Diatoms of North AmericaIn 2012, students from an eclectic mix of states (Arkansas, Iowa, Nevada, New York, Rhode Island, Oklahoma, Utah) and an unlikely set of countries (Indonesia, Iran, Australia) gathered for the diatom course at Iowa Lakeside Lab. Most of the students are enrolled in graduate programs, using diatoms in their research projects. The students learned not only about the freshwater diatom genera in North America, but were exposed to the species diversity from this global set of student study sites.
In 2013, we will mark the 50th anniversary of the class in Iowa, which started as the “Diatom Clinic” by Dr. Gene Stoermer in 1963. Recently, a former student from the 1963 class, Gerry Haukoos, sent a note in rememberance of Gene. He recalled that the first morning of the class in 1963, he overheard Dr. John Dodd instructing his former graduate student (Gene) in the adjoining room. John Dodd said something like, "you're in the big time now, go get'em". This exchange occurred when John and Gene were in a stone lab, in the midst of the cornfields of northwest Iowa! For many years of teaching the summer course, Gene would end his lectures with, "Now go forth and do great things". All the students that pass through this stone building have done exactly that.
