Undergraduate Research with L. Calabria

Rigorous quantitative and qualitative research is an important component of academic learning in Environmental Studies. This independent learning opportunity is designed to allow advanced students to delve into real-world research with faculty who are currently engaged in specific projects. The program will help students develop vital skills in research design, data acquisition and interpretation, written and oral communication, collaboration, and critical thinking skills—all of which are of particular value for students who are pursuing a graduate degree, as well as for graduates who are already in the job market.

Lalita Calabria's research focuses on biodiversity and conservation of bryophytes and lichens in temperate North America. As a broadly trained plant biologist, Lalita uses a multidisciplinary approach to investigate these topics: floristic surveys, ecological studies, herbarium-based research and phytochemical studies of plants. Current activities in her lab focus on assessing the influences of fire on lichen and bryophyte communities of oak woodlands and prairies, estimating biomass and functional group diversity of bryophyte and lichen ground layers in Puget Sound prairies and quantifying biological nitrogen fixation rates of moss-cyanobacteria symbiosis. Students with backgrounds in botany, ecology, or chemistry could gain skills in bryophyte and lichen identification, as well as, field monitoring methods and studying symbiosis of bryophytes and lichens. Students participating in this research experience would engage with ongoing research in Dr. Calabria’s lab and may have opportunities to develop their own research projects.