Tag Archives: scifund

#SciFund Rd 3 with Katy Williams http://rkthb.co/11861

#Scifund Round 3 is underway and each day I will highlight a new proposal from the Challenge to give you a more in-depth understanding of each participant and their research.

Today I present Katy Williams. Her research combines the biological study of the brown hyaena with the sociology of human-hyaena interaction.

Tell us about yourself, where you are from, and where you see yourself going.

My name is Katy Williams and I am a PhD student from Durham University, UK. I have moved around a lot and lived in different countries when growing up but essentially I am British and American with a bit of a South African twang once in a while. I love using the South African ‘now now’ and ‘just now’ which confuses anyone who isn’t from southern Africa. I lived in Zimbabwe for two years where I worked on lion and cheetah conservation projects and I am currently living in South Africa. I love Africa, carnivore research, and working with people. I can see myself staying in Africa and continuing with research or becoming a field guide.

How did you get involved in your research project?

I was hired by the Durham University Primate and Predator Project as the Field Team Leader. In this position I have been leading primate behavioural research, trapping and collaring leopards, working with Earthwatch Institute volunteers, collecting leopard and hyaena scats, and camera trapping. I am very lucky to be supported by the project’s Principal Investigator, Dr Russell Hill, who helped me to start my PhD research on the elusive brown hyaenas and their relations with people in the Soutpansberg Mountains, South Africa.

Why is your research important to you? Why should others fund it?

Hyaenas have such a bad reputation and are killed by farmers who believe that they are killing their livestock. However there is so little known about brown hyaenas, especially in mountainous environments, and about how people perceive and interact with them. I am excited to work with communities to get to the root of the problem and to find new ways to think and talk about stereotyped problem animals. This research uses biological research to learn more about the species, and uses social science research to discover the human impact on hyaenas. With this information I hope to turn things around for hyaenas and people living in proximity with them.

Do you have a favorite story that came from working on your research project?

In order to trap large carnivores we use calf foetuses as bait. We hang them from trees and encourage the carnivore to walk towards them at which point they get caught in a foot trap. The foetuses are often rotting and have maggots on them. Sometimes they burst all over you. It is grim. One of my research assistants was walking by a trap site in the day when the trap was not set and he heard this growling noise coming from the trap area. He looked over and there was a honey badger on its hind legs hugging the foetus as hard as he could and growling to protect it. He wasn’t going to let it go!

Why did you decide to participate in the SciFund Challenge?

My husband who loves technology and science heard about the SciFund Challenge and signed me up. I wasn’t sure what it was at first but as the emails came in with instructions on what to do next I followed them, and, ta-da, at the end of the day I had a film made and a project launched. Easy! It’s been a really interesting learning process for me and it’s a really innovative way to gain funding for science.

What was the most difficult aspect of building your SciFund Proposal? What was your favorite?

The most difficult aspect and my favourite aspect of the process was making the film! I honestly had no clue how to do it. I was having a bit of a meltdown about not knowing how to make a film and so I went to the pub. That’s the solution to most problems in the UK! At the pub I randomly started talking to this amazing guy who is a filmmaker and he said he would help me. It was lots of fun working with him. We filmed at his house and had to work around hammering coming from next door and the sound of trains going by but we got there in the end.

Tell us something random. Something funny. Something borrowed. Something blue.

I ate live octopus and lived to tell the tale. You can feel the suckers sticking to the top of your mouth and it wiggling around as you try to chew it. That was in South Korea where I also ate dog. When you travel sometimes you just have to roll with it.

And to save you time from scrolling up, you can read about her project and contribute here. Thanks Katy for sharing your science!

#SciFund Rd 3 with Amrita Neelakantan http://rkthb.co/11901

#Scifund Round 3 is underway and each day I will highlight a new proposal from the Challenge to give you a more in-depth understanding of each participant and their research.

Today I present Amrita Neelakantan. Her research looks at the affects of habitat change on animals.

Tell us about yourself, where you are from, and where you see yourself going.

I’m from India and read all the books on natural history Gerald Durrell wrote one summer after which I decided to be a conservationist. I’ve been slowly mapping my way to work in beautiful tropical forests since then – in Ecuador, Kenya, Madagascar and back home.

How did you get involved in your research project?

When asked to think of and approach supervisors for my dissertation project I met a bunch of wonderful people who collectively pointed me in the direction of secondary growth valuations – I’ve been hooked ever since. My first project in Ecuador was also in a beautiful cloud forest which I walked for 3 months, day and night, fueling my addiction to see these places remain.

Why is your research important to you? Why should others fund it?

My project allows me to follow a childhood dream and be an explorer in the wilderness where even after all these years there’s stuff new to science! Also I’ve worked with reptiles and frogs for 4 years now making it impossible to not care what happens to them and their forests.

Tropical forests are the lungs of our planet, the houses of our rain to feed freshwater stock, controllers of weather patterns, homes to rich and ancient cultures and beings. A forest is worth colossally more than the economic value of standing timber. This is why people should fund my research, because I’m increasing our knowledge of these values and challenging our current valuations of forests.

Do you have a favorite story that came from working on your research project?

