Student Spotlight: Allison Rober
Contact: Andy McGlashen, News Writer for Environmental Science and Policy Program: (517) 432-3823 or mcglash3@msu.edu
March 24, 2009
When Allison Rober was an undergraduate at MSU, she took two classes taught by zoology professor Jan Stevenson. The two have stuck together since.
“I was so inspired that I asked if I could come work in his lab,” she said.
Stevenson hired Rober to count algae, and became her adviser when she returned to MSU as a graduate student in 2006. She’s now pursuing a Ph.D. in zoology, with specializations in two programs: Environmental Science and Policy; and Ecology, Evolutionary Biology and Behavior.
Rober conducts her research in the Bonanza Creek Experimental Forest, just outside Fairbanks, Alaska. This summer will be her third trip there, but it still takes some getting used to for a Southeast Michigan native.
“It’s a buggy mess,” she said.
But it’s also an ideal spot to pursue her research interests. The role of algae in lakes and streams is well understood, she said, but past research has overlooked their importance as a food source in wetlands.
“Algae are like little packets of sugar,” she said. “They’re really yummy.” Maybe not for people, but certainly for the snails she studies.
Rober said the ideas behind her work aren’t new, but the context is.
“It is kind of novel to the wetland ecosystem,” she said. “Especially in the North, where climate change is altering wetland systems.”
As climate change causes permafrost to melt, more nutrients will be released into wetlands, Rober said, and she hopes to study what the effects will be. Nutrient-loaded algae in northern wetlands could potentially become inedible, making things tough for snails and other algae-eaters.
When she’s in Michigan, Rober spends a lot of time examining samples from her Alaska trips. She also teaches an introductory bioscience class.
With little background in policy, Rober said the ESP specialization suits her career plans well.
“I’ve always had this goal of learning to communicate science, and then to go into an environmental policy arena, to move things forward,” she said.
“That’s still the plan – I’m just taking it one step at a time.”
