When we started the GLobal Urban Evolution (GLUE) project, our primary goal was to do cutting-edge science at the largest possible scale – across the globe. However, as the project grew and collaborators started to prepare and then collect 100s of plants in each of the 160 cities sampled, it became clear that GLUE was having an unintended impact that was perhaps as important, and maybe even more important than the science. GLUE was breaking down barriers by including hundreds of scientists from across the world who are often not invited to participate in large well-funded projects. Our collaborators included many faculty from diverse institutions, post-doctoral researchers, graduate students, undergraduate students, highschool students [read about Shad Canada’s involvement], elementary school students, and even a few toddlers and babies that participated in the sampling portion of the project. For many students, GLUE was their first hands-on experience participating in research. And for even more students, GLUE became their first ever publication when the first paper from the project (GLUE 1.0) was published in Science.
In previous posts we’ve described the main results of GLUE, and the behind the scenes story on how GLUE came to be. This post tells some of the stories of the students involved in GLUE, as told from the perspective of their supervisors and the students themselves.
Several of our collaborators combined their teaching of undergraduate courses with GLUE to give students practical experience in conducting research and contributing to a large collaborative project. While students in these classes were not included as authors on the paper, their important contribution is acknowledged in the paper.
Prof. Leah Flaherty of MacEwan University described her experience as follows:
“As part of the GLUE project, MacEwan University's BIOL 410 (Techniques in Field Ecology) class sampled the city of St. Albert [Alberta, Canada]. For many of the students involved, it was their first experience being involved in a real research project and invaluable hands-on experience. Students helped with transect design, field sample collection, and laboratory analysis of samples. Their activities around the City of St. Albert sparked much curiosity from passersby, and it was a quick study in scientific communication. Students remarked that this was one of their most valued experiences in their undergraduate degree, and one student was quoted in the local press saying, ‘I feel like I’m contributing to something big.’ She was right!”
Dr. Vera Pfeiffer, a post-doctoral researcher at Washington State University, also described her experience in teaching an Ecological Fieldwork summer course at the Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies in Madison, WI, USA:
“In the first week of the course we discussed topics including global science community, collaboration, and broad ecology concepts, then we focused in on scale, replication, sampling designs and sampling methods and protocols. The GLUE project provided a great opportunity to join in a global collaboration and consider these concepts in a very real way. Two teams in two big vans began sampling the city-spanning transect at each end. Several pairs of samplers deployed from each van at each sampling locale, calling out to each other to ensure adherence to sampling protocols. The full day of ecological field work practice gave us an opportunity to get to know each other and bond through mild exertion in midwest heat and humidity. At the end of the day we celebrated our success in the middle of the transect with only a smidge of friendly competition among the ‘rival’ teams. Dr. Erika Marín-Spiotta shared her lab drying ovens with us as we worked through the clover processing steps.
The hands-on experience of contributing ecological sampling to a global study of urban evolution was a particularly rewarding experience for the class and energized us in our first week. Several of the students applied themselves to ecological research work after graduating from University of Wisconsin - Madison both in the US and as far away as Borneo! Considering concepts from different subfields of ecology and evolution in one urban environment provided us with a more holistic understanding of the overlapping mechanisms shaping living communities of organisms and the interplay between pattern and process in ecology.”
Prof. Nicholas Deacon from Minneapolis Community and Technical College explained his experience involving students in GLUE at a 2-year college:
“I saw the tweet calling for participants on the GLUE project shortly after beginning my position at Minneapolis Community and Technical College. Since this was the first semester I had taught at Minneapolis College, it was a perfect opportunity to incorporate an authentic research experience into the syllabus. As a two-year institution, most of our faculty have no active research or time to even develop or maintain side projects. Our department has identified this lack of opportunity for students to get involved in faculty research as something that can reduce their competitiveness for scholarships, internships, and jobs when they transfer and graduate, so this type of collaboration was perfect for me as a faculty member and for my students. I have continued to use the HCN assay in my plant biology course and it is wonderful to be able to point to the publication and specifically the acknowledgement of past students’ work as an inspirational outcome of scientific research efforts.”
