Kim Chase Reardon ’07 got to do original biology research a lot sooner than she thought she would.  Kim, a current resident of Colton, N.Y., and graduate of Gloucester City (NJ) High School, thought that she might undertake research after she earned her St. Lawrence degree and went on to graduate school. Instead, through a University Fellowship, she accomplished that goal in the summer between her junior and senior undergraduate years.

A biology major and member of the national academic honor society Phi Beta Kappa, Kim studied competition for food and shelter between a native species of fish (logperch) and an exotic species (round goby) in the St. Lawrence River, with Associate Professor of Biology Brad Baldwin. “I not only learned a great deal about competition between these two species,” she reports, “I also learned how to develop original research and effective experiments. I enjoyed the freedom that I had to try out my ideas and appreciated the advice my mentor had to offer me. I am honored that I was able to work with a faculty member on a research project as an undergraduate.” 

Further, Kim says, she's already put what she learned through her research to work, while student-teaching in a local school district during the fall semester. “I taught a unit on community ecology to the Advanced Placement biology class and had a chance to bring in the poster of my research and share the experience with the students,” she says.  “Not only did this help elucidate some important concepts; it also got my students interested in the field of biology.”