BIORETS Teacher Research Teams
Our cohort spent six intensive weeks working and learning together. They presented their research at the end of the summer program and are currently implementing and revising their curriculum back in their classroom.
Forest Ecology Team
Understanding how disturbances and their legacies influence forest structure
Mentors: Drs. Evan Gora, Vanessa Rubio, and Ian McGregor
Forests sequester carbon by performing photosynthesis in their leaves, and this process helps maintain our global climate in equilibrium. However, forests are experiencing disturbances - events that kill or damage trees - at higher rates in recent decades and this could influence the ability of forests to sequester carbon. To understand how forests are changing, we need to investigate how environmental conditions (e.g., topography), historic disturbances, and contemporary disturbances interact to shape the production and vertical distribution of leaves.
Steve Hertzog teaches Biology and Marine Biology at Arlington High School in LaGrangeville, NY. He wanted to have the opportunity to experience ecological research firsthand and better understand how the process works. His new curriculum engages students in the science and engineering practices of questioning, modeling, and planning and conducting plant growth investigations.
Kelly Murphy Czermerys is a science and special education teacher at Ulster BOCES in Port Ewen, NY. She was interested in participating in an authentic field research experience to be able to connect her students with that knowledge. Her new curriculum supports her school's implementation of project based learning, and allows her students to design their own research and work in the classroom as scientists.
Elizabeth Reeve is special education teacher currently teaching Earth Science at Bronx Bridges High School, an English Language Learning School located in the south eastern part of the Bronx, NY. Her interest in the program was sparked by her desire for a fresh, dynamic, totally hands on learning experience that aimed to improve not only her teaching abilities, but my own sense of wonder and research. By participating in this program,she was able to learn from experts about innovative teaching strategies to create a more methodical learning environment where her students routinely practice and implement data collection and analysis.
Research poster: Productivity differences in variations of forest canopy
Soil Ecology Team
Urban Riparian Ecology
Mentors: Dr. Peter Groffman and Lisa Martel
As the effects of climate change worsen, the heaviest burdens fall on underinvested urban communities and neighborhoods, which already experience more than their share of environmental challenges, including air and water pollution, flooding, a lack of trees, and excess heat. The Baltimore Social-Environmental Collaborative (BSEC) recognizes that in order to be just and effective, climate solutions for urban areas must be co-designed with communities. These solutions also must be responsive—and adaptive—to community concerns. The BSEC offers a new approach in which climate scientists work in close partnership with the citizens of Baltimore to identify community priorities that guide the scientific questions being asked. Then, as data is gathered and findings are made, the work continuously evolves in response to community needs and input. Ultimately the BSEC’s mission is to create a truly community-centered urban climate observatory—based not just on theory but in real neighborhoods—to contribute to climate action plans that make environmental justice a priority.
Kristie Wikane is a high school science teacher at Brookwood Secure Center for Youth in Claverack, NY. She applied to Cary's BIORETS program because she missed doing science and engaging her curiosity. Her new curriculum provides her students with a venue to share their new-found understanding of human impacts on the environment and ways in which that impact can be mitigated.
Denise Rogers is a Biology and AP Environmental Science teacher at Huguenot High School in Richmond, VA. Her interest in the BIORETS program stemmed from her love of nature and ongoing research projects. The curriculum that she developed for her students will allow them to experience the joys of learning beyond the classroom walls while fine tuning skills in data collection, best practices in research and laboratory techniques.
Caitlyn Corigliano-Maceli is a 7th grade science teacher at Union Vale Middle School in Lagrangeville, NY. Caitlyn sought out the BIORETS program in order to gain more professional development in science curriculum design and ecology fieldwork. Her curriculum focuses on student choice projects centered around hydroponics in addition to student led scientific experimental design.
Research poster: The functional capacity of soils in ecosystems in Baltimore, Maryland
Disease Ecology Team
Global change and mosquitoes
Mentor: Dr. Shannon LaDeau
Understanding how the environment influences mosquito ecology is a critical focus for predicting and managing impacts of global change on human wellbeing. Although there are over 3,000 species of mosquitoes, only a few are responsible for transmitting pathogens that cause human disease. Environmental conditions in the juvenile aquatic habitat —such as vegetation inputs, temperature, and biotic interactions—determine the species diversity, abundance and fitness of emerging adult mosquitoes. Urbanization changes this aquatic environment in ways that can disproportionately benefit the few species adept at thriving in small, temporary water habitats. Such habitat changes overlap with the expansion of two non-native mosquito species across the northeastern US, and research is needed to understand the impacts on mosquito ecology and associated human risk.
Emily Abma is a biology/forensics/environmental/everything teacher Meadowbrook Alternative Program in Merrick, NY. She joined the program to participate in a true scientific research experience and nerd out with her fellow teachers and scientists. Emily's new curriculum developed through the program challenges and inspires students to engage with, analyze, and problem-solve issues in their local ecosystems.
Christie Hegarty is a dedicated biology teacher at Red Hook High School in Red Hook, NY. Eager to step outside her comfort zone, she joined the BIORETS program last year to challenge herself and grow as an educator. The curriculum Christie developed inspires students to engage deeply in scientific inquiry, original thought, research, collaboration, and hands-on laboratory practices.
Noa Jaffe is an environmental science teacher at Liberty High School for Newcomers in Manhattan, NY. She joined the Cary BIORETS program to reignite her love of ecology and research collaboration. She is using her Cary experience to develop data analysis strategies for English language learners.
Research poster: Mother knows best: Investigating mosquito oviposition in native and invasive plant litter