#SoCaltech: Corey Husic

"I grew up in rural Pennsylvania where I spent all my time out in the woods and meadows trying to learn everything I could about the birds and the plants I was seeing, and that became an intense hobby for me. I loved chemistry, and I knew I wanted to pursue chemistry as an intellectual pursuit, but after my undergrad, I knew that I wasn't quite ready to stop doing the natural history stuff.

So, I spent a year before grad school working with a grassroots conservation organization in the forests of southwestern Uganda, about two hours up the mountain from the nearest town. The residents of a village right next to a big national park were trying to rebuild a forest that had been destroyed. Their hope was to take some old farmland that was no longer being used and turn it back into a forest that can sustain the great apes, chimpanzees, forest elephants, things like that. I helped by doing a lot of identification of plants—using some of my experience from my own hobbies growing up.

That year gave me an opportunity not only to get outside and see some amazing things but also to share my love for nature with other people.”

Corey Husic is a graduate student studying polymer mechanochemistry in the lab of Maxwell Robb.

#SoCaltech is an occasional series celebrating the diverse individuals who give Caltech its spirit of excellence, ambition, and ingenuity. Know someone we should profile? Send nominations to magazine@caltech.edu.