Big Picture: Resilience in Research

This year’s tumultuous events have precipitated significant changes in plans across academia. Still, the Rausser College community has pulled together safely and persevered despite challenges caused by the pandemic and the wildfires. Here are a few images that depict how we are continuing our research mission. Clockwise from top left: Max Lambert, a postdoctoral fellow in the Rosenblum lab, checks in with this western pond turtle (Emys marmorata) near Santa Cruz. Graduate student Rachel Weinberg of the Tsutsui lab sets out a pheromone lure used to collect male kidnapper ants in the genus Polyergus in Tahoe National Forest. Thien Crisanto, a PhD candidate in the Niyogi lab, is continuing her research into altering the photosynthetic efficiency of the microalga Nannochloropsis oceanica. Yvonne Socolar (left) and Kenzo Esquivel, members of the Bowles lab, harvest research tomatoes at a field site in Esparto, California, under smoke from the LNU Lightning Fire Complex. Photos by Jessie Bushell, Elizabeth Cash, Tim Jeffers, and Paige Stanley.