18������

Faculty

Carri LeRoy
LeRoyC@evergreen.edu

Project Description

Mount St. Helens erupted catastrophically in 1980 with a lateral blast that completely altered the landscape surrounding the mountain. In the aftermath of pyroclastic flows, debris avalanches, and hot rocky winds, the north face of Mount St Helens was a sterilized moonscape of pumice hundreds of feet thick, called the Pumice Plain. On the Pumice Plain since 1980, five watersheds have formed, with water sourced from springs fed by either very old or very new glaciers. This source of water and variation in other geological features on the Pumice Plain give rise to distinct streams that flow across this region. The organisms that have established in these streams differ based on these environmental differences, and patterns of primary succession on this landscape are well-studied in most habitats except for streams. Only one prior study in 2016 explored communities of diatoms, algae, macroinvertebrates and riparian plants in Pumice Plain streams (Claeson & LeRoy et al. 2021). This research project will return to these sites to re-survey them 10 years later to see how primary succession has progressed.

Expertise Required of Student Fellow

Students with experience in the field and/or the lab are encouraged to apply. This should be considered a capstone experience for advanced science students with 2-3 years of foundational college coursework in biology, chemistry, and ecology.

Responsibilities of the Fellow(s) and Knowledge and Expertise to be Gained

Students will build on stream ecology field and lab methods they already have experience with and/or learn new methods at local field sites and the campus labs. Then, during several week-long field campaigns, students will participate in an intensive field study of five watersheds on the Pumice Plain of Mount St. Helens. Students will engage in detailed field work to characterize streams in terms of hydrological, physical, chemical, and biological differences. Extensive hiking off trail and through thick underbrush and wetlands under intense solar and wind conditions will be required. Students will need to be physically able to walk 7+ miles per day wearing a heavy pack and carrying heavy instruments. There are no accessibility accommodations that can be made at this remote field location. Back at the lab, students will participate in sample processing, water filtering and analysis, macroinvertebrate sorting and identification.

Additional Information

Students will have the opportunity to collaborate with scientists from the US Forest Service, WA State Parks, and Missouri State University.

Students will also need to be able to camp at a remote and rustic field camp (no running water, limited access to bathrooms, no pets) for up to 1 week at a time. Students may have the opportunity to carpool to the field location (a vehicle may not be required) as well as share meal preparation. Food and gas costs cannot be covered by SURF.

Faculty

Dylan Fischer
fischerd@evergreen.edu

Project Description

In this project, the SURF fellow will join a small team conducting continuing monitoring of forest recovery following the 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens. The project primarily focuses on long-term measurement plots in a remote region in the blast-zone northeast of the mountain (where forests were destroyed in the 1980 eruption of the mountain). Major duties of the fellowship include measuring tree reestablishment in permanent survey plots, conducting data management activities, streamlining data collection processes, and conducting data analysis and write-up. The student will also be responsible for completing a research project within the scope of the overall objectives of the larger study. We will begin early in the summer, conducting remote multiple-day trips into the backcountry. Site access will require backpacking in along an 8-mile trial to remote sites at the foot of the mountain. We will set up a base-camp for each tour, and conduct measurements from there. On occasion, access may also be possible by driving to a remote trailhead and walking into sites daily (day-trips). Regardless, we will camp in the field, and our work will be divided into multiple-day "tours" followed by equal breaks. While in the field, our time will be spent conducting tree height surveys of newly established conifers on the pumice plain (blast zone) near the mountain.  Accommodations will consist of rustic camping conditions and backpacking in remote locations. Students should have their own transportation to and from the campsites (paved road and graded forest service roads) but can arrange for transportation with faculty if needed. Applicants should have experience working with plant identification at the intermediate level. Detailed training will be provided in the field, so exact knowledge of species at the site is not required. Students should also have experience with tree measurement and identification, Excel, data entry, and camping in remote conditions. Work may involve conducting detailed measurements in adverse weather conditions with bugs, cold weather, and other unforeseen or uncontrollable scenarios. Students should be prepared for this. Student projects may include a measurement of post-eruption tree growth in the blast zone, or other projects directly related to the vegetation recovery of the study sites following the 1980 eruption. Interested applicants should contact faculty Dylan Fischer prior to applying.

