Undergraduate Fellows
 Gloria
Adame
St. Mary's University, Geology, Senior
Faculty Advisor: Dr. Jack Sharp
Bio: I am from Austin, Texas. I use to play clarinet in
the Crockett High School band. I have said hi to Tim Duncan and
Sammy Sosa. I love to read all kinds of books (The Green Mile, Harry
Potter), put together jigsaw puzzles, go to the movies (Finding
Nemo!), and listen to music.
Current Project: I am working on an urbanization project.
I am finding out how the urbanization of San Antonio is affecting
the recharge of the Edwards aquifer. In particular I am looking
at the amount of water that is unaccounted for and assumed lost
mainly to irrigation and leaking water pipes.
 Rebecca
(Becca) Ashdown
Texas Lutheran University, B.S. in Biology(Environmental Tract),
Senior
Becca participates in Soil
Management - Ecosystem Process Management Workshop
Faculty Advisor: Dr. Dick Richardson
Bio: All the family camping trips starting before I was
born helped to spark my interest in environmental biology. In my
spare time I enjoy reading, hiking, camping, and going midnight
tubing. My goal in life is to go to all 50 US states.
Current Project: It's a little bit of this and that. I am
identifying beetles found in cow dung from Oregon and the mites
that have started to live on them. I am also looking at soil biodiversity
and ecology at Honsby Bend, comparing the different soils present
in the different vegetative regions.
 Calondra
Colvin
Baylor University, Chemistry, Junior
Faculty Advisor: Dr. Jennifer Brodbelt
Bio: Well, let's see. I'm the baby of three kids. I have
a 26 year old sister and a 21 year old brother. I am obsessed with
fitness and being healthy. There's nothing like barely being able
to walk as a result of a good workout the previous day. I have been
trying to break my addiction to sugar for a while now. What good
is it to work out if you're just going to go eat some Krispie Kreme
donuts? If I had to choose between a steak and a snow cone I would
choose a snowcone any day. Along with my family and snowcones, I
also love roller coasters, nice cars, and hot guys who are also
smart. Hopefully I'll get to come back to UT for my PhD.
Current Project: There is a tiny South American fly which
has been found to be a fire ant hunter. The fly, although much smaller
than many of the ants it stalks, has been found to locate fire ants
from several miles away. There's obviously more than eyesight working
on the flies radar. I will use gas chromatography, mass spectrometry
and possibly solid phase extraction to analyze the pheromones given
off by the various types of fire ants and hopefully trials involving
both the chemicals identified and the South American fly will bring
results.
 Kate
Edelman
Texas A&M University-Kingsville, Chemistry, Junior
Faculty Advisor: Jim Holcombe
Bio: One of my favorite things to do is listen to music
and go to see live shows. At school, I work at our stockroom in
the Chemistry department and help to set up the labs for the week.
I will most likely teach Chemistry at the high school level while
I attend graduate school.
Current Project: It's known that polyamino acids attached
to a solid support tend to bind to metals in solution. With this
information, I am trying to make the metal binding process more
metal specific. This will help to eliminate metal waste from water
and soil.
 Kim
Farringer
Texas Lutheran University, Chemistry/Math, 3rd Year
Faculty Advisor: Dr. John T. McDevitt
Bio: I play basketball for Texas Lutheran University, and
also play intramural soccer and softball. I love to shop and hang
out with my friends. Other hobbies include playing cards, watching
the Spurs games, and sleeping as
much as possible.
Current Project: I am attempting to use a microchip-based
multianalyte system to assess cardiac risk factors, C-reactive protein
and interleukin-6, in human serum samples. My project is to test
the system and try to make it as efficient as possible.
 Patrick
Fortson
Engineering/Geology, Geosystems Engineering and Hydrogeology,
Senior
Faculty Advisors: Jay Banner and Libby Stern
Bio: I enjoy watching good movies with my girlfriend, Lauren;
taking care of my bonsai tree and my girlfriend, Lauren; and playing
and watching as much basketball as possible with my girlfriend,
Lauren. In between these activities, I take soil samples and read
textbooks on isotope geology with my girlfriend, Lauren. I have
a girlfriend named Lauren. I am the second least sarcastic person
I know; second to my girlfriend, Lauren. According to Lauren, I
can move my eyes freakishly fast.
Current Project: My project is to examine trees and the
soil in a specific soil type on the Honey Creek Watershed to determine
where the trees take their water- from groundwater or from the soil.
To do this I will take soil and tree branch samples, extract the
water from them, and use a mass spectrometer to measure and compare
oxygen isotope ratios in the water.
 Lindsay
Husta
University of Texas at Austin, Biology/Ecology, Evolution, Behavior/Plan
II (Liberal Arts)
Faculty Advisor: Marcy Litvak
Bio: I am a vegetarian. I like to run. I have a brother
who is 18 and a sister who is 8. I am attempting to learn the guitar.
I like reading novels, especially Russian ones. I wish I knew Russian.
Current Project: The big picture is discovering how grassland
ecosystems work in response to different burn treatments. My part
is determining how soil respiration is affected by burn treatments
and the differences in soil moisture, temperature, and structure.
 Sarah
Pierson
University of Texas at Austin, Geography, Junior
Faculty Advisor: Dr. Jay Banner
Bio: I am the oldest of three daughters. I am a musician,
a writer, an engineer, a geographer, a geologist and I like cookies.
The love of my life is my kitten Zedak, but I also love my rockstar
friends and my family. My favorite thing to do in my spare time
is go swimming at the lake or the creek. After graduation I plan
to have grand adventures and eventually save the world.
Current Project: I am studying vadose dripwater chemistry
to find out how the water relates to the soils above the caves.
I am trying to find out where the water comes from and how land
use affects formations in the caves. Eventually this data may be
used to analyze prehistoric climate by looking at present-day speleothems.
Program Director
 Dr.
Jennifer Brodbelt - Principal Investigator of REU Program
Professor at UT-Austin's Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry
Bio: Chemistry professor at The Univeristy of Texas at Austin
since 1989. Hobbies: tennis, golf and dogs.
Current Project: Program director. Research-mass spectrometry.
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