The DaRin Butz Foundation Research Internship Program at the Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University gives undergraduates in the life sciences a unique opportunity to experience research from start to finish while gaining training and connections among scientific colleagues. Spending ten weeks at the Arboretum during the summer, DaRin Butz Interns conduct and present research and participate in activities with the other interns.
2023 DaRin Butz Research Interns
Angelique Acevedo
Cornell University – 2023
DaRin Butz Intern in the Villouta Lab
Angelique Acevedo is an undergraduate student at Cornell University.
Maya Akazawam
Oberlin College – 2025
DaRin Butz Intern in the Taylor Lab
Maya Akazawam is an undergraduate student at Oberlin College.
Estefania Elejalde Baena
University of Antioquia, Colombia – 2023
DaRin Butz Intern in the Friedman Lab
Estefania Elejalde Baena is an undergraduate Biology student at the University of Antioquia, Colombia. She is interested in the evolution of floral attributes that have a direct impact on the reproductive success of the plant and that have promoted the fascinating evolution and radiation of Angiosperms, such as floral color. Estefania is currently developing her undergraduate thesis, working with a unique parasite-host system found in the Colombian Eastern Cordillera.
Vedika Jha
University of Toronto, Canada – 2024
DaRin Butz Intern in the Hopkins Lab
Vedika Jha is an undergraduate student at the University of Toronto in Canada.
My Trinh
Oberlin College – 2025
DaRin Butz Intern in the Friedman Lab
My Trinh (she/her) is a student at Oberlin College studying Biology and Biochemistry. Having grown up in Vietnam, this plant enthusiast enjoys gardening, painting, drinking coffee, and playing guitar. In the Friedman Lab, My will study the evolutionary diversification of plants through structure and development. After graduation, My wishes to pursue a research career in botany or molecular biology. She is excited to be in Boston for the first time.
Daniel Pinckney
Harvard College – 2024
DaRin Butz Intern in the Templer and Hutyra Labs
Daniel Pinckney is an undergraduate student at Harvard College.
Kathryn Vanden Hoek
University of Missouri, Columbia – 2024
DaRin Butz Intern in the Taylor Lab
Kathryn Vanden Hoek is an undergraduate student at the University of Missouri, Columbia.
Yusuf Yildirim
Harvard College – 2025
DaRin Butz Intern in the Hopkins Lab
Yusuf Yildirim is an undergraduate student at Harvard College.
2022 DaRin Butz Research Interns
Olivia Bronzo-Munich
Bowdoin College – 2023
DaRin Butz Intern in the Hopkins Lab
Olivia Bronzo-Munich is an undergraduate student at Bowdoin College studying Biology. She is interested in plant-insect interactions and their role in plant and insect adaptation, speciation, and diversification. As a DaRin Butz intern, she will be working in the Hopkins lab researching adaptation and speciation in the wildflower Phlox.
Cameron Chin
University of Massachusetts, Amherst – 2023
DaRin Butz Intern in the Templer and Hutyra Labs
Cameron Chin (she/her) is a junior undergraduate at UMass Amherst studying environmental science and plant & soil science. Growing up in Boston, she’s enjoyed visiting the urban wilds and local parks to sketch the landscape and wildlife. She plans to go to graduate school to study plant/ microbe interactions under global change factors to work within the sphere of conservation. As an intern in the Templer/ Hutyra Labs, she will be researching nutrient cycling in urban soil systems.
Eden Fisher
Harvard College – 2025
DaRin Butz Intern in the Friedman Lab
Eden Fisher is an undergraduate at Harvard College interested in studying math, plants, rocks,
public health, or some combination of the above. She grew up in Rhode Island and likes to
spend as much of her time outside as possible. In the Friedman Lab, Eden will explore the
connections between developmental, phylogenetic, and evolutionary biology.
James Fortin
Williams College – 2022.5
DaRin Butz Intern in the Friedman Lab
James Fortin grew up north of Boston and enjoys gardening, fishing, and exploring. He is currently pursuing a Biology major at Williams College. After graduation, he plans to do fieldwork in evolutionary biology or ecology. In the Friedman Lab, James will study plant morphologies in the context of evolutionary diversification. He appreciated this opportunity to write about himself in the third person.
