Student Scientists (Video)

“Getting criticism is always difficult, particularly when you’re really proud of something,” says Jack Stack, C’19.  “But I think it’s a good process, because if you want to be a scientist, all of science is built around peer review and criticism”

Stack and 23 other undergraduates were part of the earth and environmental science senior research seminar, a year-long program that pairs students with faculty mentors to produce original research and participate in the rigorous peer review process integral to knowledge production.

Jane Dmochowski, Senior Lecturer and seminar Co-Director, explains, “One of the goals of the seminar is giving them the opportunity to learn about the wide range of research that is done in earth and environmental science. This is a good place for them to experience giving and receiving feedback.” 

At the end of the spring semester, all seminar students gave poster presentations. Four students were selected by their peers to give brief public lectures at the Earth & Environmental Science Senior Thesis Research Conference.

The “final four” students were:

• Walter Dawydiak: A Prey Saturation Approach as an Improved Method for Estimating Microzooplankton Grazing Rates (advised by Nicole Poulton, Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences)
• Charlotte de Vaulx: Mapping the Temperature Landscape of Caminibacter Mediatlanticus Sulfur-Reduction (advised by Ileana Pérez-Rodríguez, Assistant Professor of Earth and Environmental Science and Elliman Faculty Fellow) 
• Darby Levin: Vegetation Recovery After Wildfire in the Santa Monica Mountains: A Remote Sensing Analysis (advised by Jane Dmochowski, Senior Lecturer)
• Jack Stack: The Evolution of Skull Elongation in Ray-Finned Fishes (advised by Lauren Sallan, Martin Meyerson Assistant Professor in Interdisciplinary Studies)