Prof. Oliver Bossdorf has also continued to incorporate GLUE’s protocol into a practical course with undergrad students in Tübingen even after GLUE’s initial sampling of the city by J.F. Niek Scheepens, resulting in the most dense sampling of any city, thanks to 120 students participating each year.
In many cases, GLUE became the focus of undergraduate summer research internships or undergraduate independent research projects.
Prof. Adam Schneider of Hendrix College described how he recruited multiple students to the project:
“Data collection for GLUE 1.0 took place just as I was starting a new tenure track position at Hendrix College, a small liberal-arts college that prizes undergraduate involvement in research. A colleague and I recruited four students to sample transects from Little Rock, Arkansas, and Memphis, Tennessee.”
One of these students, Savannah Draud, described her feelings on the beginning of the project:
“I knew very little about plants, but I was fascinated by questions related to how humankind has and continues to impact the evolution of life on earth.”
Students took the lead on designing transects, collecting samples, conducting the assays, and presenting the team’s results at local research meetings, while forwarding phenotype data and leaf samples for sequencing to the GLUE Lead Team at University of Toronto Mississauga.
“I could see how scientists can use smaller study systems to chip away at answers to larger and more complex questions in Biology,” continued Savannah. “Working with other students with varying scientific interests, as well as with an experienced researcher, helped me learn more about how to approach scientific questions from many different angles.”
Sierra Hubbard, now at Oklahoma State University wrote:
“I'm grateful to have been included in this project. Having this research experience as an undergraduate and learning about the publication process helped prepare me for a successful graduate career in plant ecology and evolution.”
Today, all four of the students who contributed to GLUE 1.0 are in Ph.D. programs in the United States, in diverse subjects including cell biology, systematics, plant-fungi interactions, and the urban ecology of native bee communities.
Gareth Hopkins of Western Oregon University describes how he and his colleague Ava Howard included students in GLUE:
“Two Western Oregon University undergraduate Biology students, Tayler Tate, and Isaac Manju were responsible for sampling the city of Salem, OR, USA. As part of an independent study course in their second year of university in the Fall of 2018, Tayler and Isaac read up on the literature and carefully designed the transect to be used for sampling. The whole team then went out and collected a total of 800 individual clover plants across 40 sites on the urban to rural gradient. Tayler and Isaac then processed all 800 plants in the lab and shared the results with the GLUE team.”
Reflecting on the experience, Isaac said:
“I learned in a project with hundreds of input data, that behind each data point are hours of meticulous research that must be done’.
Similarly, Tayler commented:
“Being a part of the GLUE project, I learned that it is a lot of work to do research. There was a lot of planning, organization, and communication involved in accomplishing just our part of the project. This project was hands-on and allowed me to learn in a way that wasn’t possible in my larger classes. Also, just knowing I was involved in such a big project was exciting. The project also helped me gain confidence as a scientist. As a student, it can be challenging to see yourself as a scientist, but being a part of this project helped me see myself as more than just a student. This project led to more research opportunities for me, and these experiences were great additions to my resume.”
Tayler and Isaac then analyzed their data, wrote up a report, and presented their findings as a scientific poster to the campus community as part of WOU’s “Academic Excellence Showcase” in spring 2019.
Co-supervisor Dr. Gareth Hopkins commented:
“At Western Oregon University we focus on giving undergraduate students transformative hands-on learning opportunities to experience real science. The GLUE project was perfectly designed to do just that, and Dr. Howard and I feel incredibly grateful to have had the opportunity to guide Tayler and Isaac through this experience. What an incredible way for undergraduate students to gain their first exposure to real science by contributing to such a monumental international collaborative project and being a co-author on the final product!”
Dr. Ava Howard agreed:
"We don’t have graduate students at WOU and research opportunities such as this go directly to undergraduates. For most students these research opportunities are their first exposure to the process of scholarship of scientific discovery. Being part of team that is working together to be the first humans to have an answer to key scientific questions is life changing. Mentoring students through their first experience with this process is my favorite part of being a faculty member at a primarily undergraduate institution."