On my 21st birthday, I was conducting my first independent research project and I spent the day thus:

I got up to machete a path I would walk for the next 3 months. I walked through a bush to find my hair swarming with bees and at the next level spot, I emptied my drinking water on my head to get rid of them knowing I’d spend the next 4 hours dehydrating in the humid afternoon forest. I chopped an epiphyte (a plant that grows on a tree) to find a snake fell on me who, although was not venomous, emitted an oily residue (that remained on my skin for a while) that makes you throw up (so the snake then escapes).

I returned back to the research station to make a special lunch of corn and meat stew which turned out to be like stones + leather and wholly un-edible. Then I started the evening survey in the pouring rain and got lost in lacerating 6ft tall discarded pasture, and fell into a hole (I have no idea why a pasture would have a freshly dug person sized hole). After climbing out of the hole I find my walkie-talkie doesn’t work in rain and on the other side of the hill. I also realized I had been walking in circles because there is flattened grass ahead of me.

Walking off any recognizable path uphill to find the nearest road I routed back to the research station having to abandon my night survey altogether. My field assistant returned an hour later covered in mud as he had made it to his survey site and proceeded
to lunge after every frog he saw on his walk in the night on a hill in a forest. He made me tea and we had biscuits just before midnight. I’ve never had a more exciting birthday before that or since.

Why did you decide to participate in the SciFund Challenge?

Because it is SO exciting to be able to tell people about research and involve them in research that I am passionate about. It’s FUN! and makes these funds
very meaningful.

What was the most difficult aspect of building your SciFund Proposal? What was your favorite?

The video was the most difficult and my favourite. I have never made one before and although mine is largely a slideshow with a voice over it took many tries and a lot of friends to finally get near what I wanted to say and show.

Tell us something random. Something funny. Something borrowed. Something blue.

“Strawberry ice-cream tastes of pink. The colour of death is blood.” (This is a quote from a friend of mine – A Sammie)

Thanks for sharing your science Amrita! And to save you time from scrolling up, you can read about her project and contribute here.

#Crowdfunding Science with Ethan Perlstein http://rkthb.co/11106

#Scifund Round 3 is underway and each day I will highlight a new proposal from the Challenge to give you a more in-depth understanding of each participant and their research.

Today I present Ethan Perlstein. His project launched before the start of the #SciFund Challenge, but because he is an advocate of open science and crowdfunding science, and because #SciFund-ers believe in “the more, the merrier” I decided to share his science and help push his project which so far as amassed over $15,000! His research aims to understand how amphetamine’s interact with brain cells.

Tell us about yourself, where you are from, and where you see yourself going.

I’m originally from South Florida. I got my first taste of lab research in high school, when I interned at a local biotech company after school. I went to Columbia for college and graduated in 2001. That same year, I started graduate school at Harvard in the Department of Molecular and Cell Biology. I began my independent postdoctoral position at Princeton in the Fall of 2007. My appointment comes to an end on Jan 1, and I don’t have a traditional academic position lined up. I’m not sure where I’ll wind up but I will be doing science, by hook or by crook.

How did you get involved in your research project?

I became interested in psychopharmacology toward the end of grad school. In my thesis work, I examined the genetic basis of cellular drug responses in the humble brewer’s yeast, Saccharomyces cerevisiae. I noticed that a number of psychoactive drugs, e.g., antidepressants, have biological activity in yeast cells, and I found these observations both puzzling and intriguing. So when I started my independent position at Princeton, I set out to determine the molecular basis of the biological activity of psychoactive drugs in yeast. Our work has shown that the cell membrane is an evolutionarily conserved target of psychoactive drugs.

In an attempt to parlay our results from yeast to mice (and ultimately to people), I decided to collaborate with a psychopharmacologist at Columbia Med School named Dave Sulzer. The Sulzer lab has been studying the mechanism of action of amphetamines, including methamphetamine, for over two decades. Along with Danny Korostyshevsky, the project’s lead experimentalist, we will determine where radioactive amphetamines accumulate in mouse brain cells at the molecular level.

Why is your research important to you? Why should others fund it?

Millions of people take amphetamines every day, and yet we don’t really understand how they work. Knowing exactly where and how fast psychoactive drugs accumulate inside brain cells is the first step in reinvigorating stagnant pharmaceutical R&D pipelines for brain diseases and addictions.

I think members of the public should fund our project because we need more “Small Science” in this country, both to stay competitive and to address real gaps in our basic scientific understanding. By Small Science I mean focused, shovel-ready projects carried out by collaborative teams over months rather than years, and involving 1/10 of the amounts traditionally disbursed by government agencies like the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

We also want to do something different with the way basic research is done. In contrast to most basic biomedical research that is done behind closed doors or never even sees the light of day, we offer an “open covenant” based on three components: 1) an open budget, so the public can see how we’re spending their money; 2) data sharing on the Web in real-time, so we are leaving behind a digital paper trail that the public can monitor; 3) proactive engagement with public and other scientists, so the fruits of our research can be understood in plain English.

Do you have a favorite story that came from working on your research project?

My evolutionary approach to understanding how psychoactive drugs actually work is a great icebreaker at any party. When I tell people that my lab gives antidepressants to yeast cells, the most popular reply is, “Do yeast get depressed?” Usually, really interesting conversations ensue because I’m having these discussions with non-scientists who don’t know anything about pharmacology other than what they hear in the popular press.

