My name is Marah Studer and I am a senior at Smith College, a women's college in Northampton, MA. I have spent my last 11 years in the Seattle/Tacoma area of Washington state and now live on Vashon Island in the Puget Sound, accessible only by ferry. I believe it is Washington's amazing landscape and beautiful flora and fauna that secured my interest in science and eventually led me to major in Biology and minor in Studio Art at Smith. I am excited to participate in the SFS Rainforest Studies program because I will be living science day to day. Yes, I will be going to lectures and writing papers just like students back at Smith, but this semester the rainforest of Australia will be my classroom!