I work closely with my research mentors, Dr. Amy Whipple and Dr. George Koch, on two projects that will help us understand in what conditions piñon survive drought by comparing living and dead piñon on low and high stress sites. Through a grant provided by the Undergraduate Mentoring in Environmental Biology (UMEB) program, I am examining growth patterns and mortality on a high stress site and two lower stress sites. Through an Integrative Graduate Education and Research Traineeship (IGERT) Undergraduate Award, my UMEB project is being extended to study piñon drought tolerance as affected by soil factors.
A large part of my work involves counting and analyzing tree rings. Here I am, making special graphs (called skeleton plots) of the narrow rings to help date the trees.
I really enjoy the opportunities I have to go out in the field. In this picture, taken at Sunset Crater, I am awestruck at the trees growing in cinders.
I grew up on a small farm in Caswell County, North Carolina with my brother and sister. It's quite rural, so we spent most of our time outside exploring. I gained a sincere appreciation for the natural world, and learned a lot about old tobacco barns.
I received my high school diploma from the North Carolina School of Science and Mathematicsin 2003. Since then, I have striven to live by my school's motto "Maius Opus Moveo," or "Accept the Greater Challenge." Upon graduation, I received the Copland Award, and attended the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hillfor three semesters. After discovering that my frequent, debilitating migraines were caused by barometric pressure changes, I left the university to teach English in China.
After a migraine free year in the Gobi desert, I entered Northern Arizona University to study botany. I explore and share my interests in biology as a member of NAU's Botany Club and the Beta Beta Beta Biological Honors Society. I am becoming more interested in modeling aspects of biological problems and have added a math minor to make it easier to explore this aspect of research.