Sims, David

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University of New HampshireUniversity of New Hampshire Scholars' RepositoryMedia Relations Administrative Offices9-4-2008Students Present Summer Research Results ToScientists At UNH, NASADavid SimsUNH Institute for the Study of Earth, Oceans and SpaceFollow this and additional works at: https://scholars.unh.edu/newsThis News Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Administrative Offices at University of New Hampshire Scholars' Repository. It hasbeen accepted for inclusion in Media Relations by an authorized administrator of University of New Hampshire Scholars' Repository. For moreinformation, please contact nicole.hentz@unh.edu.Recommended CitationSims, David, "Students Present Summer Research Results To Scientists At UNH, NASA" (2008). UNH Today. 517.https://scholars.unh.edu/news/517Students Present Summer Research Results to Scientists at UNH, NASAhttp://www.unh.edu/delete/news/cj_nr/2008/sept/ds4research.cfm.html[9/12/2016 1:18:12 PM] Students Present Summer Research Results ToScientists At UNH, NASAMedia Contact:  David Sims 603-862-5369Science WriterInstitute for the Study of Earth, Oceans, and SpaceSeptember 4, 2008DURHAM, N.H.-- As summer waned and thousands of undergraduates readied themselves todescend upon the University of New Hampshire's Durham campus, Michael Hutson wrappedup a 10-week research project he'd undertaken at UNH's Institute for the Study of Earth,Oceans, and Space (EOS), presented his results to scientists at UNH and NASA's GoddardSpace Flight Center in Maryland, and then headed back to Stanford University to begin hisjunior year.Hutson is one of 15 undergraduate and graduate students from colleges around the countrywho participated this summer in the joint UNH-NASA Research & Discover program. Themulti-year internship/fellowship program provides a "pipeline" of opportunities in a broadrange of Earth science fields for students beginning in their junior year and continuing throughtwo years of post-graduate work. Now in its seventh year, the program has had 30 internsand 15 fellows in the pipeline.Selected students are given a rich and varying menu of tools and teachers through which theycan transform themselves from undergraduates into independent scientific researchers - firstwith a summer internship at UNH-EOS, followed by one at Goddard.This summer's crop included students from Mount Holyoke, Vassar, Bryn Mawr, Wellesley,Cornell, the University of Michigan, UNH, and others. Research projects ran the gamut fromsatellite analysis of Antarctic sea ice and forest ecosystem dynamics to the effects HurricaneKatrina had in reducing the long-term storage of carbon due to massive tree felling.Hutson concentrated his research on forest growth in California's Sierra Nevada Mountains inan effort to bolster a state-of-the-art mathematical ecosystem model co-developed by hisR&D advisor George Hurtt, an associate professor at EOS and the Department of NaturalResources & the Environment. Hutson spent a week in mountains between Yosemite andSequoia National Parks making precise field measurements that will be plugged into themodel, which can examine how climate and soil factors, natural disturbances, and humanland-use practices affect ecosystem structure and fluxes. Such modeling capability is criticalto scientists trying to ascertain global carbon cycle dynamics.Hurtt, the principal investigator and director of the internship/fellowship program, explainsthat, unlike a summer school, R&D launches students on a solid career in science by providingthem with a clear pathway during what is arguably one of the most uncertain periods in ayoung scientist's career - the transition from undergraduate to graduate."With a two-summer internship following their junior and senior years and the possibility of aStudents Present Summer Research Results to Scientists at UNH, NASAhttp://www.unh.edu/delete/news/cj_nr/2008/sept/ds4research.cfm.html[9/12/2016 1:18:12 PM]two-year, full-time, post-undergraduate fellowship, the program is truly a pipeline ofopportunities," Hurtt says.First-year UNH graduate student Mimi Szeto, who came to the program from WellesleyCollege, could well be its poster child.Says Szeto, "This has been possibly the best academic program I've encountered and Ibelieve the chance to work on projects guided with scientists before we dive into our owntheses is the most influential aspect."Szeto, whose research involved satellite data and modeling as part of a larger effort toestimate ocean primary productivity, says the R&D program has enabled her to avoid thestress of post-undergraduate life that many of her peers are experiencing and, she adds,"with all the work and time I've already spent in this field for this program I feel as if theresearch has chosen me, rather than the other way around."Second-year R&D student Jordan Goodrich spent his summer working at NASA's Goddardfacility on issues related to atmospheric methane - a potent greenhouse gas.Says Goodrich, "At NASA, the safety net really was taken away for the first time in myacademic career. It was refreshing to be put right in the midst of these extremely talentedscientists and expected to get right into it."That said, Goodrich notes, even without a "safety net," by design the R&D program ensuresthat experts are there for students to seek out, and he got all the help needed to conquerdifficult first encounters with the computer operating system used by Goddard's AtmosphericChemistry and Dynamics Branch.As in years past, many of the R&D students will present their research findings this Decemberat the American Geophysical Union meeting. The five-day AGU meeting, the largest of its kindwith some 15,000 participants, occurs annually in San Francisco where scientists share thelatest research in the Earth and space sciences.For more information on the Research & Discover program, visithttp://www.eos.unh.edu/randd/index.shtml .A photograph is available to download here: http://www.eos.unh.edu/newsimage/treestu_lg.jpgPhoto caption: Research & Discover intern Michael Hutson of Stanford University stands nextto a Giant Sequoia in California's Sierra Nevada Mountains where he did fieldwork as part ofhis summer research. Photo courtesy of Michael Hutson.-30-

Students Present Summer Research Results To Scientists At UNH, NASA

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Students Present Summer Research Results To Scientists At UNH, NASA

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