Alex Mahmoud was a student of Prof. Ken Olsen Washington University when he sampled St. Louis during his undergraduate degree:
“I had the privilege of leading the St. Louis collection transect during my undergraduate tenure at Washington University in St. Louis. My partner Julia Beliz and I collected samples along historic Route 66, and it was a pleasure to learn more about the city and the surprising tenacity of white clover! The responsibility of collecting samples, analyzing them for the presence or absence of cyanide, and submitting my results to the GLUE collaboration was a new experience for me and one I took great pride in. Working alongside experts who knew a great deal about the subject and amateurs like myself offered a valuable lesson in the world of global science, which is that a huge study requires just as much sweat and dedication as it does expertise!”
The day before the paper was to be published Alex shared:
“I’m really excited for tomorrow, as I’ve been looking forward to this day for a long time! I’m really glad that this amazing work will be out there for everyone to see!”
Jennifer Le and and Ourania Nikolaidis worked with Prof. Amy Savage of Rutgers University-Camden when they sampled Atlantic City, New Jersey, USA for GLUE. Jennifer was a freshman and Ourania was a newly minted B.Sc. transitioning to a M.Sc. with Prof. Savage.
Jennifer Le described her experience as follows:
“The GLUE project was one of the first research projects I did as an undergraduate. It was a completely new, but ultimately satisfying experience. I loved traveling with Nia as we sampled clovers from all sorts of areas, from the side of highways to the front lawns of the suburbs. Processing the samples after collecting them was somewhat nerve-wracking but it was satisfying to be there for the start and end of our leg of the project. It was one of the main reasons, actually, I continued onto the path of research because it was one of the more enjoyable experiences I had with science.”
Ourania Nikolaidis also shared his perspective in working on GLUE:
“I really enjoyed the GLUE project! I think my favorite part was scouting field sites! I think it was a great example early on in my career of putting my organizational skills to good use. Also, it was my first time mentoring another student! Jen was great to work with and I learned a lot about working with a student to complete goals.”
Giada Centenaro is a PhD candidate at University of Lleida, but at the time she sampled Stockholm, Sweden, she was an undergraduate student. She explains her involvement as follows:
“I gave my little contribution to the GLUE project while doing a 4-months internship at Stockholm University during summer of 2018.
The first part of the sampling had been straight forward, being quite easy to spot clovers in the mowed grass of parks and churches in the city center. The challenge (and the fun) rose when doing the sampling in the rural area surrounding Stockholm.
On one of the last days of sampling in the rural area, I got close to a lake, where I stopped by to enjoy the view. I noticed there were a couple of people nearby but I did not pay attention to them. So I started to look around, check the grass for clovers, having a closer look. But I had no luck, so I went away, stopping from time to time to check for clovers in any unexpected area with green grass. After a while, I decided to go back to the lake to go swimming and start my way back to Stockholm city. The moment I turned I noticed that somebody was following me (50 m distance), taking a picture and quickly disappearing on a lateral road. Cycling back, I was laughing by my own, thinking that probably those people sent the picture to the all neighborhood (10 houses maximum) with a message in capital letters: BE CAREFUL, THERE IS A SUSPICIOUS GIRL, WITH A BIKE AND A WHITE BOX, GOING AROUND AND CAREFULLY INSPECTING GREEN SPOTS.”
Many graduate students also participated in GLUE.
Zoe Xirocostas was an undergraduate students working with Prof. Angela Moles at University of New South Wales, Australia, when she learned about GLUE.
“I first learnt of the GLUE project a few weeks prior to submitting my honours thesis in October 2018, and having just finished a meta-analysis I eagerly jumped at the opportunity to get away from my desk and out in the field. My supervisor Prof. Angela Moles told me about the project and invited me to collect samples together with Prof. Stephen Bonser and Frank Hemmings. At this time I was a budding ecologist, who still hadn’t decided whether I wanted to continue my studies and do a PhD or if I should join the workforce, but either way I was happy I could play a small part in contributing to a worldwide study.
