Clara Chavez-Ives

she/her
Undergraduate Fellow
Team Flora

What brought you to Tyson?

Tyson was one of those things that, as an environmental analysis major, you hear brought up pretty frequently, but I’d never actually been until the first day of this summer. A lot of the past work I’ve done has been more focused on social justice, which is important to me, but I’d never really been able to explore more field-based interests. Tyson seemed like a really great fit because it shares those values while also providing that field experience.

Why did you choose your specific team?

I was initially excited about Team Flora because I'd done some plant identification stuff in the past and I thought that was cool just to have that sheer amount of knowledge. Working with Doug [Ladd] is very impressive, he’s like a walking encyclopedia. I think our project will provide a critical resource and has the potential to inspire future projects, say GIS mapping of the flora. A comprehensive initial list can lead to future research into changes in species diversity and abundance, for example. It's crazy that it hasn't been properly done before. And it’s been such a good way to get immersed in all that Tyson has to offer, because we're not just going to the same plot every day, we’re getting to visit all the different habitats.

What has surprised you about this summer?

Can I say the ticks? I didn’t realize just how prevalent they were here. But, honestly, the most surprising part hasn't been the field stuff, it's been the stuff we do at MoBot [Missouri Botanical Garden]. I've walked through MoBot before but it’s been exciting to see the functioning of the offices and the massive herbarium that I just didn't know existed. You're holding papers from the 1700s sometimes. It's fun to see up close this incredible wealth of information that researchers around the world are using.

How have your research/academic interests evolved as a result of being at Tyson?

I would say they've evolved. A lot of the topics I'm interested in are these broader ecological questions, so while I don’t necessarily want to dedicate my life to, say, species identification, I definitely have a newfound appreciation for people like taxonomists and the other individuals and institutions, like the herbarium and MoBot, that are needed. It is the foundation for so much other work. I don't know if it's narrowed me down, but it's definitely expanded my horizons to what’s out there. If you put that in conjunction with the Visiting Professional Happy Hours, you get exposed to a lot of ways that Tyson attracts people. That’s all very exciting.