In this episode I chat about the work I will be doing as a research assistant at UMBC for an NSF grant. I talk about metacommunity theory, macroinvertebrates, leaf litter, and streams. I give listeners a more concrete idea of my thesis, and I discuss the classes I'm taking for the spring semester. Lots of homework and large-scale tasks are the bane of my existence in this podcast! Email me at [email protected] for suggestions and tips for this podcast, or if you would like to be a guest!