What are you up to now?

Charlotte Chang

REU '08

Mentor: Mike Kaspari

Project: Soil salinity in a temperate forest ecosystem impacts ant foraging behavior (abstract)

Hometown: Santa Barbara, CA

College and major: Pomona College, Biology, class of 2010

• What you miss most about the REU program: I miss Tim's cooking, the house full of REU love, and the woods.
• What you miss least about the REU program: Being far from home was about it.
• What about the REU program has stuck with you: The research skills I gained, the friendships I made, bike rides (soars?) down the steep hill to the left of Harvard Forest, and the cows.
• Have you stayed in touch with other REUers?: Absolutely!
• Whether your REU experience supported or changed your career plans: Participating in the REU program has made it much easier for me to continue doing ecological research, and anything related to environmental science. I gained skills that helped me conserve my school's own field station (the Bernard Field Station, home to a critically endangered coastal sagebrush habitat). The literature I read and conversations I heard/had at Harvard Forest helped me pick up techniques to address this issue.
• What you're up to now: In summer '09, I studied grassland birds in Montana, some of which are endangered because of poor land management practices. I'm still working toward getting my school to not destroy our field station.