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Over the years, I have included dozens of undergraduates in my research, both as volunteers and as paid assistants. This is always a very enjoyable experience and we invariably learn a lot from each other!
| One of the reasons that undergraduates have enjoyed their experience is that I make a strong effort to involve them in every step of the experiments, taking the time to teach them how to be better scientists (right, Laura Howell dipnetting in a marsh). |  |
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| During the fall and spring semesters, I will typically hire 2-3 students (10-20 hours per week). Work duties vary each week and will include caring for live animals (e.g., over-wintering frogs), measuring preserved animals from past experiments, entering and analyzing data, and constructing equipment for the next summer's field season (above - Josh Auld and Adam Marko observing tadpole activity in outdoor wading pools). |
| During the summer, I will typically hire 3-4 students (40 hours per week) to assist me with experiments. The majority of this field work will be conducted at the Pymatuning Laboratory of Ecology (2 hours north of Pittsburgh). |
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As you can see, when you work in aquatic ecology, you should prepare to get cold, wet, and dirty! This is Jason Moll, after we spent the day extracting large pens from a swamp in Michigan. |
