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Starting my first summer after finishing freshman year working with a professor on a research project was a great way to begin my college career. The Lancy project put together several different disciplines, mine being the biology portion, to see where Trenton was going and it turned out to be a great opportunity to learn about what was happening with a city so close. Being with other professors that love their work so much and students that are also very interested in it helped me understand Trenton’s problems. The Assunpink Creek, being the main concern of my own part of the project, turned out to be an extremely polluted waterway from our research. When we went to see the actual creek, the concern was even greater, as we saw everything from shopping carts to pieces of scrap metal on the river bottom. Part of our summer project included the sampling of freshwater mussels, my research mentor’s main area of research along with my following year’s independent study. During our field studies, we learned to identify and sample populations of mussels in several streams and tributaries. By comparing the DNA of these mussels, we may be able to provide some conservation suggestions to help improve many river systems.
Alex Rass
Biology Major
TCNJ Class of '10
