REU STUDENT PROFILE: Q&A
Janine Mistrick
 Where do you call home?
o State College, Pennsylvania
 Which University are you currently attending and what degree are you
pursuing?
o I’ll be entering my senior year in the fall, I’m pursuing a double-major
in Biology - Ecology Option and Applied French with a minor in
Environmental Inquiry at Penn State University.
 What attracted you to apply to the University of Alaska Anchorage REU
program?
o I’ve done arctic field ecology work the last two summers in Greenland
with my research lab at Penn State and am interested in sub-arctic
ecology work. Alaska is a beautiful and wild place to live and work and
I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to do cutting-edge research in such
a fascinating ecosystem.
 Who will you be conducting research with this summer and why did you
request to work with them?
o PI: Douglas Causey with masters student Jessica Faust - Jessica is
doing bat ecology research on Little Brown Bats and we’ll be working
in Cordova and on the Kenai Peninsula trying to better understand
the habitat these bats are using. Bat ecology is really a hot topic on the
east coast due to White Nose Disease Syndrome (WNDS) and the
research being done in Alaska is very new but the better we
understand bats in general and hopefully the nature of WNDS, there
may be hope to protect our dwindling populations in the lower 48.
 What skills do you hope to obtain during your time in the REU program?
o I’ve never worked in animal ecology before so I’m looking forward to
handling and collecting data from wildlife and expanding my skills as a
field researcher. Plus, any time that I get to spend tromping around
the forests of Alaska is an added bonus.
 When you told your friends and family that you’d be coming to Alaska, what
did they say?
o My brother had spent three months at a Coast Guard air station in
Sitka and absolutely loved it, he told me I had no choice but to choose
Alaska. After spending the last two summers at a remote field site in
Greenland, it was no surprise to my parents and friends that Alaska
would be a logical next step for research.
 Do you have any fun activities planned for this summer?
o Besides all the excitement of traveling to Cordova and working with
the US Forest Service, I’m hoping to find time to travel around southcentral Alaska and experience as many places as I can: Seward,
Homer, Talkeetna, Denali - they’re all on the list along with a number
of hikes around the Anchorage/Eagle River/Girdwood area.
 Tell us something interesting about yourself.
o At my home university, I’m a member of the Penn State Marching
Blue Band where I am a section leader of the sousaphone section and
I also am a member of the Penn State Ballroom Dance Team.