Hey everybody! My name is Matthew, and I'm a '27 from Florida interested in majoring in Chemistry or Biology (not quite sure yet!). Outside of the classroom, I plan on being involved in Dartmouth's theatre scene and outdoor programs! In the future, I'm hoping to merge my passions for scientific discovery and teaching others by becoming a professor. I can't wait to be a part of everything Dartmouth has to offer, and I hope you enjoy coming along for the ride!
During my first term, I wanted to try something completely new—and start working on fulfilling some of the distributive requirements. Two birds with one stone, right? To accomplish this, I enrolled in the first of three introductory Chinese language courses. Taking a fun and informative class with an interesting subject matter—and a stellar professor—has made this term fantastic! I can't wait to see what's in store over the next two terms. I also have a full blog post about my first-year language experience if you're interested in learning more!
As a STEM major, I never really saw myself taking English classes while in college. However, at Dartmouth, you must take a first-year writing sequence, which can include a writing and seminar class from any department. I ended up taking the English department offering, and it was an amazing experience. I learned so much more about how storytelling works and how we can alter the presentation of a story to completely change the way it is received by an audience. I also loved the practical aspects of this class, like writing a mini-memoir story every few weeks based on a theme and getting critical feedback from my classmates. I learned a lot more about the process of storytelling, but also about myself and the way I perceive my own experiences.
This term, I ended up taking two biology classes, which is definitely a pretty big workload, but I had a great time and felt like I really lucked out with the classes I ended up in. Global Change Biology gave me the chance to learn about climate change from a biological viewpoint. We talked about a number of different climate change-related topics, and we learned about one new large climate change topic each week. This was also an R-focused class, so we spent one day a week learning new skills in the programming language and then had a fun coding assignment each week that used data we discussed in class. I felt like I learned a lot more about climate change, but I also developed a lot of R skills that are very helpful for research and other Bio classes. In combination with the ecology class I took this term, I’d say that this class helped me decide on my major once and for all!
SummerHanover, NH
I spent the summer after my first year living in an off-campus apartment in Hanover and doing full-time research in the Biology department. I also continued my work in the admissions office as a tour guide and a leader for Dartmouth Bound! It was a great summer, and if you want to learn more about my research internship, I have a blog post about it.
Rocked to the (Soil) Core: A Summer Research Story
Summer, a time for sunshine, stargazing, and soil? Yes, you heard me right: soil. If you aren't an Ecology nerd like me, you probably have no idea how cool soil is. It forms over hundreds of years, is pretty much the foundation of terrestrial life, and has tons of awesome properties that are still being studied by labs all over the world, including the Hicks Pries Lab at Dartmouth College. This summer, I had the chance to serve as a full-time research assistant in the Hicks Pries Lab, processing samples, running tests, and performing analyses on local soil samples to learn more about the cycling of soil organic carbon in New Hampshire's forests. I even got paid for the experience as an hourly employee in the Biology Department! Here's what my work looked like.
Labwork: Most of my time was spent in our lab in the basement of the Life Sciences Center. I had access to tons of top-notch equipment and got to work alongside lots of Biology department faculty. I had lots of various tasks to complete in the lab, like picking roots out of samples, grinding soils into a more easily testable powder form, and performing various chemical extractions. I learned tons of valuable skills and got to engage a lot with Dartmouth's large community of Biological Researchers.
The clean room - a small part of our lab space where I spent a big part of my Summer.
Fieldwork: Although I spent most of my internship in the lab, I also made it out to the field a few times! Dartmouth maintains tons of field research sites in the fields and forests surrounding campus, as well as in other parts of Vermont and New Hampshire. Two of my field trips were to Corinth, Vermont, where we cleared blackberry thickets and took samples at plots for another Hicks Pries Lab experiment that aims to better understand how trees and their mycorrhizal fungi affect soil. I also got to work with the group that has been collecting the samples I worked with for the last 30 years. They showed me the procedure for taking cores of soil and separating the distinct horizons for separate measurements, and I got to collect this year's samples myself!
Taking some soil cores in the field
Conferences: About halfway through the summer, I had the chance to attend the annual Hubbard Brook Cooperators' Meeting, a massive gathering of Ecological Researchers from around New England who work with data, samples, or resources from Hubbard Brook, an experimental forest about an hour from Dartmouth. Over the course of the conference weekend, I met tons of researchers and professors, people actively living my future plan. I made lots of connections with both Dartmouth researchers and people from other institutions, learned a ton about practical research in Ecology, and even got to give my own presentation on the soil carbon work during the conference.
Enjoying the view at Hubbard Brook Experimental Forest
Fun: One of the best parts of my lab was the people! I got to know several awesome undergrads, grad students, postdocs, and professors, and we went on several fun excursions over the course of the summer. Some of my favorites were blueberry picking and a trip to an awesome swimming hole a town over from Dartmouth. Overall, the summer was a blast, and I had an amazing experience getting to see what a future career in Ecological research might look like!
Riverview Farm, a great spot for late summer blueberry picking
Dartmouth changed my life. A large part of that change comes from the support I have received from professors. Learn more here about some mentor-mentee relationships I have made!