Expertise Required of Student Fellow

Students should have their own transportation to and from the campsites (paved road and graded forest service roads) but can arrange for transportation with faculty if needed. Applicants should have experience working with plant identification at the intermediate level. Detailed training will be provided in the field, so exact knowledge of species at the site is not required. Students should also have experience with tree measurement, Excel, data entry, and camping in remote conditions. Work may involve conducting detailed measurements in adverse weather conditions with bugs, cold weather, and other unforeseen or uncontrollable scenarios. Students should be prepared for this.

Responsibilities of the Fellow(s) and Knowledge and Expertise to be Gained

Major duties of the fellowship include measuring tree diversity and abundance in numerous survey plots, conducting data management activities, streamlining data collection processes, and conducting data analysis and write-up. The student will also be responsible for completing a research project within the scope of the overall objectives of the larger study.

Additional Information

Interested applicants should contact faculty Dylan Fischer prior to applying. More information and photos of the study sites are available on 18������ EEON Lab website.

Faculty

Rebecca Raitses
rebecca.raitses@evergreen.edu

Project Description

This research and design project seeks to collect, evaluate and create content for an Open Resource First Year French text that centers student interest. The student fellow will work closely with faculty to develop a sensible progression of concepts for the organization of the new textbook and to determine most useful concepts for students. This includes, for example, creating content for gender-neutral approaches in French, something sorely lacking from current published materials available. Significant consideration will be given to the best methods of introducing new concepts in alignment with practices consistent with language acquisition theory. In order to build their understanding thereof, the fellow will be expected to read broadly on the topic, including books such as Common Ground: Second Language Acquisition Theory Goes to the Classroom (2022) by Florencia Henshaw and Maris Hawkins and Textured Teaching: A Framework for Culturally Sustaining Practices by Lorena Escoto Germán. The fellow will work to find comprehensible cultural content that is relevant and interesting to students. The fellow will comb a large volume of extant textbooks for relevant and useful material and propose ways of updating interesting but outdated material and exercises. Based on an 18������ approach to education, the text will center accessibility and choice. The research will culminate in an adapted and intentional language-learning support that modernizes and improves language pedagogy.

Expertise Required of Student Fellow

Successful applicants must have completed three years of college-level French by the start of the fellowship. This project is ideal for students interested in teaching French.

Responsibilities of the Fellow(s) and Knowledge and Expertise to be Gained

The student fellow will be responsible for combing a large amount of French materials and triaging potentially useful content. After familiarizing themselves with best pedagogical practices, the student will work closely with faculty to create engaging exercises. The student will gain knowledge of scaffolding lessons. The student’s understanding of French will also necessarily improve.

Faculty

Pauline Yu
yup@evergreen.edu

Project Description

This project is a microscopy training and data collection project that will examine razor clam and olive snail shells sourced from Quinault and Makah tribal beaches. The student will be trained in use of the newly acquired Scanning Electron Microscope on the 18������ main campus (including sample preparation and imaging) to collect data for a research project that was designed in collaboration with the Quinault and Makah tribes (and a former graduate student at UCSB). The research questions concern the survival and biomechanical changes in two species of calcifying molluscs that are frequently exposed to acidifying conditions on the outer coast of Washington. The razor clam, Siliqua patula, is a commercially significant and cultural cornerstone for the Quinault Indian Nation. The olive snail, Olivella biplicata, is a snail with a very extensive cultural significance to multiple tribes north to south along the West Coast of North America; its use in exchange, adornment and symbolism has extensive documentation among Indigenous peoples of California and among the Makah Tribe on the northern Olympia Peninsula. Reports of weakened shell integrity of both species have led to the collaboration with the tribes for microstructural and biomechanical research studies. This project therefore combines biology, native studies and material culture components.

Expertise Required of Student Fellow

The student does not need to have prerequisite classwork, however the student should be detail oriented. Training in laboratory safety and equipment use will be included in this project; the student must pass the equipment operation training. This training can be completed by a beginner level student if the student is sufficiently motivated and has excellent study habits. The student needs to be able to work in a laboratory setting and at a computer workstation controlling the microscope for extended periods. Ideally the student should have an interest in tribal heritage and artifact conservation; an interest in climate change biology is also preferable but not necessary. Experience with or interest in photography and digital photo management would be preferred but not required. Above all, the student should be cognizant of and recognize the requirements of tribal protocols when working with the tribes and their cultural heritage.

