Undergraduate Research Fellow, Biology

Katie Murcko is a graduate of Napoleon High School in Ohio. Her high school graduation was quickly followed by two weeks on campus in July to get her "feet wet" with on-site biology research. She set spider traps in the Paint Creek Wetland with other EMU students and described her experience: "I was sweaty, sticky and itchy, but as I walked out of the cattails, I saw two Great Blue Herons flying over some trees. They kept circling around each other, diving, landing on branches, and I thought through how, at a basic level, they were a collection of molecules – that everything can be traced back to a microscopic level." Although her current research with Dr. Cara Shillington is working with spiders – and yes, she does have a pet tarantula – she would like to become a marine biologist and study sharks.