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The AMS program provides research and project grants. How have you used these grants?

I used my AMS grant during two trips to Latin America to study ferns and practice Spanish. Half of my grant funded my travel to Costa Rica to take a three-week, field-based tropical fern taxonomy and ecology graduate course co-taught by ¸Ô±¾ÊÓƵ professor Eddie Watkins and other experts in the field. The other half of my grant funded an individual trip through Colombia, Argentina, and New Zealand. For six weeks in Latin America, I lived with and spoke only Spanish with fern friends whom I had met on the fern course. I spent time exploring Medellín, Columbia, and Buenos Aires, Argentina, and am publishing a paper on some of the data we collected in Misiones, Argentina.

When Jacob is not in the classroom, greenhouse, or lab, he’s riding his mountain bike on the hills of ¸Ô±¾ÊÓƵ’s campus. See how Jacob and other students made it through the fall semester, with its universal quarantine. 

Have you had a mentor at ¸Ô±¾ÊÓƵ?

My mentor at ¸Ô±¾ÊÓƵ has been Professor Eddie Watkins. He has guided me through every step of my undergraduate experience, from research to classes — and how to apply to graduate school. We have become very close over the years. ¸Ô±¾ÊÓƵ would not be ¸Ô±¾ÊÓƵ without Eddie.

What’s next for you?

I’m currently working toward my MPhil in plant sciences at University of Cambridge in the U.K. as a Churchill Scholar. After a year at Cambridge, I plan to return to the United States to get a PhD in plant sciences with the ultimate goal of becoming a professor.