Students at Keystone College recently wrapped up their second summer of fieldwork working alongside Dr. Linda Tucker, Assistant Professor Botany and Director of the Wildlife Biology and Environmental Science programs. Cecilia Myers and Matthew Vlassis, both in the Wildlife Biology program, visited several state forests and state game lands throughout Pennsylvania in 2025 and 2026 to conduct plant, soil, and water surveys. The project was funded by the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources and its goal was to identify potential sites to introduce one of two rare plants species, Spreading Globeflower (Trollius laxus) and Glade Spurge (Euphorbia purpurea).
The students gained valuable experience in how to design and conduct field studies and operate equipment used by professional field biologists to collect data, as well as how to use specialized software to model habitat suitability for plants and other organisms. Matthew was also able to attend the Ecological Society of America annual meeting this summer in Salt Lake City with Dr. Tucker to present some of their initial findings from the project with the scientific community.
Keystone College is known for its hands-on experiential learning opportunities, as well as for the mentorship opportunities that result from our low student to faculty ratio. Students get to know their professors and can join in on exciting projects our faculty are working on, as well as develop their own ideas through mentored capstone research projects. These experiences help students build the skills they need to succeed in their future careers working with natural resource agencies, conservation organizations, and environmental consulting firms, as well as for entering graduate programs.
