Water everywhere!

Sea Education Association's Robert
C. Seamans in New Zealand

I applied for and was accepted to the REU Position at the Hubbard Brook Research Foundation from halfway across the world; in New Zealand! I attend the University of New Hampshire, where I will be a senior next year pursuing a degree in Environmental Science and Hydrology, however last spring I was in New Zealand with SEA Semester aboard one of their sailing school vessels. SEA Semester helped prepare me for the rigors of intense scientific research; writing proposals and conducting full-scale experiments on a very limited time frame, all the while sailing around in the Pacific aboard an operating sailing vessel. Research skills are transferable from all fields, and since my first two years as an undergraduate was spent studying hard geology, I have a very diverse background. Aboard SEA’s Robert C. Seamans I studied geostrophic eddy behavior off the coast of New Zealand. My current research interests are in hydrology, since it relates to biotic, hydrologic, and physical earth interactions. Specifically, I hope to study interactions between groundwater and surfacewater, and consequences for soil development and nutrient storage in the near-stream zone here at Hubbard Brook.

Pleasant View Farm Campus

Life at sea also prepared me for living in a cooperative household at Pleasant View Farm, with 14 fellow researchers from a whole suite of academic backgrounds. Co-op living demands organization, patience, and consideration; though good food and friendships make it that much better. Living at Pleasant View allows us to connect with people from colleges all over the country, whose research encompasses a huge range of topics. We also get to work with the fantastic group of scientists, researchers, and endless enthusiasts at the U.S. Forest Service and the HB Research Foundation, who are excited to work with REUs. Many of them at one point lived at Pleasant View Farm too. 

HB REUs hiking Bald Mountain

Tyler in the field!

A little more about me: I’m a native of neighboring Massachusetts, but I’ve been visiting and hiking in the White Mountains for the past four summers. I’d have a hard time picking between a summer spent on the beach or in the mountains; both are great, but what’s better than doing research and bushwhacking through the woods every day? We’re all well into the summer, featuring plenty of swimming in Mirror Lake, and we’ve just finished the Hubbard Brook 52nd Annual Cooperators Meeting, which is a two-day conference featuring the full breadth of research conducted here at Hubbard Brook. More to follow in the next post about my own research!