Why did you decide to crowdfund your project? Why did you launch independently instead of with the SciFund Challenge

My Princeton lab shut down on September 1, but my appointment runs through the end of the year. As I said earlier, I don’t have a professorship lined up, like many of my peers who have been battered by a hyper-competitive academic job market. When I learned about SciFund Challenge earlier this year I immediately thought, what a wonderful idea! But many of the scientists involved in SciFund are of an ecology bent, and are raising sums of money that unfortunately don’t go very far in the biomedical sciences. Given my time constraint, I needed to launch our project before Round 3 of SciFund launched last week. But I’m watching it with great interest and I’m happy to give advice about what’s worked for us to any active SciFunder who’d ask!

You’ve raised over $15,000 so far! What’s been the most critical component to gain so much support?

Hands down, it’s all about the marketing. Some people in the sciences consider that a dirty word, but I think basic research projects can be promoted responsibly while recognizing that some topics are more popular or understandable than others. I aggressively sought out members of the online and mainstream science journalism establishment, and it paid off, though there have been many no replies and rejections along the way. And I was fortunate through my social network to get introductions to science writers and bloggers by mutual friends.

Over half of our donors are people I don’t know, so our media strategy has been an essential ingredient of our success so far.

What was the most difficult aspect of building your Rockethub proposal? What was your favorite?

The most difficult part was crafting a proposal that could appeal to both experts and non-experts in science, but also to both scientists and non-scientists. I think our 3-minute project video by the talented LA-based creative team including videographer Ryan Griffin, voiceover artist Veronica Amaya, and composer Jon Steinmeier, did an excellent job of balancing our message and scientific content. Without their video I don’t think we’d be in the position we are today, with less than a week to go till our grassroots campaign ends.

Tell us something random. Something funny. Something borrowed. Something blue.

It will take some time for crowdfunding to mature as a funding mechanism for basic scientific research. In order to raise over $10,000, and from there to approach the sums distributed by traditional grants, science projects will need to attracts hundreds and eventually thousands of donors, most of whom will necessarily be strangers. I think many scientists are uncomfortable with self-promotion, not to mention the idea of asking people for money. There are personality and temperamental differences between people sure, but I think a lot of it simply has to do with practice and finding your scientific voice.

When I was in high school interning at a local biotech company, it was 1996-1997, right around the time when scientific articles started to include this newfangled innovation called email for corresponding authors. I would read papers and then email the authors with questions. I must have sent over hundred of these emails over the course of a year. Most of the time I got no reply or a cursory reply. But in one instance I got an enthusiastic response from a scientist named Ron Germain who invited me to work in his lab at the NIH as a summer intern, which I did for 3 summers. Without that research experience, and the experience of reaching out to lots of strangers, I may not have ended up where I am today.

One of the reasons I reached out to Ethan with this interview (besides helping promote his Rockethub campaign) was to highlight another open scientist in the field. The fact that both of our career arcs are pretty similar (do open research, crowdfund it, publish it) are nearly identical was icing. Hopefully my model can help him. I’ve been openly documenting my SciFund expenditures, research, results, etc here.

Also I hope that others can learn from his experience and my own. He needed funds sooner and opted to go his own route. I chose to participate in the SciFund Challenge. Together, I hope we convince others to follow a more open approach to research. While SciFund is a great start, to me it is simply not enough. Science literacy is important, but can only take you so far. To me a full open project will bring you the rest of the way.

Thanks Ethan for sharing your science! And to save you time from scrolling up, you can read about his project and contribute here.

#SciFund Rd 3 with Brianna Blaud http://rkthb.co/11912

#Scifund Round 3 is underway and each day I will highlight a new proposal from the Challenge to give you a more in-depth understanding of each participant and their research.

Today I present Brianna Blaud. Her research looks at the reproduction mechanism of the Black Abalone.

Tell us about yourself, where you are from, and where you see yourself going.

My name is Brianna Blaud and I’m a Master’s student at the University of Washington studying black abalone reproduction.  I’m from Seattle, and although this will always be home, I love to travel and experience new places and things.  I would love the opportunity to continue research studying black abalone in California after I earn my Master’s degree.

How did you get involved in your research project?
Although my love for marine biology began at a young age, I didn’t discover my passion for research until my first solo research project as an undergraduate at UW (University of Washington).  After I earned my BS degree at UW, I worked as a fish biologist at NOAA, helping to protect endangered Chinook salmon and steelhead in Puget Sound.  It was a rewarding job, and I loved my work, but I found myself missing the research I was always reading about, so I headed back to school.  I fell into my project with black abalone, and find that the more I learn about this hardy species, the more I admire them!
Why is your research important to you? Why should others fund it?
Conservation biology has always stood out to me because of it’s relevance and need in our ever-changing environment.  Black abalone are a huge part of California history.  They are both culturally and commercially significant.  The disease, withering syndrome, could have meant the extinction of the species, however the black abalone are still fighting to hold on and are even recovering in some areas.  I want to find out why some areas are still struggling to maintain a handful of individuals while other areas are quadrupling in size each year.  By funding my research, I’m hoping to extend the successful strategy across California, so instead of pockets of recovery, we could see a region-wide comeback.

Do you have a favorite story that came from working on your research project?

