The lab is already getting into the swing of things with fall semester. Here are a few updates:

• Undergrad Dino graduated in May and has moved on to a position with the state of California, and published his research project on CPH Digital Commons here.
• Angela joined the lab this summer as a new MS student and got straight to work on data collection in Klamath Falls, OR. Check out more about her research on the people page. Welcome, Angela!
• Big congrats to Lee, who just found out that he was awarded an ARI Nextgen student fellowship!
• Welcome back Taylor, ESM undergrad who helped Jesse with field work and now has been awarded a Mark B. Rhea scholarship to continue working with Jesse on lab work this fall.

Below are a few photos of some of the field work we conducted this summer in Northern California and Southern Oregon.

Huge congrats to Francisco, who has completed his thesis and has officially earned his M.S.!!!

Also huge congrats to Elena, who completed her capstone project in the lab and will graduate with her B.S. tomorrow in front of friends and family.

Fall semester is underway and with it comes some exciting updates.

• Welcome Lee and Jesse, two new grad students to the lab. You can read more about their research under the people page. Special congrats to Jesse, who wrote a grant proposal to the HSI (Hispanic Serving Institute) Agricultural Research Initiative student research competition, and is receiving funding and training through the program this year!
• Welcome Elena and Brandon, ESM seniors who got their feet "wet" with some field work this summer and had so much fun that they decided to do their restoration capstone project with Dr Byrne this fall! They'll be working with the Fish and Wildlife Service to quantify differences in plant available soil Nitrogen across two restoration treatments, an unrestored site, and a native dune-mat plant community (un-invaded).
• Welcome also to Blaine, a continuing ESM student who will be working with Dr. Kerry and new grad student Lee as a Mark B. Rhea research scholar this academic year!
• Last, but not least: welcome back (although he kept working over the summer!) to Dino, RRS senior who is continuing to work on the herbicide and targeted grazing project for a second year! This academic year, he is funded with an HSI Agricultural Research Initiative student research award. He'll be attending the same professional development trainings as Jesse (grad student) this year, too. Congratulations, Dino!
• Dr. Kerry is enjoying being back on campus with a full lab after the conclusion of her sabbatical

Dino is a rangeland resource science undergraduate that started working in the lab in January on a seed bank emergence study. He was just awarded a STEM-NET summer student research award for mentorship and continued research on the seed bank study. Congratulations, Dino! 
Here's a photo of Dino (left) and Kenia doing some field work earlier this summer in southern Oregon.
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It's still a little icy in the inner coast range, but the Byrne and Luong labs already have fieldwork underway! Here's a photo of the Arcata BLM Ecologist chatting with Luong grad student Ernesto about some good potential prairie sites for a new study funded by UC Climate Action.

Cal Poly Humboldt did a story on the lab's involvement in a global drought experiment. The study was published in PNAS last week.
Read the press release
Read the article Extreme drought impacts have been underestimated in grasslands and shrublands globally

We are super proud of lab alumna, Chloe Dean (nee Smith) who worked in the lab as an undergraduate research assistant at Oregon Tech. Chloe is now a PhD student at MIT, and her research was just highlighted by MIT. This is a great article and provides some background about her journey from first generation college student at Oregon Tech to successful PhD candidate at MIT. Check it out! Thanks Chloe, for sharing your work to combat climate change!

Cal Poly Humboldt has highlighted a few of the new research projects the lab is involved in.

• Tree Research Will Help PG&E Reduce Power Outages and Wildfires
• University of California Awards Cal Poly Humboldt Researchers $2.6 [Million] in State-Funded Grants to Spur Climate Action

It's been a great spring with lots of accomplishments to celebrate!

• Sean Stewart and Jules Bartley both successfully defended their theses.
• Lab undergrads Scott Estepa and Dellaina Morse presented their senior capstone project, which was a seed bank germination study. The last few plants are popping up now, and they should finish in the next few weeks.
• A handful of former or current lab undergrads are graduating!
• PI Kerry was awarded a Western SARE sabbatical research grant, and will be working with Kelly Hopping at Boise State University next semester.
• We held our first end-of-year lab party to celebrate all of these great accomplishments!