The EEWL REU is in the midst of our summer program.

Everyone is hard at work in their labs, with some developing an unforeseen fondness for their study organism ("Corn is growing on me...."). In addition to research, scholars are taking part in a science communication workshop and learning R scripting. 

Yet to come: field trips to Corteva Agriscience and the Yolo Basin Foundation to learn about our local bat colony. 

It's a lovely rainy day in Davis -- coming on the heels of the cool, sunny, and clear one that followed Tuesday's atmospheric river. The local tree frogs are starting to perk up as the days lengthen.

Meanwhile, several EERREC alumni sent updates. 

So...we've been kinda busy since, ummmmm..... January 2024, and put newsy updates on the back burner, where they promptly fell into the crack between the stove and the wall. Here's a rundown of what's happened in our world in the past 10 months.

Trina Miller, a 2021 EERREC scholar from CSU Fullerton, recently received first place honors in the CSU-wide undergraduate research competition for her senior thesis work in documenting anthropogenic debris in the rocky intertidal.

For the third consecutive year, the EERREC REU has included a science communication workshop, with a 3-minute video as capstone experience.

Luke Sparreo, Daisy Lewis, and Aadia Moseley McCloud, all members of the 2022 EERREC cohort, recently reconnected in Washington DC.

The EERREC program includes a science communication workshop, with a 3-minute video as capstone experience.

It's summertime!

Summer in Davis brings sunflowers in bloom and the arrival of the EERREC 2022 Cohort. They've gotten settled in campus housing, reacquainted themselves with bikes, and are becoming part of their lab and campus community.

Check out our Scholars page to learn more about them -- you can search using "2022" in the Position box. We'll add more info in the weeks to come.

We recently caught up with scholars from our 2021 cohort.

They're off and running -- to grad programs in the fall, summer research or policy internships, and continuing to grow as scholars and citizens of the world. We are tremendously proud of them. Check out our Scholars page for details!

Rachel Vannette and members of her lab, including 2021 cohort member Michael Yu, used 16S sequencing to determine that the social carpenter bees Xylocopa sonorina and Xylocopa tabaniformis orpifex share microflora species in their crop and gut, but also host microbiomes that vary by species and geographic location. Further, their results suggest that the microbiomes of bee species with simple social groups can have characteristics typically associated with bees that have more complex social structures.

Our 2021 cohort of EERREC scholars created videos to translate their research for public.

Trina Miller, member of the 2021 EERREC Cohort, recently presented her CSU Fullerton SCERP honors research on marine debris in the rocky intertidal at a virtual event sponsored by the CSUF Office of Sustainability. Trina examines marine debris accumulation in San Pedro, CA, in three coastal areas with differing patterns of land use.