Hartwick college

As a child in Hungary, what did you want to be when you grew up?
A geologist or some kind of scientist, always. I started collecting snails and gravel at 5 years old, then I started bringing home little forest animals. By 8th grade, I had my first rock collection. My dad is a historian and wanted me to be one, too. I told him I'd be an earth historian.

Now what do you do?
My major interest is to understand how biology, geology, and chemistry interact. My specific research interests are how microbes and plants interact with rocks; how plants decompose rocks and affect water quality and soil formation; and how the network among plants, fungi, and bacteria govern the mineral nutrient availability and the health of the forest.

Are students involved?
All the time. Two seniors—Justin Allen '10 and Matt Caldwell '10—are working with me on starting up a long-term project studying aluminum contamination in the Swift River watershed of New Hampshire. Trees are dying, there is aluminum in the water, and the area was affected by acid rain, so we are trying to find some answers. We sampled there in May and September to test the water and soil chemistry. It's watershed-scale work with about 25 sampling locations. We presented our preliminary results at the Geological Society of America Conference. Presenting is good experience for our students; it takes a lot of planning, a lot of preparation. This is the first step of what could be major long-term work. Now, we're documenting findings and developing hypotheses. The students and I are planning a one-year project that could become a 10-year study. The U.S. Forest Service is interested.

Where is the best place to teach?
In the lab, in the field. You need classroom work, too, but I don't like to do much of that. It's harder to understand your work if you're not directly doing it. Labs make memories for the students. Touching things, using your senses—that is what works. It's very rare to find a scientist who learns just from books.

What about theory?
It is very important, certainly. You have to know what's been learned before. Then you quickly want to start adding to it yourself. You develop a hypothesis, you test it, test it again, and usually modify your original idea. I am always doing experiential learning with my students. If you really want students to learn something, they have to do it. Without personal experience, I think it's hard and can be a waste of time.

Have you won any awards lately?
Yes. The Marie Curie Intra-European Fellowship for early career scientists. I came up with some ideas about root-microbe-mineral interfaces, and they gave me money. Someone had seen my poster at a conference and they were interested in my work. The program chooses you based on your research ideas, but also on who you are, how well you work with others, and if they think you are trainable. I will be at the University of Copenhagen, Chemistry Department, NanoGeo-Science Group for a year and a half, starting in July. I will have my own group of students—undergraduates, masters, and doctoral—and will work with a nano-geoscientist from their chemistry department and a microbiologist from Lund University in Sweden. The topic of this fellowship is the topic of my major research: biology, rocks, and hydrology. We want to improve forest production in Europe and other places in natural ways. We will start in the lab, growing trees and feeding them different minerals and elements. In the lab, you have to make modifications and simplifications, so we will test our findings in tree nurseries and then possibly at larger scale.

Any chance for Hartwick students to share the experience?
Yes, definitely. I will have three opportunities to take Hartwick students with me—two J Terms and my second summer. My grant allows for living expenses, so they will just have to pay their transportation. They will be very involved in my work. I am very excited.

Do you ever relax?
Well, I'm not a good vacationer. My career is my hobby. My husband, Keith, also is a geologist. When we go away, we're studying rocks. I'm lucky.