Responsibilities of the Fellow(s) and Knowledge and Expertise to be Gained

If the student is not already certified in the use of the Scanning Electron Microscope, then the fellowship will incorporate the operators’ license training to get the student qualified to use the instrument and do specimen preparation; the student must pass the training to continue in the fellowship. For background learning, the student will learn about shell anatomy, shell parasitism and biomineralization in molluscs to establish an “eye” for observing shell specimens at the microstructural level. The student will also be required to understand how to utilize the Automontage microscope computer image database. As the student images specimens, the student will develop skills in quantitative and qualitative microscopy analysis.  Lastly the student will be expected to gather data to present, and produce a poster for the SURF poster session.

Additional Information

In the spirit of recruiting and training more diverse participants in the sciences, underrepresented groups and especially native students are encouraged to apply. All qualified applicants will be given equal consideration regardless of identity. Applicants who demonstrate an interest in longer-term commitment to microscopy inquiry or to working with the tribes would be given preference. This work must be done on the Olympia campus; field work is a minor, optional component of this project.

Faculty

Pauline Yu
yup@evergreen.edu

Henry Carson
Henry.Carson@evergreen.edu

Project Description

The College has purchased a new Fourier Transform InfraRed (FT-IR) analysis instrument with congressional funding which promises both the analytical power that the organic chemistry labs require but also the potential for environmental microplastics analysis in the environment. The latter is of high interest to our students, but requires some substantial methods optimization for both the configuration of our instrument, but also some operational procedures that can minimize contamination and maximize recovery.

To this end, the project will require the collection and purchase of small bivalves (mussels and oysters) which will be experimentally fed textile fibers of known provenance in the laboratory. This experimental approach will allow us to test out the methods needed to recover and successfully identify textile fibers from the digestive systems of marine organisms. Students will collect mussels from the field and plant oysters at the 18������ Shellfish Garden, and then bring them into the lab for experimental feedings and sample analysis. This project will require both some expertise in biology and chemistry (as indicated below), as the student will need to learn some bivalve dissection and need to test out the chemical protocols for processing samples.

Expertise Required of Student Fellow

The student should have taken general biology and general chemistry, both with lab. INS, a Gen Bio and Gen Chem offering from the daytime or PaCE sequence are all acceptable. The student should have some experience reading primary scientific literature and be able to or be willing to use the library scientific databases to research protocols and methods. The student will need to have had lab safety training in the 25-26 academic year or be prepared to be lab safety certified by SIT staff. Prior experience with bivalve biology or analytical organic chemistry is helpful but not a requirement.

Responsibilities of the Fellow(s) and Knowledge and Expertise to be Gained

The student will be doing “methods development”, an experimental scientific process where the techniques used in experimental science are developed and refined. The student will be learning to read the scientific literature for the project, find and refine protocols for environmental microplastics analysis, and be able to implement those protocols in a methodical manner to find which ones work best. The student will learn bivalve anatomy, how to conduct clearance rate experiments, sample preparation and operation of the FT-IR instrument. Our hope is that we will have a draft of “Standard Operating Procedure” for analysis of microplastics analysis from environmental and animal samples. Lastly the student will be expected to gather data to present, and produce a poster for the SURF poster session.

Additional Information

Students must be comfortable with sacrificing animals and with dissection. Students should be prepared to follow all safety training and protocols associated with handling chemicals, dissection equipment and analytical equipment. Students should also be able to be self-motivated and independent when seeking instrumentation training.

This work must be done on the Olympia campus; field work is a minor, occasional component of this project.

Prof. Henry Carson will serve as a part-time co-investigator on this project, largely in a consulting capacity.

Faculty

Catherine Kehl
catherine.kehl@evergreen.edu

Brian Taylor
ktk2@case.edu

Project Description

Student will work with a group seeking to improve the ability to use magnetic fields for navigating on or near the surface of planets with strong magnetic fields in our solar system.

