Jacob Longmeyer

Undergraduate fellow

You worked on plant soil microbial dynamics in Dr. Scott Mangan’s lab last summer and during the school year. Now you are creating architectural designs for the research garden used for his research and other experiments. What has that been like?

“I worked in those research gardens all last summer, but I never thought about what's below them. I didn't know there was asphalt underneath and it's really not that deep and the curbs are literally highway barriers. I spent so much time there, but I just didn’t think about what was there.”

“One of the first days of the summer we just sat on the curb and Micah said, ‘Draw something.’ And I was like, ‘Okay, I guess so.’ I didn't really understand the point. ‘Why are we like drawing these things that already exist? Why are we spending all this time drawing if we already know what's there?’”

“But I've come to realize that it was important. You have a mental conception of what something is, but drawing it makes you actually think about every single detail that comprises the larger object. We came across all these things and I thought, 'Well, I don't actually know what's there.' And then we had to ask around.”

Jacob worked with Micah Stanek’s Landscape Agents team during summer 2019. Learn more about their exploration into research garden design here.