Dear Undergraduates,

Matt Vaughan, a graduate student at Texas A&M, is looking for volunteers to help him with research on wild American chestnut sprouts in Virginia next month.  The attached advertisement explains the details.

Matt can cover your transportation and lodging (and likely some or all food), but you would be working as a volunteer.  

You do not need to be a student, or enrolled at UT or anywhere else, to work with Matt. 

Here are details (beyond what's on the ad), provided by Matt:

The fieldwork would involve the following:

• Extensive backcountry hiking and camping in the George Washington and Jefferson National Forests and The Nature Conservancy Warm Springs Preserve
  • All sites are located in the Ridge and Valley province of Virginia within a few hours' drive from each other
    
• Carrying and using various field equipment such as a GPS unit and camera with fisheye lens
  
• Locating and marking plots
• Taking various measurements and notes on the size, health, and abundance of American chestnut sprouts and how they respond to prescribed fire
• Traveling to and from the three different study sites
  

All work would be structured and designed to benefit the undergrad(s), indirectly supervised by Dr. Lafon and/or Forest Service and The Nature Conservancy personnel, with a clear work plan and expectations from the beginning. Benefits for you, expected by Matt, would include:

• Field experience
  
• Opportunity (optional) to possibly make some of what you do a part of some research of your own, answering your own questions using the data collected for this project.  This option might be especially valuable for those planning to attend grad school.  The option could involve GIS work you might later do.  And, according to Matt,  "Depending on how far the undergrad wanted to go with their research and their course schedule, they could possibly put together a poster and present their work at SEDAAG or elsewhere (e.g. independent study)."

Sincerely,

Sally Horn