Expertise Required of Student Fellow

Python. Solid math skills (spherical geometry at a minimum).

Responsibilities of the Fellow(s) and Knowledge and Expertise to be Gained

Working in a team that is writing code to simulate both the magnetic fields of planets in our solar system and navigational strategies using them. We encourage students to participate in the design process as well as implementation. Will improve coding, learn about navigational strategies and magnetic fields of planets.

Additional Information

Please contact Catherine Kehl for access to previous published works on the subject.

Faculty

Nancy Koppelman
koppelmn@evergreen.edu

Project Description

The Israeli/Palestinian Confederation (IPC) is a nonprofit that promotes a confederation model for Israel and Palestine (). The model of two states (as opposed to our 50) under a federal government with a constitution enables equality for all people from the river to the sea, while both peoples, Israelis and Palestinians, are supported to maintain their own identities. IPC has an archive of hundreds of videos, called "simulations," in which a guest scholar, politician, artist, or other public figure (Jewish, Palestinian, Israeli, American, European, etc.) examines and questions the model, and the audience (on Zoom) votes on the viability of pieces of its constitution, and of the whole. This research project uses the IPC video archive as a database to test the popularity and soundness of the model.

Expertise Required of Student Fellow

Interest in Israel/Palestine, ability to conduct research, attention to detail, good note-taking, ability to work independently and with deadlines. Ability to create a usable database on Excel or otherwise.

Responsibilities of the Fellow(s) and Knowledge and Expertise to be Gained

The fellow(s) will watch or read transcripts, and organize data on how attendees voted on the different aspects of the model and on the whole model. The fellows will help to articulate the conclusions of the research. They will also learn about the practical challenges of shared governance.

Additional Information

Students would need to have an open mind about the relationship between Israelis and Palestinians.  Many thousands want peace. This is a carefully-constructed vision for peace that requires compromises from everyone. The student fellow(s) would need to appreciate the legitimate hopes of both peoples to share the land.

Faculty

Erik Thuesen
thuesene@evergreen.edu

Project Description

Organisms inhabiting estuaries experience large and rapid fluctuations in environmental conditions, including temperature, salinity, and dissolved oxygen, which impose significant physiological challenges. In this project, the fellow will investigate how whole-animal metabolism responds to variation in these parameters by helping to design and conduct controlled laboratory experiments on one or two species commonly found in Puget Sound. Study species will be selected based on mutual student–faculty interests and specimen availability. Depending on project direction, the fellow may also gain experience with additional approaches such as scanning electron microscopy, molecular techniques, or comparative physiological analyses.

Expertise Required of Student Fellow

Students should have a year of chemistry and biology with labs. Previous upper division work in the sciences preferred.

Responsibilities of the Fellow(s) and Knowledge and Expertise to be Gained

The fellow will be responsible for specimen collection and care, experimental setup, metabolic measurements, data analysis, and interpretation of results in collaboration with faculty. Through this work, the fellow will gain hands-on experience in experimental design, marine animal physiology, respirometry and metabolic analysis, statistical analysis of biological data, and scientific communication.

Additional Information

I hope to incorporate some of our new instrumentation, depending on availability. Some of it isn't up and running yet.

Faculty

Jesse Miller
jesse.miller@evergreen.edu

Sarah Williams
williasa@evergreen.edu

Brief Description

This field research project facilitates learning of methods for studying crop nutrition on 18������’s farm, in relation to the movement for inclusive, just, sustainable, and participatory food and agriculture practices. This project will focus on radicchio (Cichorium intybus var. foliosum), a summer-extending  (late fall-harvested) salad green that is becoming increasingly recognized and eaten in the US. In the Pacific Northwest, radicchio is the focus of the Culinary Breeding Network’s largest annual event, Sagra Del Radicchio, which brings together plant breeders, farmers, chefs, and eaters.  An 18������ field trial will allow us to make a timely research contribution that is aligned with our regional food movement, and with global radicchio trials. With an interdisciplinary faculty team, the student(s) will design a study that explores the nutritional qualities of “forced” radicchio, which is produced through a traditional Italian process of transplanting mature radicchio plants into a dark environment. Four radicchio varieties will be grown on the 18������ farm, and mature plants will be divided into treatment (forced) and control (not forced) groups. Following the conclusion of the forcing treatment, the tissue of treatment and control plants will be analyzed for nutritional quality. Data also will be gathered on the maturity and grading of harvested varieties, flavor profiles, marketability, and overall yield and harvest potential. The faculty and student(s) will collaborate with campus Food and Ag Path staff, faculty, and faculty to enhance existing curricula as well as community organizations, strengthening 18������’s connections with the regional food and agriculture community.

