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Video on Moving Uphill Project

5/31/2019

 
​Video made by Cliff Bueno de Mesquita for the Indian Peaks Wilderness Alliance about plants moving into unvegetated soils as climate changes and their interactions with soil microbes. www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jh2OybvLSnw&feature=youtu.be

Pacifica visited students she skyped with while down in Antarctica

3/8/2019

 
Pacifica visited Fireside Elementary in Louisville, Colorado. She had Skyped with their fifth grade from Antarctica a month before, and was able to share photos and stories from our fieldwork and answer questions in person with approximately 180 students from 3rd-5th grades.
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This photo is from when Pacifica skyped with those students while at McMurdo Station.

Pacifica and Adam skype with students back in the U.S.

2/12/2019

 
Pacifica and Adam were able to talk with students about our research with cryoconite holes and life in general while working down in Antarctica.  Between the two of them, Pacifica and Adam talked with students from a wide range of ages (kindergarten to college) and locations (Midwest, Southwest, and Rocky Mountains).
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View of Pacifica skyping from Ob Hill overlooking McMurdo Research Station in Antarctica (i.e. how it looks to us)
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Adam skyping on Ob Hill from the viewpoint of Ms. Peregrine and Ms. Creveling's kindergarten classroom at Pembroke Hill School in Kansas City. (i.e. how it looks to the students)

Like podcasts? Listen to Pacifica talk about her research (details below)...

10/7/2018

 
Pacifica appears as the guest interviewee in Episode 13 of the podcast Buffs Talk Science, the audio companion to the blog Science Buffs (www.sciencebuffs.org). You can hear her conversation with hosts Alison Gilchrist and Graycen Wheeler (and other episodes!) on iTunes, Stitcher, or online at www.buffstalkscience.com
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Pacifica presents on our cryoconite hole research

10/1/2018

 
Pacifica gave a 20 minute talk on her research in Antarctica – and showed real graphs of real data – in a local bar, the Outback Saloon. The presentation was part of the monthly Nerd Night event hosted by the Outback, and organized by graduate students at CU Boulder. Approximately 50 people attended.
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Pacifica participates in a "meet a scientist" event for high school girls

8/30/2018

 
Pacifica participated in a “speed mentoring” after-school event at Centaurus High School in Lafayette, CO, for high school girls to meet scientists from CU Boulder, Google, and other science and technology careers. The event was organized by the nonprofit 500 Women Scientists, and as covered by the local newspaper, The Boulder Daily Camera (image below).
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Pacifica performs her first Stand-up routine!

8/23/2018

 
Pacifica performed a 10 minute stand-up comedy set in front of a sold-out paying audience of 120 members of the public – about her research on cryoconite holes, and specifically some of the microscopic animals that live inside them! Her set was titled, “How to kill a water bear.” And yes, the audience even laughed at some of her jokes. The performance was the culmination of the three-week Science Riot workshop, in which scientists to adapt their professional material for stand-up.
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Lara gives a talk at AbGradCon

6/26/2018

 
 Lara presented her research to an audience of astrobiologists at the NASA-sponsored Astrobiology Graduate Conference (AbGradCon).  AbGradCon is an annual meeting of graduate students conducting astrobiology research from across a spectrum of disciplines- biology, geology, astrophysics.  The event this year, from June 4-8, was hosted by the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta, GA.  Lara's talk was titled "Microbial Activity and Adaptation at Extreme Elevations on Atacama Volcanoes: the Best Martian Analogue on Earth?" 

To watch her talk click here.

Pacifica visits high school students in southwest Colorado

5/4/2018

 
On the 3rd and 4th of May Pacifica introduced 349 students in the towns of Ouray, Montrose, and Cortez, CO, to our research in Antarctica and preliminary results - as well as how to do science in Antarctica. She was joined by her sister, Aleah Sommers, a doctoral candidate in Civil Engineering at CU Boulder, who will defend her dissertation at the end of the month. The visit to the schools was organized by The Pinhead Institute, a nonprofit based in Telluride, CO, that connects local students to scientists.
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Pacifica begins her talk
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Pacifica highlighting the great variety of life that lives in cryoconite holes
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Pacifica discussing how ice cores are obtained with the use of a sipre ice corer (seen on the slide)
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Pacifica and Aleah beginning their combined talk
In addition to the photos, check out the coverage of our visit in the Montrose Press! [Reprint]

Pacifica shares the invisible microscopic world around us with high school students in Tucson

4/25/2018

 
Pacifica assisted with guiding the 37 students from Flowing Wells High School at the UA Science: Sky School program, near Tucson, AZ, in doing outdoor science. As part of the experience, she spent two hours introducing them to her research on Antarctic microbes and helping them transform their cell phones into microscopes while they awaited their turn to look through enormous telescopes.
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During another portion of the program, students planning a hydrological study determine their route to the spring they will survey.

