Melissa Merrick

Melissa Merrick

Graduate Research Fellows
Image
Merrick, Melissa
Year
2010
2011

My outreach program aims to incorporate San Carlos Apache high school students participating in the Bylas and San Carlos summer youth program, sponsored by Mount Graham International Observatory, in my doctoral research on the process of natal dispersal and settlement in federally endangered Mt. Graham red squirrels. My goal is to provide important hands-on experiences with spatial technologies such as radio telemetry, map and compass, GPS, GIS, and remotely sensed imagery for students to help us understand what landscape features influences where juvenile red squirrels explore and eventually settle. In the field we will see different squirrel behaviors, forest types, and conditions, and in a GIS we will be able to examine home ranges and other spatial data such as roads, fires, and forest damage due to tree death, that may impact squirrel space use. I will use hands-on, inquiry-based approaches to field study in combination with visiting speakers from federal agencies and universities to instill excitement about ecological research and increase appreciation regarding the value of STEM-based education, particularly among students traditionally underrepresented in STEM fields.