, and spent the first thirteen years of my life in Chile. I’ve just finished doing an internship with Karukinka, a 600,000 acre native forest reserve in Tierra del Fuego, Chile, run by the Wildlife Conservation Society. In September 2009, I will return to Stanford University, where I will begin my junior year, pursuing a degree in Biology.
SEEDS and ESA have made me realize that there is never a culminating moment when you attain 'ecologist' status. Anyone is an ecologist if he or she has the interest and motivation. It helps to have the solid support network from a program such as SEEDS, with other students striving for the same goals. I am a member of the Stanford SEEDS chapter and am passionate about ecology based outreach education at Stanford including working with Rodolfo Dirzo, Cindy Wilber, and SEEDS alum, Raynelle Rino at a local continuation high school. This program called “Ecology: Learning by Doing” has established the Redwood Environmental Academy of Leadership (REAL), which promotes ecological literacy through experiential education for underserved students. (See Raynelle Rino’s article about the REAL Program in this issue of Dispersal)
I am really looking forward to carrying out my fellowship project in the tropical Americas, biodiversity hotspots in terms of the wealth of life these areas sustain. Unfortunately many species of plants and animals are being lost to existence due to deforestation, illegal hunting and logging, pollution, and other anthropogenic factors. We know only a small fraction of what these ecosystems harbor. I hope that by studying in the tropics I can help spread awareness of the importance of protecting these places around the world.

Elizabeth Quimba  2009-10 SEEDS Fellow
Hello, my name is Elizabeth Quimba and I attend Oregon State University. I will be conducting my fellowship research at Iowa State University under Fred Janzen who studies the ecology and evolution of reptiles. One of the most fascinating things about this diverse group of animals called amphibians and reptiles is their plasticity, the degree that environmental factors influence their morphology and development. For example, many reptiles exhibit temperature sex determination and the color of many frogs are dependent on the features of their habitat. I’m in the planning stage for my research, which I hope will incorporate both field data and molecular techniques. I have always had a concern for environmental issues, but my interest deepened when in high school I visited relatives in the Philippines and made the connection between human welfare and conservation. Participating in the SEEDS field trip to the Long-Term Ecological Research Station in Fairbanks, Alaska affirmed my desire to become an ecologist and helped me understand the tremendous capacity that ecologists have to make a difference in helping solve environmental and social problems. As an aspiring ecologist, I wish to incorporate ecological processes on many levels and using ecology to do research that is meaningful to local communities.

Iman Sylvain 2009-10 SEEDS Fellow
I am a junior biology major, chemistry minor at Howard University. I hail from Los Angeles, California, where my life focused primarily around the arts (theatre major, dance minor in high school). I began my research during my freshmen year at Howard as an Environmental Biology Scholar under a National Science Foundation Undergraduate Mentoring in Environmental Biology grant. During the course of this two year mentorship with Dr. Mary A. McKenna (plant ecologist and associate professor at Howard University) I also completed a Research Experience for Undergraduates summer program at Blandy Experimental Farm.  There I studied "A Comparison of Fitness in the Nickel Hyperaccumulator Alyssum murale in Soils with and without Nickel". As I follow-up study I researched the comparative fitness of Alyssum montanum, a nonhyperaccumulating relative of A. murale in a gradient of nickel soils. Over the summer of my sophomore year I also traveled to Costa Rica where I study Tropical Field Biology with the Organization for Tropical Studies (through Duke University).
I have presented research posters at the Botanical Society of America's 2008 Botany Conference, the Associate for the Advancement of Science's 2008 HBCU UP Conference, and the Howard University 2008 Undergraduate Research Symposium. I won first place awards for my posters in the sections of ecology and natural sciences at BSA and HU Symposium. My research interests primarily lie in the field of agroecology and plant-breeding. My goal is to increase global nutrition by developing sustainable, efficient, eco-friendly farming techniques in developing nations, with human rights, as opposed to profits, at the basis for the research.
 

Dr. Lee Dyer 2009-10 Fellowship Mentor to Mattias Lanas
Dr. Lee Dyer, age 44, is an ecologist who has worked with a variety of organisms in the tropics for the past 18 years and in temperate areas for over 20 years. He received a B.S. in Biochemistry and English from the University of California at Santa Barbara and a Ph.D. in Ecology from the University of Colorado, Boulder. Lee was a professor at Mesa State College in Colorado and Tulane University in Louisiana. He is now a professor in the Biology Department at the University of Nevada Reno. Lee spends his free time hanging out with his son, rock climbing, listening to music, and reading books. Work in Dyer’slaboratory focuses on direct and indirect trophic interactions in complex biotic communities with emphases on global change, documenting the diversity of tritrophic interactions, and examining the effects of plant secondary compounds on insect herbivores and their natural enemies. Our exhaustive collecting and rearing programs in Costa Rica, Ecuador, Arizona, and Louisiana, are uncovering patterns that help us answer questions such as how will global warming affect outbreaks of insects in forests and agricultural fields and how many species of insects are there in the world? The Dyer lab is interested in diversity at all levels, from insect DNA to the ecological research community, and we have been active in programs such as SEEDS, LAMP (Louisiana Alliance for Minority Participation), and AWIS (Association of Women in Science).

