Blog

Our own Abby Hudak gave a talk today at the European Society for Evolutionary Biology Conference (ESEB) in Finland about stressful environments and their potential impacts on constraining adaptive plasticity.  Unfortunately it was a livestream talk and wasn’t video recorded, but we luckily got a screenshot of her mid-talk!

“Being a scientist is usually a lot of time sitting at my computer in my office, but today I got to present some of my research in Turku, Finland! August has been an exciting month of science for me!”

Check  out more about the program of the conference here!

This week our Master’s Student, Harrison Anthony, also gave his biolunch talk titled “A Genomic Approach to Understanding Invasive Success in an Asexual Snail”.  He will be traveling to Berlin this summer to increase his understanding of  genome biology and to help in his data analysis.

Harrison after a successful biolunch talk!

Today, Katie gave her biolunch talk outlining her research on how both within and transgenerational plasticity interact to shape responses to environmental factors. Biolunches are informal seminars focused on helping students develop their research questions and practice their science communication skills.

Katie after her successful Biolunch!

Last week, Maddie Armstrong also defended her Honor’s Thesis focused on phenotypic plasticity as an explanation of invasion success, and her thesis was nominated for pass with distinction. The Honor’s College requires a thesis for all graduating students (except for engineering majors).

Maddie Armstrong preparing to give her her honor’s talk

Mark Smithson has also been preparing his PhD chapters in order to defend in the next few weeks!

We are experiencing what some are calling “Snowmageddon” out here in Pullman, WA, with classes being canceled this snowy Monday (a rare occurrence). There is about a foot or so of snow on the ground, and the Dybdahl lab members are out enjoying the fresh powder and using this extended weekend to catch up on readings!

The Dybdahl lab is beginning 2019 with crisp weather and a new Master’s Student: Nicholas Lampert! He has a B.S. in Marine Biology with a minor in Computer Science from UC Santa Cruz. He spends his free time playing games and enjoying aquatic life both through research and through his personal aquariums.

Nicholas and his neighborhood gopher snake.

This week, undergraduates Daniel and Madeleine gave short presentations on their own research project goals/ideas in lab meeting.

The snail lab’s own Madison Armstrong was also featured in an article by the WSU School of Biological Sciences(SBS) on the importance of undergraduate research and her involvement in it! Check out the link below to read about her research and experiences in the Dybdahl lab:   Undergraduate Research Article: Madison Armstrong

Madison Armstrong presenting her research at WSU’s Symposium for Undergraduate Research for Creative Activities (SURCA).

Today we spent the day teaching scientific topics to both kids and parents alike!

Harrison and Maddie in action!

We had a wide range of activities available, from specimen provided by the Conner museum, DNA extraction experiments, acid-base reactions, and even LIVE raptor demonstrations, the Dybdahl lab had a great time working with this Biological Graduate Student Association (BGSA) outreach event!

Northern saw-whet owl, a local around this area!

As fall approaches Pullman, the trees have turned a pretty orange/red and the students have all gotten adjusted to their daily schedules.

This month a few of our students applied for the NSF GRFP scholarship, which helps fund up to three years of a PhD program. Fingers crossed for our applicants who find out next Spring!

Visit the link below to find out more!

https://www.nsfgrfp.org/

Photo taken of one of our campus bus stops and the hillside campus gym! Go cougs!