Raegan RAiney

Undergraduate FEllow

“My grandparents have a hundred acres of land in Troy, Alabama. So my childhood was four wheelers, gators, just having fun outdoors. When I was little I was thinking, ‘Well, I guess I’ll be a vet since I’ve always loved animals.’ Then I got to college and started working at a physical therapy office and I thought, ‘Well, guess I’ll do this.’ But there was never heart in anything until I wasn’t looking for anything. I got this feeling in Biology 2. ‘Environmental science, I could do this.’”

And Raegan is doing it here at Tyson this summer, working with the professor from her botany class, Dr. Claudia Stein. Her interests lie in all areas of environmental science, so this summer is a valuable way for her to fully dive into what a future in research could be. Even after only a few weeks, she’s pretty firm on her commitment.

“By doing my own ecological experiments I really feel like I’m working for something greater than myself, for an overall good. Even the weeding that we do doesn’t bother me because I know that it takes tedious and sometimes repetitive tasks to make it to the end goal. I had no idea what I was getting myself into coming here, but the community ended up being so wonderful. I’m grateful to be in a place where they don’t expect me to know everything. I thought I would be overwhelmed or too much would be expected of me, but everyone here has been helpful and understanding of all of our individual experiences.”

Raegan worked with Scott Mangan and Claudia Stein's Natural Enemies team during summer 2019. Learn more about their plant-microbial communities research here.