Although it was a relatively short amount of time in the field, I still had a blast! Driving around Wollongong and snipping bits of clover from people’s lawn, trying not to get weird looks from passer-by’s was both hilarious and futile. It was even better when we got to the rural end of our gradient as we got to pet friendly horses and cows that would approach us (plus there were less stares from confused humans). I also liked learning to conduct cyanide assays and got immense satisfaction seeing the Feigl-Anger paper turning all different intensities of blue (as a newby to this technique it also reassured me that I had done it right!). Going into it, I didn’t think participating in this project would open the door to so many more future collaborations and lead me to make connections with so many other GLUE collaborators across the world. Now I’m finishing up my PhD (yes I went the research route) and am eager to continue participating in global research projects (including GLUE 2.0!) and hope one day I can lead one of my own.”
Filipa Grilo was a new Ph.D. student at the University of Lisbon when she sampled Almada, Portugal.
“I collaborated with the GLUE project during the 1st year of my PhD. My supervisor asked me if I was interested in participating in a collaborative study and learning more about how cities are potentially driving parallel evolution in a plant species common in nearly all cities in the world and of course I said ‘yes’. First, since I was not that familiar with the species, I asked a plant biologist friend if she could help me identifying it and we went for a walk around our campus I saw that this little plant was almost everywhere. Then, after deciding on a sampling design and with the help of some friends, we went to explore the city of Almada. We started by sampling gardens and parks within the urban matrix, and slowly discovered green spaces in the outskirts of the city. We lost count on the number of roundabouts we sampled, where people looked at us from their cars like we were aliens looking for something. But one of the great things about working in cities is that you get to know the city as you never would in any other way. And this was certainly the case. I now look at Almada in a different way, not just as a nice city next to a big river but have more insight and clarity on the gradient of urbanization just a few kilometers from the urban matrix.
"After collecting the samples, it was time to go to the lab. And this was something that I had no experience with since I had never even entered in the Ecophysiology lab. I asked a colleague for guidance, so I knew the lab rules and where everything was and started my journey in applying the instructions of GLUE. Since I had no previous experience in managing lab work, I really liked the feeling of having timed experiences, and having to maximize the amount of analyzed samples in the short time that I had. This meant that I had to work on weekends and holidays and knowing that this was being done by people nearly everywhere in the world was a great incentive. Doing a PhD can be a very solitary process and participating in this project reminded me that science is made of collaborations and teamwork and that not only motivated me working harder on this project but also on my PhD.”
Jiao Qu was a Ph.D. student at University of Ghent when she sampled two cities, Ghent and Antwerp, which became central to her Ph.D. thesis with Prof. Dries Bonte and Martijn Vandegehuchte. She described her experience as follows:
“It was my honor to be involved in the large GLUE project as a PhD student from Ghent University . This involvement broadened my horizon and changed the way I think, which enlightened me about how to perform an international collaborative project. The most interesting thing when I was sampling in the two cities is that people always asked why we worked on such a common plant that could be ignored in our daily life. This conveys two philosophies: “Always learn from nature” and “Small things make great changes”. In addition to experience in scientific research, GLUE provided me the opportunity to know the two beautiful cities and to meet their kind people. Some funny things doing with my colleagues did make our sampling interesting, such as eating a large caterpillar. This project created such a great opportunity for my PhD.”
It was important to the GLUE Lead Team that anyone on this project with access to basic research equipment (i.e., a freezer, incubator and pipettes) could participate. We also strived to make our authorship and data policy clear, explicit and fair. This meant that regardless of a participants background, stage of career, or age, they were treated as a full collaborator, so long as they substantially contributed to designing their transect, sampling plants, collecting and submitting the data. All of these collaborators were then given an opportunity to comment on the results and writing of the paper multiple before submission. In this way, these students richly earned their spot as coauthors.
In total, 126 (44%!) of the 287 coauthors of GLUE were undergraduate and graduate students on GLUE’s paper in Science, and dozens more contributed as part of large field research classes. We are very proud of the contributions that all of these students made to GLUE, and that the project played a small part in their training as scientists.
Related news:
To learn more about the contributions of MacEwan's University's students to GLUE, read media coverage from St. Albert Gazette.
Read about how Danica Levesque of Sudbury, Canada, contributed to GLUE as a 16 year-old high school student and became one of GLUE's youngest coauthors.
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