黑料正能量 student Amanda Williams has spent her spring semester supporting the 鈥渕odest鈥� effort of the Smithsonian Institute Museum of Natural History to catalog its collection of 4.5 million botanical specimens. Not a bad gig for a junior 鈥渆nthralled with the natural world鈥� who is double majoring in and .
Williams, a junior from Millsboro, Delaware, was a participant this semester with the , a program that combines a semester in the nation鈥檚 capital, living with other students in a house in the Brookland area and working four days a week in an internship.
William鈥檚 internship role is akin to a circulation librarian. Rather than books, however, she deals with plant specimens. She helps send, receive and catalog specimens for the Botany Collections Management Department
On a typical day at the facility on 10th and Constitution Avenue near the Mall, Williams receives four or five boxes, each with 10 to 200 botanical samples 鈥攗sually leaf, stem and flower. She mails out a similar quantity of specimens to researchers worldwide, who use them to puzzle out, for example, genetic evolution, biodiversity loss, and climate change.
She opens a box to find specimens pressed and mounted on archival paper or placed within sheets of newsprint. She records the basic transactional data. Then, if a specimen is to be filed in the museum鈥檚 collection, rather than passed along to an individual researcher, she鈥檒l enter it into the database:聽scientific name; identifying number unique to the museum; collector鈥檚 name; and date and location from which it was gathered, including such specifics as altitude and GPS coordinate.
She also catalogs this data for specimens already in the herbarium鈥檚 holdings, some of which were gathered up to 150 years ago.
Williams enjoys the work: 鈥淚 find it very interesting to see plants from all over the world and learn about their taxonomic rank and geographic distribution.鈥�
She also assists with, and is a fan of, the Seeds of Success Program, a collection of native plant seeds sent from herbaria around the country. When these come to her, she ensures they鈥檙e labeled and forwards them to a Smithsonian support center where they鈥檙e deposited in a germplasm repository, an effort to thwart species extinction and restore sustainable ecosystems.
Grounding herself in Earth鈥檚 plant kingdom is a step toward Williams鈥檚 鈥渦ltimate dream鈥漮f conducting research on the International Space Station. 鈥淢y mom says I talked about being an astronaut since I first learned to speak,鈥� she recalled. As a child, she stargazed through her own telescope, scrutinized photos of outer space in books and was hooked on聽Star Trek.
Her interest in nature bloomed in her first biology class鈥攚ith teacher Darryl Hudson at Delmarva Christian High School in Georgetown, Delaware鈥攚here the intricate yet efficient workings of plant and animal cells awed her. 鈥淢y appreciation of both nature and God grew,鈥� Williams said. Later, when she learned how research in space is opening frontiers into understanding biological systems, her two interests coalesced into a career plan.
A major benefit of her semester in D.C. is a free ticket to visit other Smithsonian museums and to attend their seminars. She joined a group of middle-schoolers participating in a聽Youth Astronomers summit at the National Air and Space Museum to learn聽how to remote-control a sophisticated orbiting telescope to obtain space images of their choice. Amanda took and edited photos of the Eagle Nebula and Andromeda Galaxy.
鈥淲ashington is a really cool place to be,鈥� she said.鈥� I went to the Inauguration and Women’s March, both historical events I won鈥檛 forget.鈥�
Williams has also taken in cultural fare, including a current exhibit 鈥減eople are going crazy over鈥� at the Hirshhorn Museum鈥攖he hallucinatory 鈥淚nfinity Mirror Rooms鈥� of Yayoi Kusama. 鈥淚 use my badge to jump in line,鈥� she says with a laugh.
Williams lives with 13 other students in the Nelson Good House, where doing chores together creates 鈥渂onding time鈥� and 鈥渢here鈥檚 always someone to hang out with.鈥�
Her unique contribution: sharing an enthusiasm for guppies. 鈥淲hile here, my guppies鈥攁 brilliant aquamarine-blue male and a red and blue female with a black-spotted tail鈥攈ave had 30-plus babies, and more are on the way. It鈥檚 so cool to see people from my house interested in them because many have never had experience with breeding fish.鈥�
At semester鈥檚 end, she鈥檒l gift one of these tropical Poecilia reticulata to any housemate she鈥檚 sure will properly care for it. Then, she heads back to 黑料正能量, where she鈥檚 been awarded, with Hannah Daley, 黑料正能量鈥檚 first summer student research grant. The duo will explore the relationship between canopy cover and stream water temperature in two headwater streams near Bergton, Va.
Editor鈥檚 note: WCSC regularly places students at Smithsonian sites, including the Anacostia Community Museum, the National Portrait Gallery, Natural History Museum, 聽American History Museum, Office of the Chief Information Officer (OCIO), Office of Exhibits Central, Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage.聽