Expertise Required of Student Fellow

The potential SURF student should have experience with ecological data collection (especially in the field), introductory data analysis, experience writing scientific or environmental humanities lab reports, excellent communication skills including visual and website literacies, aptitude for sensory assessment, and a passion for food and agriculture. The ability to handle and grow plants in the field is required. However, faculty are willing to work with the potential fellow to improve these skillsets. Students interested in this project are strongly advised to contact the faculty to discuss how their academic background and prior research experience can fit into the needs of the project. The project may require a commitment of 20-30 hours some weeks and less other weeks.  Self-motivation and time management skills are essential as are documentation and presentation skills. Given the length of the growing season, interested students should contact faculty about ILC and internship options spring and fall quarters.

Responsibilities of the Fellow(s) and Knowledge and Expertise to be Gained

Student(s) will have different duties as the season progresses. They will design the trial, plant seeds, care for seedlings, and transplant and transfer seedlings to beds they have prepared. They will maintain the field plots including monitoring, irrigation, and weed/invasive management. They will subsequently impose the forcing treatment and then carry out nutritional analysis. Student(s) will spend approx. 15 h/week on field and lab work and data collection. Fellow(s) will be expected to spend up to 5h/week studying relevant reading material, writing and analyzing gathered data, and documenting activities online. Faculty will provide an ePortfolio template for data collection, weekly reporting, and project documentation including photographs. Members of the interdisciplinary faculty team will meet with the student(s) to discuss data reports and consult on data analysis, documentation, and presentation of the project. Meetings early in the project will be necessary to lay out the research design, schedules, and proper use of lab and field equipment.  Field trip opportunities to regional field trials events are anticipated. Interested students are encouraged to consult with the faculty team ASAP regarding their spring and fall quarter academic coursework, which could include related ILCs or/and participation in Food and Ag programs.

Additional Information

This project will connect theory and practice for positive food system change, and will contribute to the sustainable campus food system, as well as regional food security and sovereignty more broadly.

The faculty recognize issues of inclusion, diversity and equity, particularly in agriculture and the sciences and therefore especially encourages applicants from under-represented groups including women, racial/ethnic identities, and LGBTQA individuals. Of course, all eligible applicants will be considered and are welcome to apply. Given the anticipated length of the growing season, applicants will be encouraged to consider working with faculty team members in some capacity during the spring and fall quarters, in an ILC or/and in academic programs.

Faculty

Shaw Osha
oshas@evergreen.edu

Project Description

How do artists identify and connect with the right audiences, supporters, and institutional partners for specific types of work? This is a crucial question for arts administration in general, and this fellowship provides an opportunity to receive direct mentorship from a practicing artist faculty member as a studio and research assistant, gaining hands-on experience in the administrative and organizational work that sustains a contemporary art practice. This includes professional development research, digital portfolio management, a publication project, and studio operations. The fellow will learn a variety of approaches to creative practice, how administrative work is necessary to support and sustain a professional career, and, importantly, participate in regular mentorship sessions focused on navigating the professional landscape of the arts and on how artists identify, network, and decide which opportunities to pursue.

Expertise Required of Student Fellow

The fellow must have strong organizational skills, an interest in project management, attention to detail, a keen curiosity about the arts, and the ability to work independently while meeting deadlines. Excellent written communication and file management capabilities are required. Preferred expertise includes familiarity with (and hopefully proficiency in) Adobe InDesign, Adobe Photoshop, and Illustrator, experience with website platforms such as WordPress or Squarespace, and interest in and basic knowledge of contemporary art and professional practices. The ideal candidate values communication, organization, and follow-through, enjoys research, and is interested in visual arts, publishing, design, or arts administration.

