What are Undergraduate Highlights?
The undergraduate program in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology is a thriving, inspiring hub housing passionate students who are engaged in many different applications and projects relating to their areas of curiosity and expertise. We want to highlight these innovative and developing projects and people coming out of our program, in order to support and encourage more direct engagement with the world through the lens of ecology and biology. Explore recent projects below, and help to share and support work you care about!

 

Perryman HS

Little Ants, Big Implications - Hailey Perryman

April 10, 2023

My five-year-old self would think I’m currently living the dream - looking at and sorting insects. Back then, I was collecting ants in a cardboard box. Now, I’m looking at them through a microscope in a research lab. My undergraduate honors project is looking at these little insects to see...

Moore HS

Vampires in the Tundra - Miles Moore

April 10, 2023

Having always had a passion for both mountainous regions and the little things in life, my interest in tundra flora may have been foreseeable. I would spend weekends and summers botanizing along trails in the alpine. If I wasn’t sure about a plant’s Latin name, I would take a million...

Meylor HS

Where and Whither - Stephen Meylor

April 10, 2023

The more we look, the more we see. This is what attracted me to EBIO in the first place – wheresoever we study we find more species, more interactions, more consequences. Every class I've taken at CU has reinforced the magnitude of this phenomenon; I can't help but believe that...

Isabelle HS

You thought choosing an apartment in Boulder was hard? Try being a barn swallow - Isabelle Meredith

April 10, 2023

I’ve always loved animals, and I’m fascinated by birds in particular. So, when the opportunity to research birds arose during my junior year, unsurprisingly I took the offer. I’ve been working with barn swallows ever since. Barn swallows build their nests in underpasses, barns, or culverts. These are unusual nesting...

Adriana hs

Raphide Slay - Adriana Jacobi

April 10, 2023

Calcium oxalate crystals, otherwise known as “raphides” are microscopic needle-like structures within the tissues of a variety of plants. It is concluded that these crystals help protect the plant from herbivory. In large quantities, raphides can cause great harm to herbivores. I began my research on these crystals in the...

Hobday HS

Ponds & Pests & Parasites, oh my! - Erin Hobday

April 10, 2023

For a first-year undergraduate, the Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Department presented seemingly endless research opportunities and focuses for a student, regardless of their interests. I can’t say that parasitology has been my childhood obsession or academic passion, but the photos of frogs with extra limbs sure caught my attention when...

HS FLores

One Fish. Two Fish. Red Fish. Purple Fish? - Kaylie Flores

April 10, 2023

One Fish. Two Fish. Red Fish. Purple Fish? I have always loved evolution and genetics since first learning about it many years ago. Lessons on Charles Darwin and his Theory of Evolution and the genetics behind designer babies intrigued me enough to pursue a future career in science. To start...

Sophie HS

Left High and Dry - Sophie Elliott

April 10, 2023

All my life I have had a deep interest in picking apart the mechanisms of the world around me and figuring out how everything is interconnected. So, when I discovered ecology as a field, I felt like I could finally channel my curiosities into something more tangible and structured. This...

Dodson HS

Hate to Love ‘em - Kayleigh Dodson

April 10, 2023

One of my mother’s favorite plants is the beautiful flowering plant Lantana camara . It bloomed nearly year-round in my backyard growing up, loving the Texas heat and not caring about the lack of rain. Years later, once I reached CU Boulder, I inquired about independent research. A post-doctoral researcher...

Clements HS

Something’s Fishy - Dylan Clements

April 10, 2023

At the age of five, I began spending summers at my grandfather’s house on Cape Cod, where he taught me to fish in a small pond down the street from his house. When I was ten, my father bought a small boat, and we began fishing in the waters that...

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