Leanne Bulger
Sink to Source: investigating the origin of high CO2 emissions in soil cavities
B.S. Biological Sciences
Leanne is a Summer 2025 Student Project Award Recipient.
When permafrost thaws it creates an irregular terrain of dips and bumps known as thermokarst. Similarly to karst landscapes, within thermokarst sometimes deep, unseen cavities form. However, unlike karst terrain, very little is known about the unique behavior and characteristics of thermokarst cavities. Under the mentorship of Dr. Go Iwahana, Associate Research Professor at the International Arctic Research Center, Leanne’s research focuses on the isotopic characteristics of air exiting a small ground cavity on the UAF North Campus and uses DNA extraction to study the microbial communities that may be present in the soil
How is your project going so far this semester?
Really well! In addition to regular mentorship from Dr. Iwahana– even while he has been out of the country– graduate students in the Geosciences department, Institute of Arctic Biology and INBRE have been amazing collaborators and leaders. I’ve gotten guidance from staff and researchers in the Geophysical Institute, the »¨˝·Ö±˛Ą Stable Isotope Facility, and from the Genomics Core Lab. It was important to me to lead the purchasing and procurement process, and IARC’s fiscal team has been really supportive of that learning opportunity. My objectives this summer were pretty ambitious, but thanks to all of that support–and my own sort of relentless drive–I’m on target to meet all of the goals I laid out in my grant proposal. It has been a lot of work, but I am grateful for development, and a mentor who knows that I value struggle and problem solving alongside all of the joy and excitement of science. The most challenging part honestly might be the mosquitoes!
How did you find out about URSA and what encouraged you to submit an application for funding?
I heard about it in a class in Spring of 2024. A student in my class was doing an URSA Student Project and mentioned it during our introduction discussion. That April I went to RCA Day and was blown away by what other students were doing. It was inspiring! I started the research that my URSA project focuses on in the fall, and stuck with it for several months without funding. It became pretty clear that getting a grant could really increase the quality of the research, which motivated me to apply for multiple grants in the spring of 2025.
How does your URSA project relate to your career or personal goals?
I have always said that I love everything happening under my feet, and all the things we don’t see or don’t notice. Anything to do with microbes (big bonus if it’s fungi!), soil, succession after a disturbance: that’s where I want my career to land. My URSA project is very squarely at that biological-geological interface. This opportunity is giving me a great personal and academic experience, and a powerful professional development experience. It will make me more ready for graduate school, and for professional opportunities.
If you could share one piece of advice with students interested in pursuing URSA in the future, what would you say?
I think my best advice is: URSA has a lot of tools to help you succeed at applying– there are workshops, webinars, and even dedicated tutors in the Writing Center. But URSA also has a multitude of diverse routes to get your foot in the door doing research– not only projects you come up with on your own, and not just individual projects. I intentionally chose a route that required a lot of independence and self-motivation along with a high workload, because I am at a place in my life where I want to push myself. But there are so many other paths through URSA to grow as a student, researcher and leader with way more supports in place. Go to an information meeting and see! Also, even if you aren’t URSA funded: if you participate in research, make a poster and go to RCA Day! There are so many ways you can engage in research as an undergrad at UAF, and I enthusiastically encourage everyone to give URSA a try!