After a series of mishaps in the field, trying to get the details of each experimental run hammered out, the feeling when the first successful run went perfectly smoothly was indescribable.  It’s not really a story with funny anecdotes, but I guess it’s my favorite feeling that came from working on my research project.  The moment when everything comes together, makes sense, and works.
Editor’s note: This is a feeling all researchers can relate to. There is no greater feeling to me then the first successful run after many tries of failure. I’ve had this experience myself.
Why did you decide to particpate in the SciFund Challenge?
Funding struggles have sadly become a reality for many researchers and graduate students.  When I started my project with black abalone, I lost a significant portion of my money.  I had to get a part time job to support myself outside of school and have struggled to find financial aid for my experiments.  After presenting my preliminary results at a conference, someone suggested I look at RocketHub as a tool to find donations, and a couple days later I received an email suggesting I join SciFund.  It was fate!

What was the most difficult aspect of building your SciFund Proposal? What was your favorite?

The most difficult aspect of building my SciFund proposal was working on the video.  I had a lot of creative ideas that I felt I couldn’t use because of copyright issues, and have never created a video before.  It was a fun learning process though, and a tool I will definitely use in the future!  My favorite aspect of this project just involved joining the SciFund group and community.  SciFund has helped me fall in love with my project all over again.  I went through a rough patch this summer where I was feeling uninspired and unmotivated.  I was struggling with having lost funding, writing became a chore instead of a tool to organize my thoughts and express myself, and people asking about what I do became an annoyance with a cut-and-paste answer.  SciFund inspired me to start a blog to communicate my project in greater detail to friends, family, and marine biology lovers (blackabaloneblog.wordpress.com), and somewhere along the way, I started to get really excited again.  I look forward to posting new blogs, am constantly looking for material to blog about, and share my project with everyone I see!
Tell us something random. Something funny. Something borrowed. Something blue. 
Something random – Although fish spawn billions and billions of eggs in the ocean, only 1 in 1,000,000 survive to adulthood
Something funny – Handy guide to modern science: if it’s green or wriggles, it’s biology; if it stinks, it’s chemistry; if it doesn’t work, it’s physics
Something borrowed – Sailors seriously overestimated the size of the kraken
Something blue – A blue whales heart is the size of a Mini Cooper, their tongue weighs as much as an elephant, they produce sounds louder than a jet engine, and their spout is higher than a 3-story building.
What an inspiring story! Thanks for sharing your science Brianna! And to save you time from scrolling up, you can read about her project and contribute here.

#SciFund Rd 3 with Will Helenbrook http://rkthb.co/11900

#Scifund Round 3 is underway and each day I will highlight a new proposal from the Challenge to give you a more in-depth understanding of each participant and their research.

Today I present Will Helenbrook. His research focuses on disease transmission between humans and (other) primates.

Tell us about yourself, where you are from, and where you see yourself going.

Hi. My name is Will Helenbrook. I am a PhD candidate at SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry in Syracuse, NY. I’m a self professed conservation biologist and parasitologist who has had the opportunity to work with various primates in Nigeria, Costa Rica, Nicaragua and currently in Ecuador.

Growing up in Buffalo, New York, I always had an affinity for nature. It probably started with all the camping I did as a young kid and only accelerated as I worked on my environmental studies degree at the University at Buffalo. I began studying primate behavioral ecology in 2002 at La Suerte Biological Field Station in Costa Rica. This was my first time working in the jungle and I developed a research project studying primate behavior and ecology. I then worked in Nigeria at Pandrillus (Drill Ranch), an NGO focused on conserving the endangered drill monkey and providing sanctuary for orphaned chimpanzees. This was a volunteer experience that opened my eyes to the idea of working as a primatologist for a career. It was an incredible experience that allowed me to do many things that wouldn’t have been possible in the U.S., such as helping veterinarians during surgery, darting animals, and I even taught my first class at a local university amongst many, many other opportunities. I have since completed my Masters degree in Biology at SUNY College at Buffalo where I worked with mandrills at a local zoo. And presently I’m working on a research project that brings human health and conservation biology together. The project, titled “A tale of monkeys, parasites, and people,” is based in Ecuador and looks at how environmental disturbances are associated with changes in parasite communities in both people and mantled howler monkeys live in close proximity to one another.

I have started teaching my own classes after several years as a teaching assistant for subjects such as evolution, ecology, genetics, and animal behavior. Once I graduate, I hope to pursue a career that allows me to conduct wildlife research in the tropics, teach, and help in conservation efforts throughout the world. Long-term I hope to start a field research station which I can link with a university and help conserve wildlife and other biodiversity through education.

How did you get involved in your research project?

My research has slowly evolved over the years. As someone interested in conservation genetics, I had not worked as a parasitologist until coming to SUNY ESF. The idea quickly evolved and brought together aspects of parasitology, population genetics, evolutionary biology, primatology, and human health. In this way I think it’s an incredibly interesting project because of its multidisciplinary approach.

Why is your research important to you? Why should others fund it?

This research is important to me because I care about wildlife, the environment in general, and people. This study allows me to look at wildlife-human interactions, and help both in the process. If you’re interested in helping understand the impact that human disturbances are having on primate populations, or you are more interested in helping people that are at greatest risk of developing an infectious disease, then this project will help make an impact on both groups.

Do you have a favorite story that came from working on your research project?

