April 2019 Newsletter
the power of PLACE
A Place for Education
Is the impact of our summer education program primarily about the impact it has on student participants, or does our program have a national impact beyond individual students?
The importance of a Gothic summer to individuals is clear. We assess and track students, and they describe RMBL as “unforgettable”, “life-changing”, “once in a lifetime experience”, and “the best thing that has happened throughout my academic career”.
Students are often pretty articulate about why RMBL was such an impactful experience—“full immersion”, “outstanding community”, “beautiful”, “the first place where I truly felt like I belonged to a community of scientists”, “helped me understand my love for science”, “discovered my passion for the environment”, “you learn what it means to be a scientist”, “it awakened my curiosity for nature”, and “it gave me the confidence to pursue graduate school”
Ian Billick | PhD
Executive Director, RMBL
sciencestories
Kailen Mooney Ph.D.
Climate Change is Different for Males and Females
Scientists have been observing the effects of climate change on plants for decades. And most studies have treated all individuals in a species the same. But whereas most plant species are hermaphroditic – where individuals are both male and female –, 10 percent of them are dioecius, meaning that, like most animals, individual plants they are either male or female. Could the sexes in dioecious species respond differently to climate change? Yes, according to RMBL scientists Dr. Kailen Mooney, Dr. William Petry, and colleagues, who have documented sex-specific responses to climate change in the valerian plant (Valeriana edulis) that grows at RMBL. They published their findings in a June 2016 article in the journal Science.
People often ask how they can get involved with RMBL. There are many ways and here is one.
Summer Volunteers
- Docent Programs learn more