William Huntley
Bennington College – 2023
DaRin Butz Intern in the Moeglein Lab
William Huntley is a rising senior at Bennington College in southern Vermont, studying biology with a focus in proteomics and plant biology. Originally from southwestern New Hampshire, he enjoys hiking, gardening, and being outside. He is excited to be working in the Moeglein lab researching leaf development.
Emily Lancaster
University of Michigan – 2023
DaRin Butz Intern in the Villouta Lab
Emily Lancaster is an undergraduate student at the University of Michigan studying plant biology. She is interested in plant adaptations and the affects of climate change on forest communities. As a DaRin Butz intern, Emily will be working in the Villouta lab investigating winter physiology in plants.
Joshua Murphy
The George Washington University – 2025
DaRin Butz Intern in the Hopkins Lab
Joshua Murphy is an undergraduate student at The George Washington University studying Biology. He is interested in plant genetics and ethnobotany. As a DaRin Butz intern, he will be working in the Hopkins lab researching adaptation and speciation in the Texas wildflower Phlox.
Ben Tibbetts
Case Western Reserve University – 2025
DaRin Butz Intern in the Taylor Lab
Ben Tibbetts is an undergraduate student studying Biology at Case Western Reserve University. He is a violinist, plant lover, and particularly interested in the relationship between organisms and their environment. As a DaRin Butz intern he will be working in the Taylor Lab investigating the effects of climate change on plants, as well as how plants can influence their surroundings in return.
2021 DaRin Butz Research Interns
Aunnesha Bhowmick
University of California, Berkeley – 2024
DaRin Butz Intern in the Taylor Lab
Aunnesha Bhowmick is an undergraduate student at University of California, Berkeley, studying Molecular Environmental Biology. She is passionate about climate change research especially through the lens of ecosystem ecology and biogeochemistry. As a DaRin Butz intern, she is excited to work in the Taylor Lab where she is analyzing remote sensing data to better understand the effects of climate change in the Arctic biome.
Dylan Dubay
Goucher College – 2022
DaRin Butz Intern in the Grossman Lab
Dylan is an undergraduate student at Goucher College studying Biology. He is interested in investigating adaptive genetic variance in hardwood trees and understanding forest ecology. As a Darin Butz Intern, he is working in the Grossman lab analyzing the potential effects of climate change on the Maple (Acer) genus.
Dylan is returning to the Arboretum in the summer of 2022 to work in the curation department as a Hunnewell Intern.
Jerry Gonzalez-Cantoral
University of San Carlos of Guatemala – 2021
DaRin Butz Intern in the Moeglein Lab
Jerry González-Cantoral is studying biology at University of San Carlos of Guatemala. His main research is focused on the influence of soil physicochemical properties on secondary metabolites secretion in flowers of the devil’s hand tree (Chiranthodendron pentadactylon). As a DaRin Butz intern, he is working in the Moeglein Lab exploring the complexities of leaf formation strategies and bud dormancy.
Jerry is currently working for a company called “Special Fruits and Vegetables” in the tissue culture laboratory propagating blackberries, blueberries and raspberries.
Millicent Harding
Durham University, United Kingdom – 2021
DaRin Butz Intern in the Taylor Lab
Millie studied Physical Geography at Durham University in the UK. Her research focused on land management techniques in the UK and the improvement of Payment for Ecosystem Services schemes in agriculture through interviews, choice and crop modelling. In the Taylor lab, she is working on spatial analysis of warming in the Arctic using remote sensing data.
Millie is currently a Masters by Research student at Durham University in the Department of Geography. She is continuing to collaborate with the Taylor Lab on their DaRin Butz Internship project ‘Alder in the Arctic’.
Erica Kirchhof
Cornell University – 2022
DaRin Butz Intern in the Kovaleski Lab
Erica Kirchhof is an undergraduate at Cornell University studying plant sciences with minors in climate change and inequality studies. She is interested in understanding the relationships between plants and the environment through the lens of physiology, ecosystem interactions, and global change. As a DaRin Butz intern, Erica is working in the Kovaleski Lab to explore the winter physiology of woody plants in the Arboretum’s living collections.
