完美体育

Science-y Summers

These 完美体育 Undergrads Spent Their Summers Shoulders-Deep in the Field

  • by Malia Reiss
Blogs
Grace Cureton poses with the Mount Whitney sunrise
Grace Cureton and their team camped on the summit of Mount Whitney to catch the sunrise. (Courtesy Grace Cureton)

They woke up gasping for air. At 14,505 feet, Mount Whitney is not the typical place to take a nap. But if a spectacular sunrise is the goal, braving out the bone-chilling cold and lack of air is the price to pay. 

Grace Cureton, a fifth year Community and Regional Development major at 完美体育, spent their summer high in the alpine. For 41 days without service, a massive backpack, heaps of dehydrated food, and a small crew of researchers were all they knew. 

Grace Cureton and her team of researchers eat dinner after a long day of backpacking
Grace Cureton and teammates rehydrate their dinners after a long day in the field. (Courtesy Grace Cureton)

鈥淚t's a hard transition back. Everything is very stimulating now,鈥 Cureton admitted.

Cureton got their summer position through the John Muir Trail Conservancy. With a small crew of six, they surveyed unethical campsites as a precursor for future restoration and mitigation by the National Park Service. 

Together, the field crew braved summer hurricanes, fierce hail that felt like 鈥済etting hit with nails over and over again,鈥 steep snowfields, and intense physical strain. Still, nothing can compare to spending the summer wading in alpine lakes and waking up to the vastness of the mountains. 

鈥淲e were just outside for so long,鈥 they said. 鈥淚 could feel the earth moving. It was surreal.鈥 

Grace Cureton poses with an alpine vista
Alpine lakes and expansive vistas were a common site during Grace Cureton's
鈥 summer. (Courtesy Grace Cureton).

Cureton wasn鈥檛 the only undergraduate who wished the summer never ended. 

Perched in a pitch-black meadow and getting spooked by deer, Mia Emerson held out an Echo Meter Touch, a device that she used to record bat echolocation. The only light available was her light trap as she counted the flying insects hovering around. 

Emerson, a third year Wildlife, Fish, and Conservation Biology major, spent her summer with the UC Natural Reserve Program as part of (CEC). 

Mia Emerson and classmates set up their bat experiment
With her two classmates, Mia Emerson sets up her bat experiment at dusk. (Courtesy Mia Emerson)
Emerson's light trap against a pitch-black meadow
Emerson and her team use a light trap to collect data on flying insect abundance. (Courtesy Mia Emerson)

Deep within the dark meadows of Angelo Coast Range Reserve, Emerson investigated which parts of forest meadows have more bat activity in them, as well as the diversity of bats within each system. 

This wasn鈥檛 her only project. Over the course of two months, she traveled to five different UC Reserves with contrasting ecosystems and developed independent field research projects in each, from sea urchin compe