Dr. Fred Janzen 2009-10 Fellowship Mentor to Elizabeth Quimba
I was raised in various places in the U. S. Midwest, being the first one in my immediate family to go to college. While I really loved the outdoors and developed an inordinate fondness for wild ectothermic vertebrates, it wasn’t until college that I received the necessary mentoring to steer me onto my current professional path. I underwent a challenging journey during those college years, but key mentoring and field experiences forged confidence and led to the following epiphany: “I can get paid to do this?!” That realization motivated me to pursue field biology professionally, while remaining aware of the important mission to give back by mentoring others. After earning graduate degrees and completing postdoctoral work, I obtained a faculty position at Iowa State University. In 15 years of ecological and evolutionary research at ISU, I have mentored >120 high school, undergraduate, graduate, and postdoctoral scholars, most of them first-generation students, members of underrepresented minority groups, women, and/or persons with disabilities. Of special note, we have a SEEDS chapter and my lab initiated a program called TREE, with NSF and SEEDS support, to immerse high school students from underrepresented groups in strongly-mentored field research, educational, and outreach activities (http://www.public.iastate.edu/~fjanzen/TREE/TREEsplash.html).

Dr. Sieglinde Snapp 2009-10 Fellowship Mentor to  Iman Sylvain
 I am Sieg Snapp, an Associate Professor of Soils and Cropping System Ecology at the Kellogg Biological Station, Michigan State University. Sustainable principles of agroecology, plant traits and functional combinations for integrated soil management are central to my research and teaching. As a co-Private Investigator (PI) on the LTER-Row Crops at Kellogg Biological Station, I am interested in extending the lessons and applications of biology to improve nutrient efficiency and ecosystem services. I particularly enjoy collaborating on multi-disciplinary projects with farmers in the Midwest, and in sub-Saharan Africa. I have worked since 1993 in SSA, for almost a decade based in southern Africa as an international scientist, after earning a PhD at the University of California-Davis. I feel particularly fortunate to have the opportunity to mentor graduate students from America, Africa and Southeast Asia. Recent focus has been on sustainable design of agroecosystems, and developing a graduate specialization at MSU on Ecological Food and Farming Systems. Academic Press just published my textbook on agroecology and international agricultural systems, a topic I love to teach. I am committed to participatory action research, and co-learning, including developing a new graduate course in Field Ecology Methods in Sustainable Systems that features experiential learning about research methods.

Unexpected Outcomes
By Raynelle Rino

If anyone were to ask me a year ago, as an alumnus of SEEDS, what advice I have for new students, it would have been completely different from what I would say today. And that is, no matter what opportunities come to you whether it is what you have your heart set on or not, be open to taking a risk. You never know where you’ll find yourself and taking on a risk is the best way to test your strengths and weaknesses.

My goals as an ecologist were nowhere near the direction of science education. I wanted to be a researcher. But somehow I found myself with a strength in communicating science and a passion for providing opportunity to our youth, science-bound or not. I decided to venture into science education through Stanford University, managing an outdoor ecology education program at a local high school.** Managing and birthing a program of such potential, while working towards an MS in Ecology is obviously demanding. But I decided to do double duty because it was a unique opportunity.

The uniqueness of this program called, REAL (Redwood Environmental Academy of Leadership) is that it provides the rest of our nation an example of what can be done to change our notions of education, science, and the future of our youth. REAL is ideal for place-based learning because classes are held outdoors with optimal amenities, such as a creek, garden area, and lab to use as tools for teaching. It provides an opportunity for students to learn in a more interactive and hands-on approach. The distinctive aspects of REAL play a large role in working with students at Redwood Continuation High School, a smaller-sized alternative school. Students, who for various reasons were not able to succeed in their respective traditional high schools, are given a second chance at graduating; a chance they otherwise may not have had.

I can list for you what these various reasons may be, but everyone has his or her own story. The important thing to understand is that the students here already face challenges much more true to life – which is a major factor that influences their success in the classroom. When the first obstacle is the simple need to engage students in participating in their learning environment, progress can seem arduous. The high variability and its effect on student retention of information are some of the most challenging factors to consider for this program. Also, students attend school half-time, it is an open-entry/open-exit model (meaning there are multiple periods within the school year where students are either entering or graduating). Sometimes there are cultural or family influences, which deem education as a lesser priority. Knowing these factors means a program must be designed to specialize and cater to a different pedagogy and social culture in order to help students succeed.

When the goal of a science educator is to think of ways to teach and engage students in environmental stewardship, many of these factors can interfere. But the goal, although difficult as it may seem at first glance, is completely attainable. Because in this program, no matter what day it is or what unit we are learning, a light bulb goes off and I see a physical change in the students’ expression and understanding of how our world works.  As a minority myself, there is no doubt in my mind that a barrier is broken when students are exposed to and learning from someone who looks just a bit more like them. Role models matter to me at the college level and it matters to our youth at every level of their education as well. So I think about the rest of my SEEDS family and believe that every time we step on stage our presence is doing much more than filling space. Our impact affects the change in the perspectives of others. Without this knowledge I would not have participated in a sector of science I was once adamant about.