George Burruss C'22 joins Lillian Fulgham C'21 and Angus Pritchard C'22 as the third Herbarium Undergraduate Fellow to be chosen this academic year. The Fellowship program is supported by an endowment established by the family of Ashley Block, C’13, in her memory. George served as a research assistant with the Sinking Pond tree demography project this past fall. All three Fellows will be spending Spring Break on Sapelo Island with me as part of the Coastal Ecology class.
George describes his interests in becoming a fellow:
While my interest in ecology has only sprouted over recent years, nature and the outdoors have always been an integral part of my identity. Growing up in the foothill of the Appalachians in Lynchburg Virginia and spending my summers on the rocky shores of Caribou lake in northern Maine I spent my time hiking and exploring the outdoors. My love for bird watching and nature photography led me to my fellow Fellow Angus Prichard who introduced me to Professor Evans and the Sinking Pond research. As a Herbarium Fellow I plan on helping to educate and involve Sewanee students in Herbarium activities and contributing to several possible research projects including one that studies how the invasive Tallow tree on Sapelo island affects dune chronosequences and how we understand dune plant succession. I currently plan on pursing a biology major with a focus on ecology.