Alumni profile: Where are you now?

Amy Churchill

Summer Research Program '07

Mentor: Missy Holbrook

Project: Consequences of Fertile/Sterile Leaf Dimorphism in Ferns

Hometown: Auburn, ME

College and major: Stonehill College in Environmental Studies and Biology, 2008

• What you miss most about the Summer Research program: I miss the feeling of being surrounded by other students learning at the same rate as myself, and being focused completely on our projects without teaching, grants or the outside world getting in the way.
• What you miss least about the program: Pre-dawn water potential measurements!
• What about the program has stuck with you: My REU experience at HF was a turning point for me, as I thought I was interested in ecology and my time that summer really confirmed things for me. Since then I have spent lots of time doing plant ecology in all sorts of cool ecosystems - and even mentored my own REU students!
• Have you stayed in touch with other Summer students? Yes- although I would love to catch up with more folks regularly.
• Did your Summer Research experience support or change your school/career plans? My experience definitely supported my career plans, although since that time I have shifted from a plant physiological ecologist to an ecosystem ecologist.
• What are you up to now? At the moment I am in the second year of my PhD at the University of Colorado Boulder. My interests are on plant community mediation of ecosystem response to disturbance- specifically in high elevation ecosystems. I finished up my MSc. from the University of Alaska Fairbanks in 2011, working on a climate change manipulation study in the boreal forest.