Citizen Science: Determining ant species winners and losers as forests are converted to human settlements ​

Check out our latest citizen science efforts, making observations of ants living inside artificial nest boxes in Cleveland, Ohio.

Hear about the impacts of warming on ant physiology and interactions between ant species on Exploradio with Jeff St. Clair.

Observing shifts in butterfly flight periods using data collected by citizen scientists

Sarah talked with Exploradio's Jeff St. Clair and with the Columbus Dispatch about the impacts of urbanization and regional climate on Ohio butterfly flight periods.

She also presented this work at the Cleveland Museum of Natural History's annual Conservation Symposium, where she highlighted the value of contributions by citizen scientists. The theme of the symposium was "Science by the People: New Challenges, New Opportunities".

Speaking on the general importance of butterfly monitoring, Sarah gave a presentation on monitoring methods and outcomes to the Science & Technical Advisory Committee of the Albemarle-Pamlico Natural Estuary Partnership. 

Opportunities for young scientists to do research

Many of our research projects, from butterfly development to ant community composition, have benefited from the volunteer efforts of local high school students wishing to gain research experience. See the Opportunities page for more details on how to get involved.

Teaching global change biology to K-12 students

​The large discrepancy between the percentage of scientists that think climate change is happening and is attributable to human activities and the number of non-scientists that think this is so, points to a major educational hurdle. In fact, there are two related issues here: first there is exposure to scientific evidence, and second, there is how to read and interpret data.

Sarah has participated in the NC CLIMATE Fellows program which trains high school teachers how to communicate the evidence for global climate change; she is also generally interested in promoting data literacy at all stages of educational development.