Welcome Caity Sims!

CaityHello everyone! I am very excited to be a part of the LREC team! I just started in January as the Restoration Coordinator for Project Clear. During my time here, I will be focusing on the reconstruction of the Metropolitan Sewer District (MSD) path, maintaining native plant diversity, and setting up a long-term vegetation monitoring program in those areas.

In December 2022, I successfully defended my master’s thesis at Arkansas State University and will be graduating this coming May. My research focused on phenological shifts of plants growing on a Lower Mississippi River island near Helena-West Helena, Arkansas and phenological shifts following a latitudinal gradient using herbarium specimens. In addition to my own research project, I collaborated with a lab mate on a flora (vascular plant inventory) of six Lower Mississippi River islands and also did some plant community sampling during that time as well.