Erica is currently a PhD student in the Kovaleski Lab at the University of Wisconsin, Madison.
Bea Mace
Cornell University – 2023
DaRin Butz Intern in the Kovaleski Lab
Bea Mace is an undergraduate student at the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences at Cornell University studying Plant Science and Climate Change. She is interested in tree physiology, native landscape conservation, and the ecology of natural and cultivated woody landscapes.
Yanni Pappas
Northeastern University – 2022
DaRin Butz Intern in the Templer Lab
Yanni Pappas is an undergraduate at Northeastern University studying Environmental Science and Political Science. He is interested in understanding the ways that human and natural systems interact, and how that knowledge can be used to help people live more sustainably with Earth’s environments. Yanni is working in the Templer Lab studying how air pollution affects urban ecosystems.
Nidhi Vinod
Eastern Mennonite University – 2020
DaRin Butz Intern in the Grossman Lab
As a Darin Butz Intern, Nidhi Vinod will examine the impact of climate change on Maples (Acer genus) in the Grossman Lab.
Starting in the Fall of 2021, Nidhi is a PhD student at UCLA in the laboratory of Lawren Sack.
2019 DaRin Butz Research Interns
Liam Cleary
University of Massachusetts, Amherst – 2020
DaRin Butz Intern in the Friedman Lab
Liam Cleary is an undergraduate student at UMass Amherst studying plant and soil science. His current research focuses on the evolutionary relationship between flowering plants and their pollinators. Liam is working in the Friedman Lab studying Magnolia macrophylla’s relationship with honey bee pollinators.
After working as a research assistant at BTI/Cornell University, Liam is a PhD student at Clark University (starting Fall 2022) studying population genomics of Basidiobolus.
Henry Coe
Oberlin College – 2020
DaRin Butz Intern in the Grossman Lab
Henry Coe, an undergraduate at Oberlin College, is working in the Grossman Lab.
Yiling Fang
Oberlin College – 2020
DaRin Butz Intern in the Holbrook Lab
Yiling Fang is an undergraduate at Oberlin College studying Biology. She is interested in investigating plant developmental patterns and understanding plant physiology. She is working in the Holbrook Lab to understand cavitation resistance.
Mayerlin Fischbach Barria
University of Central Florida – 2020
DaRin Butz Intern in the Des Marais Lab
Mayerlin Fischbach Barria is an undergraduate student at the University of Central Florida, studying biology with a focus on plant science. Her major interests include understanding ecosystem resilience as well as plant-environment interactions, which she is working on this summer in the Des Marais Lab.
Fiona Harrigian
Wellesley College – 2020
DaRin Butz Intern in the Templer & Hutyra Labs
Fiona Harrigian is an undergraduate student at Wellesley College studying Biology. She is interested in public health, microbiology, the environment, and the connections between them. As a DaRin Butz intern, she is exploring the connections between urbanization and plants and soils in the Templer and Hutyra Labs.
Daniel Mindich
Harvard College – 2022
DaRin Butz Intern in the Friedman Lab
Daniel Mindich is an undergraduate student at Harvard College studying Environmental Science and Public Policy. He is interested in conservation, forestry, and environmental policy as well as religion. Danny is excited to work in the Friedman Lab.
Emma O’Donnell
University of Massachusetts, Amherst – 2021
DaRin Butz Intern in the Hopkins Lab
Emma O’Donnell is an undergraduate student at UMass Amherst, majoring in biology. She currently studies plant regulatory genomics in the model organism grass species Brachypodium distachyon. She’s involved in analyzing how specific genetic mutations affect the secondary cell wall of these plants. As a DaRin Butz intern, she is working in the Hopkins Lab.
Dannielle Waugh
University of Central Florida – 2020
DaRin Butz Intern in the Spriggs Lab
Dannielle Waugh is an undergraduate at the University of Central Florida, currently obtaining her bachelor’s degree in Biology with a minor in Environmental Sciences. At her home institution, her research focuses on observing the role of plant growth rate in relation to leaf traits and environmental characteristics. Some of her interests are ecology, plant-environment interactions, invasive biology, and conservation. As a DaRin Butz intern, she is working in the Spriggs Lab studying the evolution and plant conservation of the chestnuts and ashes (Castanea and Fraxinus).
