PELLSTON, Mich. — The University of Michigan Biological Station welcomed 10 Undergraduate Research Fellows from across the U.S. to the sprawling, forested campus in northern Michigan in June 2025 to kick off a new, eight-week program.

The Biological Station Undergraduate Research Fellowship program, which is funded by donors and runs through Aug. 8, includes research mentors for each student, a $5,500 stipend, on-campus housing and meals.

“We’ve expanded our funding for undergraduate student research this year to a total of $79,800 awarded to 10 fellows as we debut the UMBS Undergraduate Research Fellowship Program,” said Dr. Aimée Classen, director of the U-M Biological Station and a professor in the U-M Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology. “The immersive, hands-on experience and guidance at UMBS gives them a leg up as they find their footing in the research community so early in their academic careers.”

These undergraduate students are pursuing their own original research in field ecology.

Tamara Rhodes, a Biological Station Undergraduate Research Fellow and a senior at the University of Texas at Austin, took a measurement for her experiment at UMBS in July 2025.

"It has been really cool to see how much people are doing here and how different field experiences can be in ecology — whether it's fungi or small mammals or trees,” said Tamara Rhodes, a Biological Station Undergraduate Research Fellow and a senior at the University of Texas at Austin. “And everyone here is so nice and welcoming and so willing to share what they're doing.”

The Undergraduate Research Fellowship pairs student fellows with UMBS research mentors. This program provides hands-on training and knowledge-building in analytical, applied field methods, data collection and management, and science communication skills.

To oversee this program, UMBS hired Dr. Katie LaCommare, a professor at Michigan State University in the Department of Fisheries and Wildlife.

LaCommare serves as project lead for the Undergraduate Research Fellowship programming.

“We’re so grateful to be able to give these 10 students this research experience. Participating in research programs like the UMBS Undergraduate Research Fellowship is transformative,” said LaCommare. “By providing mentored research and immersing students in a research community, programs like this foster a student’s scientific identity and gives students the confidence to pursue STEM-based and research intensive careers.”

Meet the Undergraduate Research Fellows and their mentors:

Disturbance Forest Ecology and Carbon Sequestration: Michigan State University senior Shreya Balla is working with Dr. Chris Gough, a UMBS researcher and a professor of biology at Virginia Commonwealth University, and graduate student researcher Ariel Johnson contributing to the Forest Resilience Threshold Experiment (FoRTE). Balla is spending her summer investigating how varying levels of disturbance impact forest recovery, stability, and carbon dynamics.

Madeleine Schouman, a Biological Station Undergraduate Research Fellow and a junior at the University of Michigan, released a mouse from a live trap in a UMBS forest in July 2025.

Disease Ecology: University of Michigan junior Madeleine Schouman and Fort Valley State University senior Savannah Coffelt are being mentored by Dr. Amanda Koltz, a UMBS researcher and an assistant professor in the Department of Integrative Biology at the University of Texas at Austin, and graduate student researcher Annie Cress. They are studying parasites in white-footed deer mice and how parasites affect their host body condition, diet, microbiome, stress physiology, and behavior.

Forest Ecosystem Function and Stability: University of Louisiana senior Lana Gaspard is working with Dr. Aimée Classen, UMBS director and an ecosystem and global change ecologist at U-M, and graduate student researcher Aadia Moseley-McCloud. Gaspard is exploring forests and how common understory species influence seedling productivity, understory plant diversity, and a suite of ecosystem functions.

Microbial Ecology and Global Climate Change: Haverford College senior Emma Noonan and University of Texas at Austin senior Tamara Rhodes are being mentored by Stephanie Kivlin, a UMBS researcher and associate professor of ecology and evolutionary biology at the University of Tennessee at Knoxville, and graduate student researcher Ella Segal. They are implementing a garden experiment that looks into how plant growth and survival are impacted by climate change shifting the ranges that different species can grow in.

"It has made me appreciate all the field work that happens in science," Noonan said. “It breaks up the monotony of being in a lab all the time, gets you outside, and forces you to actually look at and observe what you're looking at and understand it on a different level."

Wild Rice Restoration: Loyola University of Chicago senior Alex Risdal is working with Shane Lishawa, a UMBS researcher and wetlands ecologist from Loyola University Chicago. Risdal is studying how different dominant wetland plants may facilitate establishment of differing submergent plants. Specifically, she is exploring the relationship between water lily species and bladderworts, a genus of carnivorous plants.

Community Ecology and Assembly in Pitcher Plants: University of Michigan junior Ryan Hou is working with Will Petry, a UMBS researcher and an assistant professor of plant and microbial biology at North Carolina State University, and graduate student researcher Nichole Burroughs. He is studying the role that mosquitoes play in the microbiomes in the ‘pitchers’ of purple pitcher plants, particularly in regards to small protist communities.

Alesandra Fairchild, a Biological Station Undergraduate Research Fellow and a junior at Wesleyan University, took notes on her grasshopper experiment using terrariums in the greenhouse at UMBS in July 2025.

Climate Change, Grasshopper Herbivory and Spider Predation: Wesleyan University junior Alesandra Fairchild is being mentored by Dr. Mariano Rodriguez-Cabal, a UMBS researcher and researcher and instructor of the General Ecology Lecture course at UMBS. He also is a research assistant professor at the University of Vermont in the Rubenstein School of Environment and Natural Resources. Fairchild is researching how climate change, grasshopper herbivory, and predation by spiders interact to shape plant communities and ecosystems.

“I’m doing 15 surveys every other day,” Fairchild said. “I’ll do one in the morning, afternoon, and night. There are quadrants on the terrariums, so I’ll take rounds on all my terrariums and note where the grasshoppers are — three rounds of that.”

Tree Hydrology: Ohio State University junior Sarah Bungard is working with Dr. Gil Bohrer, a UMBS researcher and a professor of civil, environmental and geodetic engineering at The Ohio State University. They’re looking at how different hydraulic strategies — such as different methods of water uptake — affect tree growth around UMBS over time. They're doing this by using tree measurements and data from the UMBS Ameriflux tower.

Learn more about undergraduate student research opportunities on the UMBS website.

 

The U-M Biological Station — the largest of U-M's campuses — is one of the nation's largest and longest continuously operating field research stations.

Founded in 1909, the Biological Station supports long-term research and education. It is where students and scientists from across the globe live and work as a community to learn from the place.

The University of Michigan Biological Station serves as a gathering place to learn from the natural world, advance research and education, and inspire action. We leverage over a century of research and transformative experiences to drive discoveries and solutions to benefit Michigan and beyond.

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