Undergraduate in the Spotlight: Heidi

Hello. My name is Heidi Rogers, an Undergraduate Environmental Science Student at California State University Chico. Why have, out of all places, I chosen to go to Ohio for an entomology internship at the OARDC? …I seem to be asked this question often.  I guess a small pilgrimage to the Midwest intrigued me. How can I consider myself a true American if I have never even seen most of the country? How else would I know about the drive in liquor stores? Experience the immensity of the Great Lakes? See the Amish culture? Taste Jeni’s ice cream? Or get the chance to work at one of the nation’s leading entomology research facilities? Back in Chico, my entomology course taught by Dr. Donald Miller, an avid butterfly and moth avenger used The Study of Insects written by Dr. Triplehorn and Dr. Johnson of OSU as our main textbook. So why not come to Ohio!

I wrangled my way into Scott Prajzner’s Graduate study on Pollinators under the tutelage of Dr. Mary Gardiner. Thus far I have driven to 30 sites in Ohio to count Bombus impatiens and conduct floral diversity analysis around the strategically placed hives. 

Scott Prajzner:

 

Chelsea Smith and Paul Joseph:

 

You wouldn’t be smiling either if you only knew how many hours it took to count individual flowers in the gardens of “Master Gardeners” (a title to those who, more often than not, have such an extensive diversity of flowering plants collection, that they have designated their backyards as Wilderness Habitat).

Alex:

Bombus impatiens Doing it’s thang: