As the school year wraps up, students at UC Davis are celebrating more than their own accomplishments. They’re cheering on the budding scientists they’ve spent months mentoring through UC Davis EnvironMentors, a campus program within the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences.
This chapter of the national EnvironMentors initiative, run by the Global Council for Science and the Environment, pairs undergraduate and graduate students with high school researchers for yearlong STEM projects.
Grey Monroe, an associate professor in the Department of Plant Sciences and co-director of EnvironMentors, highlighted the dual benefits: "The high school student is learning about life in college, about how to do science, about how to interact with people in a scientific setting. And the UC Davis students benefit from the leadership experience they gain from it all."
Eight students from Pioneer High School in Woodland participated this year, working alongside faculty and mentors from labs in plant sciences, ecology, atmospheric science, environmental policy, and more. Each group developed an original research project, meeting weekly on campus and using lab equipment and nearby field sites to collect and analyze data.
Erwan Monier, associate professor in the Department of Land, Air and Water Resources and co-director of EnvironMentors, noted: "We have a diverse set of projects, most of them include some field experiment and data analysis, which engages students with hands-on science. Students focus on environmental science topics that have a real societal impact, or that is relevant to their community, so they are really motivated and engaged."
Over winter and spring quarters, students also took part in field trips and hands-on experiments. Anna Callens, a senior at Pioneer High School, studied the environmental impacts of gravel mining on local water quality, measuring dissolved oxygen, pH, and mercury levels upstream and downstream of a gravel mine.
Mentored by Gal Koss, a PhD candidate in environmental and natural resource economics, Callens took ownership of her research from the start. "She had her own project idea, and I’ve been following her lead on it," Koss said.
"She comes to every meeting more and more prepared. It’s amazing to watch how her scientific muscle is growing."
Callens credited the program for strengthening her confidence and technical skills: "The program has elevated my interest in environmental science by pushing me to be more confident in my data analysis and poster presentation skills. Without joining EnvironMentors, I would not have gained the valuable research skills that I can now take with me to college."
Mudasser Ahmed, an 11th grader, explored how increasing salt levels in groundwater could affect agricultural crops, focusing on walnut plants' salt tolerance. He said a highlight was working alongside his mentor in the campus greenhouses.
"I read that by 2050, salt levels will more than double in groundwater, so I thought that with this research, we can try to find solutions to that problem," Ahmed said.
Another mentor, Marie Klein, a postdoctoral researcher in the Department of Plant Sciences, worked with student Marissa Bautista on bird biodiversity in rural and urban environments. Klein said mentorship has been meaningful for her as well: "I’ve been in her position where I had to figure out my career and what I wanted to do next.
I think a mentorship program, in which I can tell her about my experience and my story, is helpful to make decisions about her career."
The program also offers workshops on college applications. Ahmed, Callens, and two other students, along with Klein and Monroe, traveled to Panama City this month for the program’s annual research symposium, where Callens won first place overall for her research poster, and student Bareera Rehman earned a Best Presentation award.
Monroe expressed excitement about the program's impact: "The reason I’m passionate about trying to get this really going is because it’s nice to do something that actually makes a difference in people’s lives in a very tangible way." Recruitment for the next cohort will begin this fall.