Responsibilities of the Fellow(s) and Knowledge and Expertise to be Gained

The fellow will spend approximately half their time on professional development, including researching artist residencies, grants, and exhibition opportunities, and compiling and maintaining databases with detailed information on requirements and deadlines. Specifically, they will be researching exhibition opportunities for the artwork and an artist’s book project (self-published last summer with SURF students). They will also look for opportunities to submit the book to publishers of artists’ books.

The other half will be dedicated to digital portfolio management and studio support. This includes updating website design and content with current work and exhibition information; organizing digital image files with proper naming conventions and metadata; preparing print-ready and web-ready versions of artwork documentation; and maintaining a professional online presence.  Studio support involves preparing and organizing materials, maintaining artwork inventory systems, photographing work for documentation, and supporting studio organization and workflow. Through these responsibilities, the fellow will develop an understanding of the professional art world landscape and how artists identify appropriate opportunities, gain practical skills in design and production workflow as part of professional practice, learn how artists present themselves professionally through publications, digital platforms, and application materials, and build competency in studio management practices.

Additional Information

The fellow will work closely with the faculty to examine the question of how artists and audiences find each other, and how to identify and engage the right supporters and institutional partners for a specific body of work. They will gain hands-on experience in administrative and organizational work applicable to arts administration in general and to sustain a contemporary art practice, including researching exhibition, residency, and publishing opportunities; maintaining a digital portfolio and website management; assisting with the preparation of a second-edition artist's book for publication; and managing artwork documentation, including photographing artwork and preparing studio materials.

The primary project management and research focus involves three aspects of artistic professional practice.

First, the fellow will research opportunities to publish and exhibit art projects by investigating publication venues, residencies, grants, and exhibitions appropriate to the faculty member’s project. This requires close communication with the faculty member to understand how artists position their work within contemporary discourse, how opportunities align with specific practices and career stages, and how to effectively organize and track application processes. The fellow will conduct systematic research, compile lists of appropriate opportunities and arts organizations, and analyze submission requirements and deadlines. As part of this research into professional practices, the fellow will assist with the production of a second edition of the faculty member's artist book, using InDesign to refine layout and design, prepare print-ready files, and research publishers and printing options. This book project provides direct experience with how artists develop publications as both creative work and professional documentation, how design decisions communicate meaning, and how publishing fits within a broader artistic practice.

Second, the fellow will support the faculty member's online digital presence by updating website content, organizing digital files and artwork documentation, and ensuring professional materials are current and accessible.

Third, studio support includes organizing artwork inventory, photographing and documenting completed pieces, and maintaining organizational systems that allow the practice to function efficiently. This work provides comprehensive insight into how artists navigate the professional landscape while sustaining their creative work.

Faculty

Richard Weiss
weissr@evergreen.edu

Project Description

Gen AI is changing the pedagogical landscape, and we are faced with the question of what to do. Given the potential benefits, I don’t think we can dismiss the technology based on the concerns, though they are important. Rather, we need to understand how to mitigate those concerns and harness the benefits. This proposal is about how to apply Gen AI to intelligent tutoring and hint generation systems in the context of cybersecurity exercises.

Generating appropriate hints requires three types of knowledge: domain knowledge, knowledge about the student and what they know, and knowledge about the specific exercise they are working on.

In our case, domain knowledge is about cybersecurity in general. Fortunately, there are language models that have been trained on cybersecurity data, so we don’t need to re-create them.

Expertise Required of Student Fellow

The student(s) on this project should have some programming skills, e.g. from having taken Data Structures and Algorithms or equivalent experience and be able to work independently. In particular, the students should have intermediate level skills in Python programming.
It would also be advantageous to have the following knowledge and skills:

• Some knowledge of machine learning at an introductory level.
• Some Web development skills (beginning)
• Some ability to write SQL queries (beginning)
• Some knowledge of cybersecurity (beginning)

Responsibilities of the Fellow(s) and Knowledge and Expertise to be Gained

There are several goals for the SURF fellows. They will learn how to conduct classroom tests and collect data. They will learn how to translate a research question into an experiment. If time permits, they will learn how to analyze data. They will learn how to use Gen AI in a constructive way that preserves users’ privacy. Students will have the opportunity to work in a team. The project is joint work with Jens Mache (Lewis and Clark) and Justin Wang (Northeastern) and their students.

