A look at the website for the Sewanee Herbarium and its director, Dr. Jon Evans, shows an unbroken record of research involving undergraduate students for over three decades, and he continues to engage his former students with his current projects. The latest outcome is a paper, "Differential resistance to tree species loss between two dominant communities in a resilient southeastern landscape" that has been accepted for publication in Natural Areas Journal, co-authored with Evans Lab alumni, Leighton Reid, C'06, and Callie Oldfield, C'15. The study compared the resilience of cove and upland communities at Dick Cove, with species persistence as a measure of that concept. The results raise specific concerns about long-term trends in the decline of plant species diversity on the Domain and highlight the need for land managers in our region to consider community level biodiversity conservation at the landscape level.
 
Evans, in his work as a researcher and as a research mentor, has explored the Domain and the region widely, looking for interesting concepts to study. Currently, along with the work in Dick Cove, he and colleagues Dr. Elise Kikis, associate professor of biology as Sewanee, and Dr. Ashley Morris, C’97, an associate professor of biology at MTSU, are conducting research on Appalachian Hill Cane, a miniature bamboo that is relatively common on the Domain but which has a limited range. The Evans research team has made preliminary analyses that suggest that clones on the Domain may span several hundred meters in size and be more than 500 years old!
 
In addition, Evans is studying a unique forested wetland, Sinking Pond, on Arnold Air Force Base. Changes in tree regeneration may be related to climate changes, with longer flooding periods in the ephemeral wetland suppressing the regeneration of the Overcup Oak.
 
The latest students in a line of research assistants, many of whom have gone onto success as researchers, are Lillian Fulgham, C'21, and Angus Pritchard, C’22, who are pictured above with Evans observing Hill Cane on the Domain. The work of those student researchers is supported by an endowment established by the family of Ashley Block, C’13, in her memory. Evans hopes that the Ashley E. Block, C’13, Endowment will allow the Herbarium to perpetuate Ashley’s legacy of exceptional student engagement in botanical research at Sewanee.

Dr. Brandy Tiernan, Assistant Professor of Psychology and chair of the Neuroscience program has an interesting problem: too many students want to work in her lab! Dr. Tiernan’s favorite part of her job is teaching undergraduates about research. At her previous position in Kentucky, she worked with several undergraduates on projects. Some of these students won grants to complete their work, and all had the opportunity to present at international conferences. Thanks to Natalie (Dalton) Fitzgerald, C'18, and Madison Bunderson, C'18, her first lab assistants (Labbies) at Sewanee, Dr. Tiernan established her Emotion and Cognitive Control Lab (ECCL), and it is overflowing with Labbies. 

Many of her best and brightest students have worked in the laboratory with Dr. Tiernan. After they spend at least a year running electrophysiological studies, behavioral studies, and focus group studies in the ECCL, her lab students are highly prepared for graduate school. Labbies have the opportunity to assist with several different projects, including studying how the inhibition and manipulation of information while performing a difficult task, examining the impact of acute emotional disturbances on cognition, and the relationship between decision making and affective information. She works with at least two students every summer. Sophia Borne, C'18, Margaret Landers, C'19, and Woodli Krutek, C'17, have worked with her in the past. Last summer Andrew Dyar (a first-year student!), Caroline Martin, C'20, and Clara Davis, C'19, helped Dr. Tiernan run focus groups examining the cultural influence on how individuals think about mental health and stigma. 

 When the semester gets going, the lab is bustling. As the days and weeks pass, the ECCL Labbies begin to feel comfortable making executive decisions without Dr. Tiernan’s assistance. They start to run the lab mostly on their own, ensuring that all data from self-reports are entered, and managing data files for different tasks. The Labbies participate in electroencephalogram/event-related brain potential data collection and then clean up and process the data. Some Labbies take on management roles, while others feel more secure learning the ropes before calling the shots. A few of the newer Labbies--Andrew Dyar, Mary Cecil, Tess Meyer, Haven Watson, Hannah Peterson, Clara Davis, Caroline Martin, Emma Brennan, and Ellie Herron--feel as comfortable as lab veterans Madelyne Williams, Adriana Hibarra, and Grace Fulton. Dr. Tiernan is excited to train a new group of students this semester to replace her fantastic graduating seniors. The opportunity to work in the ECCL has been a valuable component of the education of these highly engaged students, and it will become a big part of the Sewanee experience for newer students in the future.