I’ve always loved the complexity of rainforests and the idea that they are one of the last untouched and relatively unexplored wildernesses in the world. So when I’m searching for monkeys in the jungle as part of my research, it’s a bit surreal and completely rewarding. Once, I was waiting for the rest of the field team at the top of mountain ride while we were in the process of finding the next monkey group. And sometimes I will do a little yoga in the middle of a trail if I’m waiting for a monkey to poop or as in this case, waiting for some field researchers to catch up.

While standing in some particular pose, I noticed a black object dart across the trail about 20-30 feet from me and it shoots behind a tree. I didn’t know if I was just imagining this, because it was out of the corner of my eye. Maybe it was the yoga bliss, but I just instinctively started towards the tree, thinking about what this animal was. All I kept thinking about was the black long tail I had seen. And as I got within 10 or so feet of the tree, a large cat shoots back the way it came from and I see it as it crouches low to the ground and slinks through the ground vegetation.

Even after realizing what it was, I still felt the desire to follow it, full well knowing it could easily make me into a meal. After seeing the animal much closer, I was still doubting that this was even possible. Maybe I was just hallucinating from the heat and dehydration. But my suspicions were confirmed when the rest of the field team told me they heard a cat-like growl while they were hiking up the trail. I was told that this was the first jaguar seen in over a decade within the reserve. To top it off, when we returned to the field station that night we saw an ocelot and its glowing eyes. What an incredible day that was!

Why did you decide to particpate in the SciFund Challenge?

My main reason for participating in the SciFund Challenge is because I’ve had two friends both successfully fund a large portion of their research. Seeing them both succeed gave me reason to believe that I could fund the last major portion of my research through crowdfunding. Also, my family and friends often ask what I do and this was an excellent opportunity to create a video and connect them to my research.

What was the most difficult aspect of building your SciFund Proposal? What was your favorite?

The most difficult aspect of SciFund still likely awaits me: encouraging enough people to support your project! However, I didn’t’ find the actual proposal to be too difficult. Having written materials from other grants, pictures from the field and some experience creating videos made it relatively pain free. I would say that coming up with rewards tends to be difficult because you want to have a balance between how much you give people and making it cost effective.

Tell us something random. Something funny. Something borrowed. Something blue.

My biggest fear in the Ecuadorian jungle didn’t involve snakes, though several deadly species can be found where I worked, and I crossed paths with many during my field season. And it’s definitely not a jaguar based on my story above. I was more in awe, rather than terrified. Nope, and it’s not the skin eating parasite, Leishmania, that gave me three big gaping wounds on my shoulder and torso. Although it was worrisome that simple remedies have no effect on this parasite. The biggest fear that I have in the jungle involves ants. Ants are an incredible organism, but they are also ruthless. Many times I found myself engulfed in ants and tried to run away from them only to trip and fall on more of them. Or, I would find them crawling underneath my clothes and giving the most ferocious bites. If you find yourself among a sea of ants, it’s overwhelming when you see no escape. They are one of those animals that only come back stronger if you try to scare them off.

To save you time from scrolling up, you can read about his project and contribute here. Thanks Will for sharing your science!

#SciFund Rd 3 with Isaac Ligocki http://rkthb.co/11808

#Scifund Round 3 is underway and each day I will highlight a new proposal from the Challenge to give you a more in-depth understanding of each participant and their research.
Today I present Isaac Ligocki. His research focuses on the social dynamics of cichlid fish called Neolamprologus pulcher.
Tell us about yourself, where you are from, and where you see yourself going.
I’m a fourth year PhD student at Ohio State studying the evolution of social behavior.  I grew up in Columbus, OH, and completed my undergraduate degree at Wittenberg University.  After graduating, I was a high school teacher at Dunedin High School in Dunedin, FL for 3 years.  Upon completing my PhD, I hope to eventually get a faculty position.
How did you get involved in your research project?
My interest in behavioral ecology was sparked as a high school teacher when I realized the best way to keep my students interested in biology, and specifically evolution, was to share stories about unusual mating systems (while its an ideal way to instantly get any teenagers attention – I’ve learned its just as effective with adults).  I ended up getting really interested in cooperatively breeding systems, specifically questions related to cases of apparent altruism, so I that applied to my current lab, and here I am!
Why is your research important to you? Why should others fund it?
I love my research because it addresses questions of broad interest.  I like that when I tell non-scientists about what I do, they’re fascinated with it, and want to learn more about it.  I love seeing people get excited about science.  I think this research is important not only because we can learn a lot from naturally formed cooperative systems, but also because what is learned is part of a story that will get people excited about science.
Do you have a favorite story that came from working on your research project?
I’ve thoroughly enjoyed my research, and grad school in general.  While sometimes it feels like I’m working non-stop, I’ve had a great time doing it.
Why did you decide to particpate in the SciFund Challenge?
I had two main reasons for participating in the SciFund challenge.  First, I need money to go on the expedition (Editor’s note: He seeks funds via #SciFund to travel to Lake Tanganyika in East Africa where these fish live).  Second, I think explaining your research to a non-specialist audience is an essential skill for scientists, and I welcomed the opportunity to practice.
What was the most difficult aspect of building your SciFund Proposal? What was your favorite?

Getting quality, up close footage of the fish.  They’re always interacting, but they rarely stayed in the same part of the tank for long.  Once I had some good footage though, I really enjoyed making the video, and was glad to be able to have some of my friends be a part of it.   When we shot the scene in the bar, everyone was really excited to get to break up the date!

