The Journey of a Real Scientist
It’s 4:00 on a sunny Friday afternoon, and it feels like I have sent and received a hundred emails today. Meetings are lined up all next week with various group…
Like a Shrub
As I near the home stretch and reflect back on my experience of this master’s program so far, one word comes to mind: Resilience.
There’s no question that the past couple of years of…
Photo by: MCRS Beach Wrack Team
The Power of Curiosity
At the beginning of my second year of the MCRS program when my capstone team was beginning to weave together our project, I expected that the outreach…
Desert Discord
I’m watching you choke
on fresh blood pouring
From your perfectly
Crafted beak
Your itsy bitsy
Tiny mouth
Made for chickweed, buckwheat, sorrel seeds
in the Fall
Plucked from the net
You are in human hands
The large kind
Dark cotton ball head
Poking out between…
Tending Futures
By Jessica Rath
It’s the close of my time at MCRS. We have only one term to go, and I am reflective today as I pass a trailing shrub with sweet purple flowers, Vinca minor….
Final Blog Post – Elias Potashov
Doing Science Whilst Living Through the Greatest Pandemic of Our Time
Life is a providential experience. The entirety of the 2019-2021 cohort of the MCRS program can attest to the massive…
Final Blog Entry
Oak woodlands provide critical habitat for many wildlife species, but they are declining in southern California due to habitat loss, increased fire frequency, climate change, invasive weeds, and a growing number of pests…
The Role of Creativity in Overcoming Obstacles in Science
Scientific research is often portrayed as a clean, methodical process in which bright people, clearly experienced in their field, develop a plan, write up a protocol, and…
It’s a chilly December night, just before the witching hour, and I’m lying in the gravel parking lot of the Steele/Burnand Anza-Borrego Desert Research Center hoping to catch sight of a shooting star during the…
Preserving Oak Woodlands to Wonderlands: What to Do in the Vortex of Climate Change?
Photo Credit: Lyuyi Chen
I will never forget the most horrible morning in early November of 2020: I woke up at 7 am…