Special Project
Projects
Determining the drivers of collective behavior in Veromessor harvester ants at the UC Sedgwick natural reserve
Awardee: Sean O'Fallon, Ph.D. student in the Pinter-Wollman lab at UCLA. Sean's research focuses on the collective behavior of ant colonies, focusing on the factors that determine behavioral variation within populations and the relationship between ant nest architecture and collective behavior.
Early Care & Education Gardening
We are the Early Care & Education Gardening team for the 2023-2024 school year. Our team is focused on developing a safe, accessible, and sustainable garden at the UCLA Krieger…
Effects of artificial lighting at night on bats in Los Angeles County
Awardee: Lily Rivas, undergraduate student at UCLA under the IoES program pursuing an Environmental Science B.S. and a minor in Conservation Biology.
Effects of interspecific competition on Stephens’ kangaroo rat habitat selection
Awardee: Janine Fischer, Ph.D. candidate co-advised by Dr. Grether and Dr. Shier at UCLA, who is interested in how aggressive interference between species influences their coexistence and habitat use.
Grand Theft Eco: Environmental Futures of Los Angeles
Grand Theft Eco: Environmental Futures of Los Angeles is a creative film project that repurposes the game engine and design of the video game Grand Theft Auto V to explore possible eco-futures of Los Angeles in the year 2050.
Hydraulic function and carbon metabolism of three southern California oak species
Awardee: Anna Ongjoco, Ph.D student co-advised by Dr. Elsa Ordway at UCLA and Dr. Leander Anderegg at UCSB.
Hyperspectral Imaging for California Plant Ecology
Awardee: Nikita Burger, undergraduate student pursuing a B.S. in Computational and Systems Biology at UCLA.
Integrating Environmental DNA and Epigenetics as a Novel Approach for Age Classification of Zebrafish (Danio rerio) as a Model Organism.
Awardee: Madeleine Pacheco, first year PhD student in the Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Department under the supervision of Dr. Paul Barber at UCLA.
Is Prey Availability a Factor in the Decline of a Bat Species in Southern California that is Synanthropic in the Rest of its Range?
Awardee: Jill Carpenter, Ph.D. candidate interested in the roosting and foraging ecology of bats, especially with regard to how various species navigate and utilize the human-altered landscapes of Southern California as well as what traits allow some species to persist while others decline.
Plastic Policy Invesigation
We are the Plastic Policy Investigation team for the 2023-2024 school year. Our team is conducting a study that seeks to assess the existing levels of adherence to the UCLA…
Reusable Container Study
We are the Reusable Container team for the 2023-2024 school year. Our team is conducting a study on the feasibility of implementing a reusable container program in UCLA dining locations…
Soil Health and Sustainable Landscaping
We are the Soil Health and Sustainable Landscaping team for the SAR 2023-2024 year. Our team is on a mission to explore the intricate world beneath our feet, exploring possible…