To save you time from scrolling up, you can read about his project and contribute here. Thanks Isaac for sharing your science!

#SciFund Rd 3 with Sara Babin http://rkthb.co/11868

#Scifund Round 3 is underway and each day I will highlight a new proposal from the Challenge to give you a more in-depth understanding of each participant and their research.

Today I present Sara Babin. Her research (in conjunction with The Nature Conservancy) focuses on the amazing venus fly trap (star of one of my favorite movies ever: Little Shop of Horrors).

Tell us about yourself, where you are from, and where you see yourself going.

I’m Sara Babin, formerly Sara Over but I got hitched. I am originally from the great State of Vermont but my job searching of course led me away from there to North Carolina, a State I love equally as much and now consider my home. My family still remains in Vermont so I have many opportunities to visit. I am passionate about conservation, and though I may not keep my current position with The Nature Conservancy forever, I do believe I will always remain true to conservation in some form or another; saving the planet one tree at a time (or in the case of my Sci Fund campaign one Venus flytrap at a time).

How did you get involved in your research project?

My project came about when we (me and my colleagues working to manage 35000 acres in the Southeast Coastal Plain of North Carolina) realized that we were sitting on an extensive population of Venus flytraps in our Green Swamp preserve but had no idea what kind of numbers we were talking about and where they were located specifically. So in an effort to better our knowledge we decided that a comprehensive survey would be the answer. If we know where they are growing we can implement the needed management (essentially controlled burning as the Venus flytrap habitat is fire dependent) to sustain the population indefinitely. See the Venus flytrap is an endemic species; it only grows in the wild in a small region of southeast North Carolina and Northeast South Carolina, essentially a 100 mile radius around Wilmington, NC. So conservation on a larger scale led us to this very specific project. This is ultimately how the whole conservation process works.

Why is your research important to you? Why should others fund it?

This project is very important to me and I will tell you why; protecting a lasting natural world for generations to come is essential. If there are not interesting landscapes and biodiversity what else do we have? The alternative scares me. The Venus flytrap is so unique. It only grows in a very small part of the world, it thrives on insects for nutrients, and it has a market value based on its uniqueness. Its small endemic habitat if lost would mean the loss of the plant, and its market value has led to more poaching which over time decimates its population. If we don’t manage the habitat of the Venus flytrap properly we could lose this unique plant which is a key representative of the southeast coastal plain region and all of the neat biodiversity here.

Do you have a favorite story that came from working on your research project?

Well not yet, our project hasn’t started. Because there are only three staff that work in my project office we don’t have time to do the baseline survey on our own so we plan on contracting the work out to a botanist that has done other community monitoring for us in the past. So we are hoping to raise money to pay the botanist.

Why did you decide to particpate in the SciFund Challenge?

It was an interesting alternative to the everyday fundraising that most non-profits take part in. Social media is the way now and crowd funding seemed like a good way to raise money for a specific project, one that was defined. We could have tried to come up with grant funding (and we may still have to based on how well this campaign goes) but this seemed like a cool way to engage a different demographic. Hoping for the best!

What was the most difficult aspect of building your SciFund Proposal? What was your favorite?

The most difficult was by far the video, which also turned out to be my favorite part. I had never put together a video, so the initial idea was frightening. But after playing with the software it turned out to be a fun task, one that allowed me to use my creative side. It took a looooong time to make though; I guess it was the learning curve. Our proposal was quite simple because we know exactly what we needed; it just had to be laid out in a way that made sense to the masses.

Tell us something random. Something funny. Something borrowed. Something blue.

When I took this job 5 years ago I had no idea that the Venus flytrap was endemic to such a small region, in fact it never occurred to me to wonder where it actually grew in nature. I suppose I just assumed it was from somewhere in Asia! Now I am fighting to protect this species and its unique pine savanna habitat and I want so much for as many other people in the world to know what I know. I find this to be very random and serendipitous.

Indeed! I also was surprised to find out the Venus flytrap grows in the United States! To save you time from scrolling up, you can read about her project and contribute here. Thanks Sara for sharing your science!

#SciFund Rd 3 with Sam Greene http://rkthb.co/11860

#Scifund Round 3 is underway and each day I will highlight a new proposal from the Challenge to give you a more in-depth understanding of each participant and their research.

Today I present Sam Greene. Her research uses high technology infrared cameras to look at how the environment affects leatherback sea turtle nesting.

Tell us about yourself, where you are from, and where you see yourself going.

My name is Samantha Greene I am a eco-geomorphologist and Ph.D. student at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.  This means I study the landscape, what forms it, and how ecology and landscape interact.  I am originally from the Washington, DC area, but have been going to school in Madison, WI for 8 years.  After Madison and my doctoral degree, I hope to transition to a job in the restoration of water-related ecosystems (i.e., rivers, lakes, ocean coasts).

How did you get involved in your research project?

I was talking to a graduate student, Peter Dudley, who uses computer models to study leatherback physiology.  We were discussing why this research will help predict the effects climate change will have on leatherbacks in the ocean.  I then did a little independent research on leatherbacks and saw that species invasion and coastal geomoprhology (both things that I research in the context of rivers) influence leatherback physiology and capability to dig nests when ashore.  It seemed perfect to combine my expertise on vegetation and geomorphology with his expertise on leatherback physiology to fill out the climate change story.  Peter is already studying how climate change will alter the ocean populations, this research will look at nesting populations, and thus, the ability of leatherbacks to reproduce under future climates.