Pacifica talks with biology students at Front Range Community College

3/2/2018

 
Pacifica visited the Westminster campus of Front Range Community College (FRCC) to discuss our Cryoconite Project.  She was the featured speaker for the weekly gathering of the FRCC Biology Club and had a great time fielding questions from roughly 30 students.
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Darth Vader was present for the talk as well
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Pacifica outside the Westminster campus of FRCC

High School Mentees Present at Local Science Fair

2/26/2018

 
This past year Cliff and Eli have been involved as science mentors for high school students in the Boulder Valley School District Science Research Seminar program. Students learn about the scientific method in class, and work with science mentors outside of school to complete research projects. Cliff advised Piper Dumont from Broomfield High School who studied the effects of plant litter on microbial respiration in unvegetated soils. Eli advised Emika Brown and Isabelle Rusk from Fairview High School who compared microbial community composition and soil properties between prescribed burns and recent natural wildfires. These students did a great job working in the lab this year as well as presenting their findings at the science fair! 
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Piper in front of her poster
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Isabelle and Emika in front of their poster

Adam skypes with high students while in Antarctica

2/2/2018

 
Adam skyped with 3 different classes of high school biology students at University High School in Normal, IL.
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View from Mrs. Telford's classroom as Adam skypes from McMurdo Station, Antarctica

Pacifica talks cryoconite holes for the Antarctica Lecture Series

9/28/2017

 
The School of Global Environmental Sustainability at Colorado State University in Fort Collins, Colorado hosts a public lecture series on Antarctica (link). At the Fort Collins Public Library, Pacifica presented our cryoconite research to around 30 members of the public.
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Pacifica explaining how cryoconites form

Alex gives a public talk for the BSI scholars program

8/7/2017

 
Alex gave her talk for the Biological Science Initiative (BSI) symposium.  As a BSI scholar Alex helped work on the Llullaillaco project.  In her talk she discussed our work with penintentes and her role in helping to analyze the sequencing data.  Great job Alex! 
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Alex discusses what future research question might be possible
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Displaying the results of alpha diversity for eukaryotic microbes

Dorota and Pacifica hold a workshop for high schoolers

8/2/2017

 
Dorota and Pacifica held a workshop for 14 high school students at the University of Colorado Mountain Research Station.  Together they gave a presentation on soil ecology and guided students through making their own cell phone microscopes to explore soil meiofauna (nematodes and tardigrades!) as well as the rest of the microscopic world around them!  This event was in support CU's Science Discovery (CUSD) Mountain Research Experience.
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Dorota holding up an example for the students.
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Pacifica talks with students as they make their very own cellphone microscopes
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Pacifica assists a student with the microscope
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Dorota presenting a slide on soils

Isabella Bowland Wins First Place in Plant Sciences at ISEF

6/6/2017

 
Isabella Bowland, a rising high school senior at Boulder’s Fairview High School, did an outstanding job representing the Schmidt and Suding Labs at the International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF) in May. Last year, Isabella took a class called the Science Research Seminar, in which students go through the scientific process and find science mentors to work with throughout the year. Isabella worked in the Schmidt Lab with Cliff Bueno de Mesquita on the Moving Uphill project, doing staining and microscopy of alpine plant roots collected across a high-elevation landscape. After being awarded best in plant sciences at the regional science fair in Boulder, Isabella advanced to the main ISEF event in Los Angeles, where she continued to display a thorough understanding of alpine plant-fungal interactions, and was awarded best in plant sciences. Congratulations Isabella! We are proud!
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Isabella in front of her poster

Jack gives a talk in support of a non-profit conservation organization

5/25/2017

 
Jack was one of a few researchers to present for a fundraising effort in support of the Sibinacocha Watershed Project.  The Sibinacocha is an unique high elevation ecosystem that is currently threatened by a number of factors including climate change, development, and tourism.  The Watershed Project is a non-profit conservation organization that is working to protect the ecosystem.  This is where our Peru site is located.  If you are interested in donating please follow the link.
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Pacifica offers instruction for a DIY microscope at a local makerspace

4/24/2017

 
Pacifica taught a class at The Gizmo Dojo in Broomfield, CO.  Using only a cell phone, lens from a laser pointer, and some puddy, each member of the class was able to see the microscopic world all around them!
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Individual components of a cellphone microscope
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Fully assembled cellphone microscope

Pacifica presents at the 2nd annual SciComm Symposium

4/21/2017

 
Hosted by the CU Women in Science and Engineering (WISE) organization, the event included a workshop focusing on science communication, and several talks from researchers, one of which was Pacifica.  Selected from many applicants Pacifica was invited to present our research from Antarctica in a TED talk style presentation.
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  • Home
  • Projects
    • Cryoconite Holes
    • Herbicides and Microbes
    • Microbe-Plant Interactions
    • Microbial Succession
    • Biogeography
    • Extremophiles
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    • Colorado
    • Alaska
    • Chile/Argentina
    • Perú
    • Antarctica
    • Nepal
    • Tanzania
  • Microbe of the Month
  • Outreach
  • PEOPLE
    • Lab Members
    • Collaboratos
  • Contact