What are Undergraduate Highlights?
The undergraduate program in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology is a thriving, inspiring hub听housing passionate students who are engaged in many different applications and projects relating to their areas of curiosity and expertise. We want to highlight these innovative and developing projects and people coming out of our program, in order to support and encourage more direct engagement with the world听through the lens of ecology and biology. Explore recent projects below, and help to share and support work you care about!

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Ash

Undergraduate Highlight: Ash Kerber - For the Love of Flowers

Jan. 20, 2024

For the Love of Flowers I knew when I was knee-deep in mud, covered head to toe in bug bites, having been measuring flowers for hours, that I was actually doing exactly what I was meant to do. While it may seem brutal, field-based science is where I have had...

HS

Examining the Genetic Architecture of Seed Pericarp Hardness in Agricultural Sunflower Crops 鈥� Joey White

April 10, 2023

For many years now, I have been curious about how genetic constitution determines individual phenotypes, as well as how genes are inherited between generations. Through my education in evolution and genetics, my interests have shifted to understanding the genetic underpinning of expressed traits in individuals and how quantitative genetics and...

Yanru HS

Tail plays important role in lizard鈥檚 life 鈥� Yanru Wei

April 10, 2023

In summer 2022, I started work with the Kamath Lab and assisted the study on Southern Prairie Lizard ( Sceloporus consobrinus ) in Colorado. That was one of my best life experiences: for someone who grew up loving reptiles, there is no cooler job than catching lizards in the wild...

Kayla HS

Photosymbiosis: It鈥檚 Not Just Corals - Kayla Vasarhelyi

April 10, 2023

I grew up near Cleveland, Ohio, a short drive from Cuyahoga Valley National Park and Lake Erie. This location allowed me to spend my childhood exploring the many forests, streams, ponds, and lakeshores of northeast Ohio. Over time, I developed a curiosity for the way the natural world works. However,...

Olivia HS

Undergrad Highlight - Olivia Taylor

April 10, 2023

In perhaps a strange turn of events, I鈥檝e found myself studying EBIO after initially embarking on my undergraduate career as a Violin Performance major. While this transition may seem drastic, to me it was a natural decision that followed my love of music, and more importantly, my curiosity about its...

suds hs

How Closely Does your Dog Resemble You? - Kaitlyn Sudowsky

April 10, 2023

Dogs take after their owners鈥� or so they say. I have been surrounded by animals throughout my entire life, and while each one of them has their own characteristics, they all seem to share an abstract similarity. As a pre-vet student, personality, behavior, and temperament of animals has always interested...

Sellinger HS

Amnesia from a Lobster Roll? - Elisabeth Sellinger

April 10, 2023

My passion for marine studies began after taking a summer course on the Big Island of Hawaii where I learned about the biology and ecology of the island through a cultural lens. Since then, I have been interested in interdisciplinary research involving biology, chemistry, ecology, and environmental policy. While here...

Robinson

Stung by Climate Change - Celeste Robinsion

April 10, 2023

Coming to a land locked state to study marine biology, I wasn鈥檛 sure what opportunities would lay ahead for me. The moment I learned of a marine invertebrate lab in the EBIO department, I knew I had to find a way to join. At first, I had no idea how...

Randall HS

Alpine Arthropods: Little Creatures with a Great View - Trevor Randall

April 10, 2023

Any scientist and informed person will tell you that climate change is detrimentally affecting the world in ways that we can measure, and in ways that we have yet to learn. We have all seen the polar bears on melting ice caps, and the tragic story of the Northern White...

Pfaller HS

Broad Interests and Small Insects - Emily Pfaller

April 10, 2023

As a student in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and Environmental Studies, I have been presented with a wide variety of subjects spanning both the natural and social sciences. For the majority of my undergraduate career, this variety of choice and opportunity felt extremely overwhelming. During my junior year I decided...

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