Plant Biology Doctoral Student Taylor Sultan Quedensley
Rosemary French, a double major in Spanish and Biology, helped me in the University of Texas herbarium identifying plant specimens from a threatened cloud forest ecosystem in Guatemala. As part of the IE Pre-Grad internship we identified over 350 species and are presenting a poster entitled "Contributions to the Flora of Pico Zunil, Guatemala" at the Botany 2007 conference in Chicago, IL this July. Moreover, the goal of this project is to promote conservation efforts of cloud forests in Guatemala. We also worked on developing a website with photos of plants from Pico Zunil and selected photos can be viewed at: www.sbs.utexas.edu/quedensley/photos.htm
Ms. French is a well-organized person and she contributed greatly towards improving my organizational skills. It was extremely helpful to have a person working with me on a project I had hoped to complete. The IE Pre-Grad internship was an excellent opportunity for both of us to work together on a project and to present the results to peers in the field of botany. I know that I will benefit greatly from this experience and I hope to have the opportunity to work with another undergraduate in the future.
The Botany 2007 conference will be an excellent experience for Ms. French. We were both very fortunate to receive travel funds through the IE internship program. The ability to attend a professional meeting will give Ms. French a glimpse at what to expect from a graduate program in biology. I highly recommend this program to other graduate and undergraduate students interested in career development and collaborative research experience.