Undergraduate researcher Abe Stone records inoculation data in his notebook.
Michigan Tech undergraduate researcher Abe Stone has been garnering headlines for his work. The ecology and evolutionary biology major demonstrates the adage that science isn’t done until it’s communicated. He also illustrates how the Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship program helps students conduct impactful interdisciplinary research.
Stone was most recently quoted by The Cool Down in a story about SuperPurp, his unconventional fungus-based treatment aimed at controlling the spread of invasive buckthorn trees that threaten to engulf forest landscapes in the Midwest. The story referenced the research’s debut on Michigan Tech’s Unscripted Research Blog, and was picked up by Yahoo! News. Stone was also interviewed by ABC-10 in Marquette.
Stone was a guest on the Mushroom Revival podcast in June to talk about his research journey to Michigan Tech, where he worked to develop a sprayable fungus as a more efficient way to propagate chondrostereum purpureum, the pathogen that causes silverleaf disease in trees. Nicknamed SuperPurp and developed in the College of Forest Resources and Environmental Science’s forest microbiology lab, it’s a locally sourced chemical-free alternative to control buckthorn that could help to slow the spread of invasive buckthorn without harming nearby species.
Stone, a state-certified expert in mushroom identification, has been communicating his research and sharing information to help others understand issues surrounding native species almost since he arrived at Tech. Back on Aug. 12, 2022, Stone was interviewed by Michigan Daily for a column about morality and philosophy surrounding invasive species. And, along with other students he has worked with one of his advisors, Sigrid Resh, coordinator of to Keweenaw Invasive Species Management Area (KISMA), to co-author articles for the Houghton Daily Mining Gazette that help citizens identify and help to address invasive species in their own backyard.
The Institute will run for one year, beginning in January 2025. It will operate virtually throughout the year and also includes an immersive, two-week on-site component that will take place at Michigan Tech in July 2025.
Winner of the 2024 Provost’s Award for Scholarship, Stone has been a principal investigator (PI) on six awarded proposals and was a co-PI on a Michigan Space Consortium Grant. His most recent research adventures have taken him to Isle Royale. The recipient of the Garden Club of America Joan K. Hunt and Rachel M. Hunt Summer Scholarship in Field Botany, Stone surveyed invasive yellow hawkweeds encroaching on the island’s unique bedrock glades. His 2024 Undergraduate Research and Scholarship Symposium entry “A Botanical and Ecological Profile of Isle Royale’s Invasive Hawkweed Complex,” earned an excellence in presentation acknowledgement.
As Stone shares his research, he also shares his proactive approach to the challenges posed by invasive species. “There are few miracle fixes in the world, so when we are presented with no alternative other than working on the stuff in our own backyards, then we have to take what we are given and make the most of it.”
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