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Sitting down with Amanda Sprague-Getsy on Zoom today felt like just another day
in quarantine for the both of us. Experiencing technical difficulties, we spent the
first few minutes on “Can you hear me?”, “What did you say?”, “Nope, you cut out.”
After sorting out our connection issues, we fell into conversation about the McNair
summer program. Instead of going home like the rest of us to watch Netflix and bake
bread, Amanda, a senior studying Environmental Science, a member of the TRiO programs
on campus, and a McNair Summer Scholar, was one of the few students who was able to
stay in Binghamton over the summer.
Since summer programs were restricted due to COVID-19, Amanda decided she would
use her funding to continue her research in Dr. Weixing Zhu’s lab with Vashti Mahadeo,
where she has been working since the beginning of her junior year.
The goal of Amanda’s research is to prove that urban riparian forests are capable
of supporting the level of biodiversity found in rural riparian forests. She explains
that “riparian forests are basically `streamside forests. They're the joining place
in between the aquatic ecosystem and the terrestrial ecosystem.” In order to determine
the viability of the ecosystems, “We’re looking at ground arthropods to look at the
differences between urban and rural riparian zones. I got the chance to focus on just
the beetle communities also known as carabidae and analyze the differences in these
communities in riparian forests.”
Although the evidence currently suggests that urban areas support even more biodiversity,
Amanda is only just ending her ground arthropod sampling. “This summer I got the chance
to look at the ground beetles. I got to see the inner workings of the whole project,
see what goes into planning it, and even be a part of that process. My favorite part
was being out in the field. I loved getting up and doing all the work. It’s cool to
see all your work and preparation put into action. You actually get to see the results.”
Although the summer component is over, there is still a lot of work to do to
finish the project and Amanda plans to continue her work in Zhu’s lab with Vashti
Mahadeo until she graduates.
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