Harvard Forest 2012 Summer Research Program Kicks Off!

On May 21st, we welcomed 29 students to the Harvard Forest for our 2012 Summer Research Program. Our students were introduced to Petersham, Massachusetts after flying or driving into the Harvard Forest from all over the world. As one student from Uganda, studying at Grinnell College in Iowa, will work on economically friendly water sanitation techniques for the poor populations of Africa and a group of three from Cornell University, Brown University and Villanova University will study the soil carbon dynamics of the Harvard Forest, research at the forest this summer will be diverse and involved. However, each student brings their own expertise and experience to the the program as our students range from freshmen in college to students at the graduate level. We await the addition of two more students to the group in the beginning of June to study the variation of ragweed pollen in New England and complete our summer community. In the first week, we oriented them on their new home and workplaces, showing our new ant researchers their plots and our new hemlock experts the forests' sites of invading woolly adelgid. As we kick off the summer program, we are already looking forward to the rich summer symposium awaiting us in August.