Erin Wright
Harvard College – 2021
DaRin Butz Intern in the Holbrook Lab
Erin Wright is an undergraduate at Harvard College. As a DaRin Butz Intern, she is working in the Holbrook Lab.
2018 DaRin Butz Research Interns
Bridget Bickner
University of Nebraska, Lincoln – 2018
DaRin Butz Intern in the Hopkins Lab
Bridget Bickner studied biology at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, where her research focused on the evolutionary implications of sexual conflict and mating strategies in spiders. In the future, she plans to focus on microevolutionary processes. As a DaRin Butz intern and under an American Society of Plant Biologists fellowship, Bridget worked in the Hopkins Lab to locate cis-regulatory promoter mutations related to Phlox drummondii flower color variation.
Since Fall 2019, Bridget is a PhD Student in Organismic and Evolutionary Biology at Harvard University in the Hopkins Lab.
Anna Blaustein
Bowdoin College – 2019
DaRin Butz Intern in the Des Marais Lab
Anna Blaustein was an undergraduate student at Bowdoin College where she studied Biology and Earth and Oceanographic Science. Anna worked in the Des Marais Lab investigating how CO2 levels affect resource allocation in cereal grain-like grasses.
Anna joined the Graduate Program in Science Writing at MIT in the Fall of 2020.
Emily Brown
Boston University – 2019
DaRin Butz Intern in the Zieminska Lab
Emily Brown, an undergraduate student at Boston University, studied Biology with a minor in Anthropology. She worked on the project “Tree Anatomy and Function” in the Zieminska Lab.
Emily is a research data coordinator in the Cardiology Department at Boston Children’s Hospital.
Matthew Fertakos
The College of New Jersey – 2019
DaRin Butz Intern in the Spriggs Lab
Matt Fertakos is an undergraduate studying biology at The College of New Jersey. His major interests include ecology, evolution, and conservation. Matt worked in the Spriggs Lab studying evolution and plant conservation of the severely threatened chestnut and ash trees.
Matt was awarded the 2019 Undergraduate Research Prize by the American Society of Plant Taxonomists for this research. Since summer of 2021, Matt is a PhD student in Organismic and Evolutionary Biology at UMass Amherst.
- Spriggs EL, Fertakos ME. 2021. Evolution of Castanea in North America: restriction-site-associated DNA sequencing and ecological modeling reveal a history of radiation, range shifts, and disease. American Journal of Botany 108: 1692-704.
Anny Garcés Palacio
Universidad de Antioquia, Colombia – 2019
DaRin Butz Intern in the Friedman Lab
Anny Garcés Palacio is from Colombia at Antioquia University. She is interested in Evo-Devo plants, evolutionary biology, organismic and embryology. Anny worked in the Friedman Lab exploring the process of double fertilization in Conifers.
Starting in the Fall of 2022, Anny is a PhD student in Germany in the CEPLAS cluster.
Zhe He
Wheaton College – 2018
DaRin Butz Intern in the Holbrook Lab
Zhe He is a recent graduate from Wheaton College with a chemistry major and biology minor. Zhe worked in the Holbrook Lab to help characterize vascular xylem vulnerability to cavitation. In the Walhout lab at Wheaton, she studied the diffusion of rhodamine b in polyelectrolyte solutions.
Since Fall 2019, Zhe is a PhD Student in Organismic and Evolutionary Biology at Harvard University in the Holbrook Lab.
Marissa Lee
Boston University – 2019
DaRin Butz Intern in the Templer and Hutyra Labs
Marissa Lee is an undergraduate at Boston University. She worked on a project in the Templer and Hutyra Labs.
Derek Schneider
Amherst College – 2020
DaRin Butz Intern in the Hopkins Lab
Derek Schneider is a biology major at Amherst College. As a DaRin Butz Intern, he studied speciation in plants in the Hopkins Lab.