Why is your research important to you? Why should others fund it?

Leatherback sea turtles are the oldest animal on earth, swimming in the seas for more than 150 million years.  They are also extremely large, weighing up to one ton.  Ecologically, their decline is likely causing an increase in jellyfish populations and jellyfish are causing havoc along our shallow ocean margins.  Scientifically, there are few studies that look at the interaction between animals and geomorphology, studies that look at ocean animals and geomorphology are even fewer.  This will bring a new understanding of feedback between the physical  and biological environment.

Why did you decide to particpate in the SciFund Challenge?

I thought the public would love to be part of a project saving an endangered marine turtle that used to swim the seas with dinosaurs!  I also wanted to learn how to communicate my science with the public.  I believe their participation can greatly improve the quality and quantity of scientific research.

What was the most difficult aspect of building your SciFund Proposal? What was your favorite?

My most difficult and favorite are the same: the movie!  Learning to make a movie was much harder than I suspected, but I had a ball putting it together!

Tell us something random. Something funny. Something borrowed. Something blue. 

I am in the geography department and Peter Dudley is in the Zoology Department.  I think this cross-campus and interdisciplinary research is great for harnessing all the physical and intellectual resources we have in academic research!

And to save you time from scrolling up, you can read about her project and contribute here. Thanks Sam for sharing your science!

#SciFund Rd 3 with the Nantucket Conservation Foundation http://rkthb.co/11854

#Scifund Round 3 is underway and each day I will highlight a new proposal from the Challenge to give you a more in-depth understanding of each participant and their research.

Today I present to you Jennifer Karberg, Danielle O’Dell, and the Nantucket Conservation Foundation. They track how endangered spotted turtles use Medouie Creek on Nantucket Island. Their habitat is being altered as a result of a restoration project and Jennifer and Danielle are looking into how the restoration has impacted their habitat.

Tell us about yourself, where you are from, and where you see yourself going.

We are both ecologists working for the Nantucket Conservation Foundation – it’s a non-profit land conservation group on Nantucket Island.

Danielle has a Master’s degree in Wildlife Ecology from the University of Arizona and is currently a Research Technician for NCF. She has spent much of her time slogging through bogs, tracking spotted turtles on our various properties in order to understand how they use the land so that we can better adapt our management. Some of the other projects she works on include protecting nesting populations of shorebirds, including piping plovers, least terns and American oystercatchers, studying the impacts of deer browse on heathland plants and how sheep grazing effects the growth of St. Andrew’s Cross.

Jen has a PhD in wetland ecology and is currently the Research Supervisor at NCF. Jen’s projects primarily involve looking at individual plant and community ecology responses to habitat level management. On this project, Jen is studying the effects of changing hydrology and salinity on native and invasive plants at the Medouie Creek Wetland Complex.

How did you get involved in your research project?

The Conservation Foundation owns about 33% of the island of Nantucket and a lot of the research we do looks at land conservation and management practices and their influence on the ecology of the island – particularly on rare plants, animals and habitats.  We are stewards of a large chunk of the island and are very interested in managing the land in an ecologically sound way.

The research project we are highlighting for #SciFund Round 3 came about because we had a large wetland restoration project we wanted to conduct.  Medouie Creek Wetland was historically a large salt water marsh but sometime in the 1930s it was diked, preventing salt water from reaching a large part of the marsh.  The Massachusetts Wetlands Restoration Program designated this wetland as a high priority wetland restoration site so we went ahead with a restoration project to reintroduce salt water to the marsh and hopefully convert it back to a salt marsh system.

Restoration often happens at a large scale – on the landscape level and sometimes this can influence individual species that we also want to conserve.  The spotted turtle is a freshwater turtle that used to use Medouie Creek before the salt marsh restoration began. We are assuming that the turtles are moving and using adjacent wetland habitat now but we won’t know until we track their movements!

Why is your research important to you? Why should others fund it?

Salt marsh restoration is becoming increasingly important, particularly along the east coast we realize the ecological impacts of decades of salt marsh draining and developing.  This means more and larger salt marsh restoration projects are being proposed and implemented.  On Nantucket we understand the importance of this restoration but we also want to understand how it is impacting other species that are just as important to us on our isolated island.  Funds donated to this project will go directly to helping us further understand the ecology of the spotted turtle and how it response to changes in its ecosystem.

Do you have a favorite story that came from working on your research project?

The following story is from Danielle:

One of my favorite memories on this project was my first sighting of a spotted turtle at Medouie Creek. I had just started working for the Conservation Foundation and was brand new to Nantucket. It was winter and I had just moved to the island from Arizona – still adjusting to the cold! Knowing that I would be spending much of my time during the field season tracking turtles at Medouie, I was sent out one cold but sunny late March day to wander the marsh to get the lay of the land and scout some potential trap locations. I was warned to be careful of sinky spots and to steer clear of the bottomless ditch. I bundled up and put on some waders.

I was told that spotted turtles on Nantucket didn’t become active until late May so it was to my very great surprise when, within 2 minutes of walking in to the marsh, I peered in to the ditch and saw not one, but two, spotted turtles! I’d never seen one before but they are unmistakable. In clear water like that, their brilliant yellow spots stand out like headlights. Gorgeous! I was so shocked and excited that I temporarily lost all rationality – I launched myself in to the ditch after the little buggers. There was no way they were escaping me – I was afraid no one would believe my sighting!

