I am a freshman at the University of Minnesota Morris majoring in Chemistry.
Pronouns: He/Him
Research Interests
I’m interested in learning new abilities while also recieving new knowledge about the place that surrounds me. I think is very important to know where you are in the world and know about the wonderful things that are around you!
Statement
I am originally from Zacatlan, Puebla, Mexico and I lived there until June 2023 when I moved to Morris, Minnesota. I enjoy playing video games, hanging out with my friends, drinking coffee, reading and exploring new places, I also really like theater, robotics, and speech. I think the worst thing you can do is miss in an opportunity to learn new things and meet new people. I am very excited to be part of the Echinacea Project!
We visited the sites East Elk Lake Road and KJ’s . Both sites were small, bordering on either mowed private property or agricultural fields. We hypothesize that neither site has been burned recently, because there was remnants of old plant matter and the presence of fairly large trees and scrubs. For legumes, there was veiny peas, but no clover. For cold grass, there was brome and porcupine grass, and for warm, there was big blue grass. Otherwise, there were yellow asters and prairie roses.
KJ’s was extremely small, wedged between the road and the tree line, and was probably too small the ever consider planting. There was also a large animal den/hole and turkeys near the road at KJ’s. We also found an old flag at KJ’s, possibly demarking an old transect. In terms of legumes, we found clover, veiny pea, and alfalfa. For cold growing grass, there was lots of brome on the roadsides. However, there was not a lot of big blue grass for warm growing grass. There was also poison ivy, prairie roses, milkweed, and thistle.
EELR had many round bulbs on the plant matter, we hypothesize that these are wasp galls of some sort. EELR was much larger, with a higher diversity of plants, and likely was preserved because it was too steep to plow. Between the two sites, there was a fair number of trees, many of them pine, especially at KJ’s. There was evidence of significant animal activity, including a section of flattened grass where an animal, probably a deer, bedded down for the night, bordering on one of the segments at EELR.
Matted section of grass at the fourth segment of transect 131 at EELRFound flag at KJ’s along the eastern section, near the two tract roadTurkeys seen on the side of the road at KJ’sGall found on woody plant in many sections of EELR
I am a student at Alexandria Area Highschool. I am going to be a Senior for the 2025-2026 school year.
Pronouns: He/Him
Research Interests
This summer I hope to learn more about plant biology and evolution. I have lived here all my life and I do not know much about the land around me, but I am excited to learn.
Statement
I am from Alexandria, Minnesota, and I have lived here all my life. After high school I hope to attend the University of Minnesota Twin Cities for Mechanical Engineering. I have been involved in the outdoors for most of my life. I am an Eagle Scout as of 6/15/2025 from Troop 496 Carlos/Miltona. When I am not in the field I enjoy playing violin, throwing on the pottery wheel, working out, and biking.
I am a post-baccalaureate research intern with the Echinacea Project and will be moving between the University of Minnesota and the Chicago Botanic Garden. I graduated in May 2025 from the University of South Carolina with a degree in Environmental Science and Biology. My research with the Echinacea Project will be focused on the experimental plots.
Pronouns: she/her
Research Interests
I’m interested in all sorts of plant ecology. I especially am interested in plant-pollinator interactions and fire ecology. I hope to learn more about conservation and restoration efforts in prairie ecosystems.
Statement
I am from New Jersey and went to college in South Carolina. In college, I was a researcher for a plant/insect ecology lab and I studied abroad in Ecuador’s capital city, Quito, and the Galapagos Islands. I did my honors thesis on the effects of humidity on the attachment strength of mucilaginous seeds, a seed trait found all across the world. I am a fan of all sorts of creatures and often pause to take pictures of everything. I like to read, bake, nap, and catch lizards.
I’m the outgoing lead research assistant on the Echinacea Project. I started as an REU student in 2021, stuck around to work in the lab, came back for summers in the intern role, and got a master’s degree out of the arrangement, to boot! This June marks four years for me with Team Echinacea, and it was four years well spent. I’ll be moving to the San Francisco Bay Area later this summer, and will dearly miss the summer crew, the field work, and the prairie. But I’m looking forward to seeing everyone the first week and wishing you a fantastic summer! Don’t be a stranger, now.
Pronouns: she/her
Research Interests
My thesis focused on the heritability of fire-stimulated flowering in Echinacea, which I think is pretty neat. I enjoyed using our awesome experimental plots to look into how parent and offspring plants might be behaving similarly (or not!) in response to burns. And of course, fire itself is an amazingly cool experimental treatment. How lucky I’ve been to work with it. In general, I’m interested in population dynamics, cue-based/synchronized reproduction (masting, and more?), and fire ecology.
Statement
I’m from Chanhassen, MN, but I’ve spent the last 6 school years in Chicagoland. I feel lucky to have spent my summers up in Minnesota, as I love the prairie and the lakes and the people. I love to cook, I love to fish, and I love to fish and then cook the catch! I’d highly recommend this to current and future team members. Team Echinacea has canoes!
This one got sent back into the lake instead of going in the frying pan. Go make some more bass! (5.9 lbs, but who’s counting)
I am an graduate student at Northwestern University / Chicago Botanic Garden, pursuing a M.S. in Plant Biology and Conservation, and have worked as a research assistant and a lab manager for Team Echinacea. My thesis research will focus on Asteraceae species presence and richness in remnant and restored prairies in western Minnesota.
Pronouns: She/They
Research Interests
I am very much interested in restoration ecology and land management. Prairies have always had a special place in my heart and were one of the first ecosystems I truly fell in love with. I hope to create practical and functional conservation plans for protecting our prairies, the most endangered ecosystem in the world, in the future.
Statement
I grew up in southeast Iowa, but have been living in Illinois for the past 3 years. When I’m not working I love to be paddle boarding, hammocking, cooking, reading, or snuggling my 6-year-old tuxedo cat named Mo.
My cat Mo!Me at the Orchid Show at Chicago Botanic Garden