Fellows will attend team meetings held twice a week with students from Lewis and Clark College and Northeastern University. Fellows will be responsible for learning how to write prompts for language models, extract data from relevant documents and databases, and to combine the two. They will automate the process by creating prompt templates. The fellow(s) will be expected to write reports summarizing their work and the results. These documents should have sufficient detail that other students could reproduce their results.

Additional Information

The problem of generating hints is important for two reasons. First, students have gaps in their knowledge (especially in cybersecurity because it spans many branches of computer science. They may be working at home and not have an instructor to ask. Second, if students are working on a computer lab in class, it may not be possible for the instructor to monitor all of the students, and this tool could help instructors by suggesting hints. If we can understand how to automatically generate appropriate hints in this field, the techniques could be applied more broadly.

Faculty

Krisztina Mosdossy
krisztina.mosdossy@evergreen.edu

Project Description

The research project revolves around the 18������ campus farm and Krisztina Mosdossy's lab. The fellow will use the circular nutrient economy as a framework to inform how 18������'s farm will reduce external inputs (e.g., fertilizers) and replace them with on-campus nutrients (e.g., urine). Nutrient availability on campus will be calculated and a budget for any necessary infrastructure will be formed. Expertise in agronomy and economics will be necessary to calculate both a nutrient and economic budget for the farm.  In addition, the fellow will identify what state policies need to be addressed for 18������ to adopt pee-cycling, thus gaining expertise in policy and facilitating the campus in becoming nutrient sovereign.

Expertise Required of Student Fellow

Any experience in agriculture, the circular economy, and state policy will be an asset. Experience with chemistry would be a bonus.

Responsibilities of the Fellow(s) and Knowledge and Expertise to be Gained

The fellow will be responsible for gathering existing data on nutrient inputs historically and currently used on the farm. They will calculate the nutrients on campus (e.g., urine, food scraps, compost, etc) that could be used as nutrients on the farm. This work will facilitate their education on the circular nutrient economy, which is one of the most pertinent sustainability challenges to any farm, which includes the 18������ Campus farm. Therefore, the student will gain valuable experience that they can apply to other farms that they encounter after graduation. The fellow will also report on the appropriate state policies that are relevant to this work. This will give them experience in policy work at the state level, preparing them for work on or off farms that are seeking to reduce their external inputs, which cause environmental destruction and pollution.

Additional Information

I, Krisztina Mosdossy, have worked on the topic of the circular nutrient economy for many years and recently completed a postdoctoral position at Cornell University focusing on pee-cycling. I am very familiar with the methods for success when using urine as a fertilizer. 18������ has an opportunity to be a leader in this area such that farmers all over Washington State might adopt the circular nutrient economy following 18������'s example.

Faculty

Lalita Calabria
calabril@evergreen.edu

Project Description

Students will contribute to global and regional lichen conservation research through completing conservation assessments for rare and endangered lichen species. This will involve approximately 50% field work and 50% computer-based research.

Expertise Required of Student Fellow

The successful student will have completed previous coursework in lichenology, botany or a related field.

GIS mapping skills and familiarity with excel are preferred.

Responsibilities of the Fellow(s) and Knowledge and Expertise to be Gained

Students will become familiar with NatureServe and IUCN Red-List conservation tools, searching herbarium database records; validation and mapping of historical observation records from the Consortium of Lichen Herbaria (CLH) and iNaturalist.

Field work will involve surveying specific habitats for rare species to verify the status of known populations, determine the extent and abundance of populations, and characterize ecological conditions.

Students will have the opportunity to be co-authors on any completed conservation assessments with the IUCN Red-List, a global database for tracking rare and threatened species. I would consider two fellows for field safety and peer-learning opportunities.

Additional Information

This project would require access to a personal vehicle for travel to and from field sites around Washington State (western WA). A successful applicant will feel comfortable hiking and navigating  off trail in a variety of terrain and field conditions.