All students present their REU project findings at a dedicated REU research symposium, and many go on to present their research at national conferences. The REU projects developed as part of this program also sometimes become senior or honors theses at students’ home institutions. Browse the links below to learn more about our previous projects.
- 2018 Field Projects
- 2019 Field Projects
- 2021 Field Projects
- 2023 Field Projects
- Effectiveness of Education Extension in Costa Rican Agriculture, Dylan Dannecker (Mentor: Dr. Janie Moore)
- Do soil moisture dynamics regulate soil carbon accumulation and CO2 emissions in tree canopy soils?, Fabiola Prieto (Mentor: Dr. Peyton Smith)
- Assessing Annual Growth of Rainforest Trees Across an Elevational Gradient Using Isotopic Tracers, Trevor Woodyard (Mentor: Dr. Georgianne Moore)
- Effectiveness of a Payment for Ecosystem Services Plantation for Carbon Storage and Cycling in a Tropical Premontane Forest in Costa Rica, Anna Dunnebacke (Mentor: Dr. Salvo Calabrese)
- Optical Properties of Tropical Dissolved Organic Carbon Vary Across Different Hydrologic Conditions, Emily Everton (Mentor: Dr. Garrett McKay)
- Soil Characteristic Response with Trees to Topographic and Slope Position Differences in a Premontane Rainforest, Jenna Baljunas (Mentor: Dr. Tony Cahill)
- Leaf-cutter ant pedoturbation affects soil carbon and Infiltration dynamics in a Planted Tropical Forest, Alex Torres (Mentor: Dr. Felipe Aburto)
- Rainfall Pauses in a Pre-Montane Rainforest Drive Fermentive Degradation of Organic Carbon from Tropical Andisols, Carleigh Wachtel (Mentor: Dr. Peter Knappett)
- 2024 Field Projects
- The Impact of Surface Geology on Export of Dissolved Inorganic Carbon in Tropical Rainforest Streams in Costa Rica, Emily Vanderworth (Mentor: Dr. Peter Knappett)
- Microbial respiration rates and carbon dynamics of native and PES forests in a Costa Rican tropical montane forest, Jamie Bergeron (Mentor: Dr. Peyton Smith)
- Modeling Biofilm Dynamics of a Montane Tropical Stream in Costa Rica, AJ Jefferson (Mentor: Dr. Noah Yao)
- Stream Scaling and Hydrological Variability in Costa Rican Montane Watersheds, Henry Anderson (Mentors: Dr. Tony Cahill and Kelly Brumbelow)
- Identifying the Effects of Land Use Change on Soil Respiration Rates and Organic Carbon Accumulation Across Aggregate Sizes in a Tropical Montane Forest, Keegyn Fields (Mentor: Dr. Salvo Calabrese)
- Soil labile sugar retention in a 20-year-old H. alchorneoides PES plantation and implications for carbon sequestration in managed tropical rainforests, Rowan Tsao (Mentor: Dr. Georgianne Moore)
- Assessing Atta CephalotesBioturbation Impacts and Soil Property Predictability Using NIR-Spectroscopy, Anastasiia Pestereva (Mentor: Dr. Felipe Aburto)
- Undergraduate Theses Projects