KU Undergraduate Biology Student Researcher: Hannah Reid
Hannah Reid is a heading into their senior year & is majoring in Ecology, Evolution, & Organismal Biology with a minor in astrobiology. Hannah is also club secretary of Out in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (oSTEM).
Hannah's Research at KU
“I’ve done a lot of research at KU. This past summer I worked with Dr. Maggie Wagner, and I did a project about the fungal microbiomes of Eastern Gamma Grass. I had different grass samples I was growing in different types of soil, some of the soils were from drought locations and some in wet locations to see what kind of fungus would grow in what kinds of soil, and I would check them at different times to see how time affected that growth -- Like ‘this fungus was present in an earlier sample but not in a later sample’ kind of thing.
It was my first time being in the lab after COVID-19, I was so thankful to be able to have that experience. It was under an EPSCOR grant.
Since then, I’ve done multiple different projects for classes and next fall I’ll be working with Dr. Leo Smith on an independent project. This summer I’ll be working with Dr. Smith’s TA, Renee, and assist her in finishing up her project while getting lab experience and [generating] ideas for what I’ll be researching with Dr. Smith
in the fall.”
“I love learning as much as I can about the different fields of biology. I just love learning new things and taking as many ‘-ology” classes as I can.”
How did you first become interested in doing this kind of research?
“I took a mycology class [in the Spring 2021] semester, I was always interested in Fungi because they are just really weird and I wanted to learn more about them. I was given some wiggle room about what I was going to study and Dr. Wagner helped me polish my ideas into Something tangible.”
What does your research look like on a day-to-day basis?
“Every day was different than the previous day, Once the project was started there was a lot of downtime when the grasses were growing, so I’d jump around the lab and help other people.
But the set-up days and data collection days were very different. I had one set up day where I got my grasses growing and two collection an early collection, and a late collection. And on the last collection was there until 3 in the morning. There was so much to do.”
Did you make any research discoveries?
“I did find differences in the Fungi that were growing in the two groups, [drought and wet samples], but it would take more experiments to see if that was significant or not. There was also a difference in the age groups, which was super interesting.
The final step of my project was to run the fungal samples the PCR and find out what [species] they were. It was a really cool part of the experiment. I found [that there was] yeast present in every one of my samples and [got to] see what overlap there were between species.
I also found Fusarium solani, a crop pest, which was interesting to see in some random prairie soil sample.”
What was the most challenging thing about your project?
“The time crunch loomed over everything. [Hannah’s research project was limited to the summer] I was nervous being in a lab setting for the first time, and stressful at first to find my place in the lab. But everyone was so kind and welcoming.”
What advice do you have for other students?
“Take the time to look for opportunities, there are a lot out there but it can be hard to find them. If you see the opportunity, go for it, if you think your under qualified it doesn’t matter, get practice by applying, talk to the professor & see what you were missing on the application & you can grow from there.”
Hannah’s Experience with oSTEM
“When I came in as a freshman I wanted to join a queer organization on campus. I come from a small town in rural Missouri and there isn’t a lot of love for the LGBTQ community there, so I looked Online at different organizations, and I found oSTEM [...] I found them during Hawk Week, and I was active from the first semester of freshman year [for a bit...] then I rejoined in the exec position, as secretary. I’ve made a ton of friends in oSTEM, that was always really important to me, I’m really grateful for that, I truly found the community I was looking for here.”
What kind of activities does oSTEM do?
“We do a mix of professional and social events, and this past year we did some volunteer work. I was in charge of [a social event] Eco-spheres, which was super fun. We went down to Clinton Lake; [...] people made their own eco-spheres with snails and isopods.”
Do you have any events planned for Fall 2022?
“We are trying to set up a volunteer opportunity with Prairie Park! They are part of this program that is trying to increase wild populations of Black Footed Ferrets in Kansas, and in the fall, they do a tagging event, to count population numbers and do vaccines and they take volunteer groups to help out. We are going to try to join them for that.”
What are your plans after graduation?
“I would like to stay in academia, and continue to do research, there are so many things I want to do with my life and I want to do everything I can to explore all the options out there.
By the end of the summer, I’m going to decide if I want to take a gap year and work at a conservation place or zoo, or on the other hand, if the places I want to go to grad school at have positions open, I’ll apply to them. I’ve been looking at schools this summer and keeping a list of schools I’m interested in applying to.”