IGDP in Ecology Newsletter
Notes from the Field
October 2005
Ecology picnic and orientation from a new
student’s prospective
I was sitting at the bar at Zola's when I was solicited to
write up something regarding the variety of orientation
events, etc. from a new students perspective. I guess for
most of us, it began with a relatively informal and
informative orientation session at Dave Mortensen's
house, which included a nice brunch and observations of
local wildlife (Dr. Mortensen's dog). A few faculty and
several veteran grad students also came along to
welcome everyone to the program and offer different bits
of information and advice.
Next came the picnic at Sunset Park which included
more 'round the world style introductions due to the
greater attendance. A few folks slaved away at the grill
providing the main
course while others
brought sides etc.
Some avoided using
disposable accessories
in true environmentalist fashion, making me
upset that I hadn't
thought of bringing
my own plate and
utensils. The picnic
ended with several
pseudo-competitive
rounds of sand volleyorganic hamburgers grilled to
ball in which the Local
perfection by Matt “Beef” Ferrari
faculty beat the
students about 18 times in a row. Thankfully most of us
were able to avoid getting burned up by the lava (which
some of us mistook for sand) with Linus' help (Dr. Kaye's
son who demonstrated on a couple of occasions that he is
smarter than me).
Which brings us to the social and back to Zola's
downtown, where the next official gathering took place.
For me the most notable aspect of the social was realizing
that here in PA they treat Yuengling as if it were
Volume 2 No 7
Budweiser and you can buy it for pennies, which is nice.
On top of this, it was a fun and friendly gathering of new
and old grad students and a few faculty, and made for a
nice culmination of the series of events.
~ Kevin Mueller, PhD student, Horticulture
There are several journal clubs / discussion groups meeting this
semester with various interests, some of them include:
Chemical Ecology
The Chemical Ecology Journal Club meets every other Wednesday
at 3.30. The schedule and papers are posted by clicking on the
hyperlink "CE journal club" at
http://www.chemicalecology.psu.edu/. The journal club is
available for 1 credit through the entomology department but not
mandatory. Grad students participating for credit must choose a
paper and guide the discussion. Email Liz Bosak [ejb246@psu.edu]
if you have any questions.
Biodiversity and Community Ecology
The discussion group covers these topics from the current literature
and meets every other week. This semester, they are meeting at
10AM on Wednesdays in 205 ASI, except for Oct 19, when they will
be in 118. If interested, please contact Sarah Goslee
[sgoslee@psu.edu].
Ornithology / Applied Vertebrate Ecology
Ornithologists, or anyone interested in applied vertebrate ecology,
are welcome to join Dr. Margaret Brittingham's lab for weekly
meetings. Room 303 Forest Resources Building, 4-5pm Tuesday
afternoons, through the fall semester. It will be an opportunity to
discuss your research ideas, recent literature, or practice talks.
Please email Andy Wilson (amw328@psu.edu) if you'd like to be
put on the mailing list for schedules etc.
Welcome New Ecology Grad Students!
Jill Cromp received a BS in Biology from Penn State in Dec
2002. She is working towards an MS with K.C. Kim in the
Entomology Dept, and her research involves PA native
stem-less blue violets which are food plants to Regal
Fritillary larvae. She has lived in the area for 5 years, and
previously worked at the Frost Entomology Museum
curating dragonfly and damselfly specimens.
Andy Filipczak is from Langhorne, PA but did his
undergrad at the University of Richmond where he
majored in Biology and Environmental Science and
minored in Business Administration. Last year, he taught
high school for a year and worked at the NJ State
Aquarium. Now, Andy is working towards his PhD with
James Finley in Forest Resources on social biology and
park management plans for the National Park service. He
is also a marine science technician in the US Coast Guard
Reserve.
Michelle Gresalfi is from Maryland, just outside
Washington D.C. and completed her BS in Environ-mental
Science from the University of Maryland, Baltimore
County this past May. She is now working towards her
MS under Jason Kaye in the Dept of Crop and Soil Science,
studying the capacity of stable soil N pools to retain N in
either row-crop agriculture, pastures, harvested forests,
or old-growth forest ecosystems.
Stephanie Lessard-Pilon is originally from Canada,
although she grew up in South Salem, New York. She just
finished her undergrad at Cornell, where she studied
nutrient recycling by invertebrates in streams. Stephanie
is working towards her PhD with Chuck Fisher working on
deep sea ecology.
Kevin Mueller graduated from the University of Cincinnati
and is now working towards his PhD with Dave
Eissenstat. He is interested in studying some aspect of C
or N cycling as affected by dominant tree species and
associated root traits.
Andrea Nord finished her master's at PSU in 1998, looking
at plant communities on reclaimed strip mines. Then
followed three years in Honduras, working at environmental/natural resource management issues at the
village level; a one-year interim professor job at a liberal
arts college in Indiana; two years off for "mommy duty";
and now back to school part-time working towards her
PhD in Dave Mortensen's lab, looking at invasive forest
species.
Glenn Stauffer did his undergraduate work at Millersville
University of PA. Now, after a three year hiatus, he is
working towards his MS studying the ecology of
grassland sparrows with Duane Diefenbach in Wildlife
and Fisheries Science.
Rebekah Wagner was born and raised in Los Angeles, CA
and completed her BS at UC Davis in Ecology. She is
working in Marc Abram’s lab in the Forestry Department
studying the effects of succession in PA hardwood
forests.
Leah Wasser graduated with a Master of Landscape
Architecture from Penn State. She has spent some time
teaching in the PSU Department of Landscape
Architecture and currently works full time in the PSU
Cooperative Extension, Geospatial Technology Program,
Land Analysis Lab. Leah is pursuing a PhD, researching
issues related to landuse planning with Rick Day in Crop
and Soil Sciences and Ken Tamminga in Landscape
Architecture.
Ruscena Wiederholt is originally from Wisconsin and did
her undergrad in integrated biology at Berkeley and a
masters in evolution, biodiversity, and ecology at Pierre
and Marie Curie university. She is now working towards
her PhD with Stephen Beckerman in Anthropology.
Tiff Bogich fires a warning shot across the faculty/post
doc team’s bow (Andy Hulting) during warm-ups for the
volleyball game versus the students. Not to be
intimidated, the faculty/post doc team vanquished the
students and avenged last year’s embarrassing defeat.
Noteworthy
oteworthy:
worthy Recent Eco-grad, Songlin Fei (PhD December
2004) has just taken a position as assistant professor in the
Department of Forestry at the University of Kentucky.
Congratulations Songlin!
We are always looking for news
news and stories! Send
submissions for the next newsletter to Angie Luis
(ADL12@psu.edu).
(ADL12