Samm Azen

Samm Azen, from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, is majoring in outdoor education, with a minor in environmental conservation and sustainability. He will graduate with a bachelor of science degree in May 2019. Samm applied for a Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) because he was interested in learning about what goes into researching a little-known ecological niche, in this case, the role of small mammals in forest regeneration. He values learning how every species is important in an ecosystem and wanted to learn how to share that understanding with others. Samm notes that his project provided great practice in setting specific, achievable goals and reaching them on time through hard work. “This project helped to show me what goes into research and helped me get better about talking about specific environmental issues.” Samm plans to work as an environmental activist and hopes that his Inquiry article will “get the word out about getting the word out, because many scientific communities lack the ability to get information to laypeople.”