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Summer Research Experience: Student Blog

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August 17, 2010, by Aleta Wiley

'10 REUs say goodbye to Harvard Forest, for now

After their two-day Symposium and a final day of cleaning, organizing, and packing, the summer students at Harvard Forest had nothing remaining except to say their goodbyes before heading back home. For twelve weeks, the students lived together in two houses at the Forest, sharing stories about their homes and colleges, from Oregon to Texas to Wisconsin to Vermont. Now,
August 13, 2010, by Sarah Gray

A final excursion before the end of summer

Before tears were shed and goodbyes were said, a few of the REU students went for ice cream at Carter and Stevens, a local farm store. C&S is famous for their Friday night cookout, where they serve burgers, corn, and fresh veggies roasted over the fire. With none of Tim's delicious cooking at Harvard Forest and no reason to buy
August 12, 2010, by Aleta Wiley

REUs ace summer symposium!

In the final week of the Summer Research Program in Ecology for Undergraduates at Harvard Forest, all 33 students participated in the Student Symposium on August 11-12 in the Fisher Museum. Over a day and a half, all the students presented 15 minute talks to an audience comprising program mentors, university professors, Harvard Forest researchers, family members, and of course,
August 10, 2010, by Aleta Wiley

Harvard Forest get-together at the ESA annual meeting

This year, Harvard Forest organized a social event at the Annual Meeting of the Ecological Society of America in Pittsburgh, PA. The goals of the social were to bring together past and current folks who have worked at the Forest to catch up with each other and to provide an occasion for any undergraduates attending the ESA Meeting to come
August 10, 2010, by Elisabete (Baker) Vail

Using models to project how climate change might affect oak species distribution

Imagine if crystal balls which allowed us to catch a glimpse of the future, actually existed? What would you use them to see? Well, in a way – they do exist. In the abstract world of math and computers, “models” are fed datasets of current day information and asked to project future outcomes. Ecologists use them to forecast how current
August 9, 2010, by Maddy Case and Joe Horn

Vegetation sampling in wildlands and woodlands

We have spent most of the summer traveling across New England to do field work at sites in Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Maine. At each site, we have been establishing permanent vegetation sampling plots for a long-term study comparing forest dynamics in managed and unmanaged forests. We carry 2-foot pieces of steel pipe into the woods (3 lbs per pipe
August 4, 2010, by Claudia Reveles, Joanna Blaszczak, and Maya Thomas

Exploring the abiotic and biotic drivers of soil respiration on the Harvard Forest Prospect Hill Tract

Our project is in the field of soil carbon dynamics, specifically looking at the rate of carbon dioxide efflux around Prospect Hill as well as areas that have been manipulated by different abiotic (nitrogen input and temperature) and biotic (adding leaf litter and removing roots) factors. A preliminary map was generated using GIS to identify areas (polygons) in Prospect Hill
August 3, 2010, by Sofiya Taskova and Morgan Vigil

Using computer science at Harvard Forest to increase integrity of scientific conclusions

This summer, we have had the privilege of working with Dr. Emery Boose and Dr. Barbara Lerner on a project involving a mash up of ecology and technology. For the past few weeks, we have been inundated with the buzzwords "data provenance", "sensor network", "Process Derivation Graphs", "Data Derivation Graphs", "stream discharge", and "weirs". Our headquarters is located in the
August 2, 2010, by Sarah Gray

The delicious food for the Harvard Forest summer program

When I arrived at Harvard Forest back in May, I was shy, timid, and scared of my new environment. After meeting some of my fellow REUs, I became more relaxed with my surroundings. After the jitters of my first day subsided (having arrived at the Forest a week after the other students), I realized that I was starving! I asked