February 2025 Newsletter
the power of PLACE
Voices of RMBL - Susan Washko
Spend a few minutes watching a short video about Dr. Susan Washko, who has been an instrumental part of RMBL’s longstanding undergraduate research program. This project has been funded since 1991- likely one of the only education programs to have received continual funding for over 30 years. The program trains the next generation of scientists through student-centered research projects, pairs each student with a RMBL scientist mentor, and allows students to live at Gothic within a vibrant community of ~200 scientists and support staff.
Alumni surveys have indicated that 85% of program participants are more likely to consider themselves a scientist because of their time at RMBL. Learn more from Susan about how RMBL has built such a successful, impactful undergraduate research experience.
Ian Billick | PhD
Executive Director, RMBL
sciencestories
Bird brainy
Sometimes, all it takes to have your life changed by RMBL is to take a walk with a scientist. When she was a freshman in high school, Savannah Troy visited relatives living in Crested Butte. During her stay, the family decided to take a scientist-guided tour at RMBL. On the tour, Savannah held a bird in her hand. That was when the lightbulb went on, and Savannah said, “I think I’ll be an ecologist!”
The next summer, she went back to RMBL to work with the kids’ camp. From then on, she was a regular. As a student at the University of Texas at Austin, she spent all four summers in the undergraduate program at RMBL, where she took a Rocky Mountain wildlife class, completed an independent research project, and went on to work as a research assistant in multiple lab groups at RMBL.
Now, she’s about to finish her PhD in Interdisciplinary Ecology at the University of Florida, a venture that has taken her to the southern African country of Eswatini to study the response of bird communities to habitat degradation.