Reality hit when my foot sunk into the mud and felt no bottom – luckily I managed to capture both turtles and hauled myself out of the ditch without getting wet or stuck. The turtles were a male and a female. The male had been swimming in front of the female, showing off his spots in the sunlight – clearly trying to get her attention. I felt a little guilty for interrupting their tryst but they resumed upon release as if nothing had happened. Beautiful creatures. They instantly won my love and I have been passionate about my work with them ever since!

Why did you decide to particpate in the SciFund Challenge?

SciFund is a great opportunity to bring our research department up to date and learn how to use social media to have conversations about science.  This has given us a chance to start a blog (ncfscience.wordpress.com) for our department that we will continue to use to help the public and our members learn about all of the research we are doing.  Funding for research, particularly conservation and ecology is diminishing and crowdfunding is a new avenue that might not only bring in funds but will also help donors become participants in our research and help us reach a broader audience to talk about what we do!

And to save you time from scrolling up, you can read about their project and contribute here. Thanks Jennifer and Danielle for sharing your science!

#SciFund Rd 3 with Kristina Summers http://rkthb.co/11892

#Scifund Round 3 is underway and each day I will highlight a new proposal from the Challenge to give you a more in-depth understanding of each participant and their research.
Today I present to you Kristina Summers. Her project seeks to raise awareness of the importance of bogs and the role of the carnivorous pitcherplant in the ecosystem. If you don’t find flesh-eating plants awesome then you need to check out this project!
Tell us about yourself, where you are from, and where you see yourself going.
My name is Kristina Summers and I live in a small town called Statham, GA that literally has one traffic light. It is nice because it reminds me of how small the suburb of Marietta, GA was when I was growing up there, despite its massive size today. It is also great because despite the small town feel, it is really only 12 miles from Athens, GA where the University of Georgia is located along with UGA football, great music and some of the best ecologically minded citizens in the state. When I finish graduate school I hope to be able to stay around here and keep teaching and being a part of this wonderful community while still continuing to shape young minds through conservation ecology and outreach.
How did you get involved in your research project?
I first learned about pitcherplants while working for the Georgia Dept. of Natural Resources, Wildlife Resources Division. I was given the wonderful opportunity to visit the mountain bogs and be a part of the restoration team. When I went back to school it was only natural that I took up the banner to keep on protecting their inhabitants.
Why is your research important to you? Why should others fund it?
Pitcherplants represent the survivors of the plant world. They have adapted and evolved over time to exist in some of the worst soils on Earth and yet they thrive. I have always rooted for organisms that insist on existing despite the odds. This is a plant that knows to go dormant based on the length of daylight it receives, much like an animal in winter. It can shift its energy allocation from a trap leaf to a more photosynthetically productive phyllodial (non-trap) leaf in times of less prey availability. How cool is that? And to think that there are insects that spend their larval stages inside the pitcher traps that then make up a significant portion of small vertebrates diets once they become adults – making the pitcherplant an anchor species, and some would have the bogs disappear forever.
Do you have a favorite story that came from working on your research project?

When teaching a pre-k class about pitcherplants I selected volunteers to pretend to be bugs and fly around then to approach the plant. I told them that the bugs are attracted by the scent glands that put out a “yummy aroma” for them that says to “come and sit on the hairy ledge” which is the scientific term but all the 5-6 year old’s and even the teacher were cracking up as I said it.

Also, visiting the bogs to get samples, I took a wrong step and sank up to my waist in muck.  I called ahead to the biologist but he didn’t hear me and kept going. I tried to grab a tree branch but am really short and couldn’t get to it. After 30 minutes of wriggling around and making no progress, my partner came back and said, “oh there you are. need a hand?” he then lifted me straight up out of the muck, minus my boots.  oh well.

Why did you decide to particpate in the SciFund Challenge?
I love blogging and social media, have always found it to be a fascinating medium for disseminating messages and have used it successfully for conservation for a number of years so why not my research?
Editor’s Note: You can talk with Kristina on twitter and facebook. And be sure to check out her blogs Dancing to the Music in My Head and Tales from the Field.
What was the most difficult aspect of building your SciFund Proposal? What was your favorite?

My most difficult aspect is always just getting everything done because I always have too much to do and not enough time in the day. I am always running around trying to tweak things at the last minute to make it perfect and then thinking, oh but I want to share this too, or that photo will look great here…but I have to teach a class in 10 minutes and my son has a soccer game and my daughter has dance and my oldest needs to be driven to marching band and my Scifund video still isn’t done and now the cat is chasing the dog and I have to drive to the gardens to take care of my research plants….because that’s how it goes at our house!

Tell us something random. Something funny. Something borrowed. Something blue. 

The mountain bog ecosystem is considered by The Nature Conservancy to be one of the most endangered habitats in the Southeast. With the Mountain Purple Pitcherplant being an anchor species, it is the key to the bogs survival. Without the plant, you have no bog, and no bugs. If you have never spent time in one then you may not realize the beauty of a bog plant and so I would encourage you to take a look at my project site. And then ask how we could possibly let something so beautiful just disappear?

And to save you time from scrolling up, you can read about her project and contribute here. Thanks Kristina for sharing your science!