Experiential Learning

Summer Research Project as NSF REU at the University of California, Berkeley - Robert Porch

Robert Porch spent one summer at the University of California, Berkeley as part of their NSF REU program. During his time there, he worked in Dr. Britt Koskella's lab examining the role of plant neighborhoods in the assembly of microbial communities. Rob, along with his mentor and lab postdoc, Dr. Kyle Meyer, set up plots in the field that consisted of one focal plant: either tomato, bean, or pepper, surrounded by eight neighbor plants (either eight tomato, eight bean, or eight pepper neighbors). Rob and Kyle asked if the identity of plant neighbors would influence the microbes that assemble on the leaf surfaces of these focal plants. Additionally, they wanted to test if this potential neighborhood effect changes with time. To do this, they harvested and replaced the focal plants each month while letting the neighborhood plants continue to grow. They hypothesize that there will be a stronger influence of the neighborhood on the assembly of microbial communities with time. 

At Rutgers, Robert then did a George H. Cook honors thesis with Dr. Myla Aronson. His project, titled "Phenotypic traits of the world's 100 most common urban plant species," aimed to assess the qualities of urban plants that allow them to thrive in human-dominated environments. He also visited the University of São Paulo through Rutgers' Brazilian Research Exchange Program to present a poster for this work.

All photos courtesy of Robert Porch.