Andrew Walter-McNeill
Bowdoin College – 2019
DaRin Butz Intern in the Des Marais Lab
Andrew Walter-McNeill is a undergraduate at Bowdoin College studying biology and computer science. He helped investigate how certain crops respond to changes in their growth environment (especially those related to climate change) in the Des Marais Lab. He spent his spring semester studying the boundary between eucalypt forest and rainforest in northern Queensland.
Andrew is currently a Research Assistant in the Axel Lab, a neuroscience lab at Columbia University.
2017 DaRin Butz Research Interns
Ashley Bang
Brown University – 2019
DaRin Butz Intern in the Templer and Hutyra Labs
Ashley Bang was an undergraduate at Brown University studying Geology-Biology. She worked on the ‘Air Pollutions in Urban Ecosystems’ project in the Templer and Hutyra Labs. Originally from Hong Kong, Ashley is interested in studying the shift in ecosystem interactions and functions that have been caused by anthropogenic activities.
Ashley was awarded a Fulbright scholarship for marine conservation & ecology research in Taiwan in the Fall of 2019.
- Hundertmark WJ, Lee M, Smith IA, Bang AHY, Chen V, Gately C, Templer PH, Hutyra LR. 2021. Influence of landscape management practices on urban greenhouse gas budgets. Carbon Balance Management.
Juliet Bramante
Harvard University – 2018
DaRin Butz Intern in the Hopkins Lab
Juliet Bramante was a Harvard undergraduate working in the Hopkins Lab. Juliet helped to identify cis regulatory changes responsible for color variation in Phlox drummondii.
Vivien Chen
Boston University – 2019
DaRin Butz Intern in the Holbrook, Templer and Hutyra Labs
Vivien Chen was an undergraduate at Boston University studying Earth and Environmental Sciences with a minor in Biology. Vivien worked in the Holbrook Lab to determine whether a correlation exists with phloem size and ploidy in three species of white magnolias. In the Templer and Hutyra Labs, she studied the effects climate change has on nonstructural carbohydrates in hardwood trees.
- Hundertmark WJ, Lee M, Smith IA, Bang AHY, Chen V, Gately C, Templer PH, Hutyra LR. 2021. Influence of landscape management practices on urban greenhouse gas budgets. Carbon Balance Management.
Jessica Leslie
UMass, Amherst – 2017
DaRin Butz Intern in the Hopkins Lab
Jessica Leslie is a graduate from UMass Amherst, where she was a Biology major with a certificate in Civic Engagement and Public Service. She is interested in plant-insect interactions, plant adaptations, and plant speciation. Jessica worked in the Hopkins Lab.
Jessica is a PhD student at the University of California, Berkley in the Molecular and Cell Biology program starting in Fall 2019.
Sruti Pandey
Boston University – 2020
DaRin Butz Intern in the Holbrook Lab
Sruti Pandey is an undergraduate student at Boston University studying biology. She worked with Dr. Losada in the Holbrook Lab and quantitatively studied the vascular system of transgenic Nicotiana plants using confocal microscopy.
After working as a research associate at a biotech company called Fluent BioSciences, Sruti is a PhD student at the University of Michigan.
Asa Peters
Connecticut College – 2019
DaRin Butz Intern in the Wolkovich Lab
Asa Peters from Newton, Massachusetts was a student at Connecticut College studying botany and music technology. He is interested in botany, ecology, and also ethnobotany. Asa worked in the Wolkovich Lab.
Asa started a MS program, Critical Ethnic and Community Studies, at UMass Boston in the Fall of 2020.
Emily Rosa
Sonoma State University – 2018
DaRin Butz Intern in the Zieminska Lab
Emily Rosa is from Northern California and was an undergraduate at Sonoma State University in Environmental Studies and Planning with minors in Biology and Geography. Emily worked in the Zieminska Lab.
Starting in 2019, Emily is a civilian environmental biologist for the US Air Force.
- Ziemińska K, Rosa E, Gleason SM, Holbrook NM. Wood day capacitance is related to water content, wood density, and anatomy across 30 temperate tree species. Plant Cell & Environment 43: 3048– 3067.
Jack Smith
Harvard University – 2019
DaRin Butz Intern in the Friedman Lab
Jack Smith was a Harvard undergraduate studying Environmental Science and Public Policy. Jack worked in the Friedman Lab exploring plant morphology and development.