{"id":949,"date":"2025-10-01T23:21:39","date_gmt":"2025-10-01T23:21:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/cofinternational\/?p=949"},"modified":"2025-12-09T19:35:57","modified_gmt":"2025-12-09T19:35:57","slug":"branching-borders-sonic-tomography-in-the-hj-andrews-forests","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/cofinternational\/2025\/10\/01\/branching-borders-sonic-tomography-in-the-hj-andrews-forests\/","title":{"rendered":"My Unexpected Branching Borders Internship Experience at Oregon State University"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Muhammed Afsal Athanikkal<\/strong>, Forestry – Oct 1, 2025<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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I\u2019m from India, currently pursuing a master\u2019s degree in Mediterranean forestry and natural resource management. My journey to an internship with Oregon State University was quite unexpected. I was in my final semester, focused on completing my thesis, and wasn\u2019t planning to apply for any internships. However, I received an email from my coordinator about this unique opportunity, and after a bit of encouragement from a friend, I decided to give it a shot. <\/p>\n\n\n

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German Vargas Guti\u00e9rrez, Ph.D.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Initially, I was concerned about the time constraints, but I found the research of Professor German fascinating, especially his work on how plants respond to climate change. The idea of working in a field I love outweighed my concerns. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This internship turned out to be an incredible experience. It was my first time in the United States, and I was welcomed with warmth and kindness. I had the chance to work alongside a great colleague named Cooper, and we explored the HJ Andrews forests together, gaining hands-on experience with sonic tomography. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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One of the highlights was meeting the other interns. We were a diverse group of six, coming from different parts of the world\u2014Rwanda, Uganda, Ethiopia, Pakistan, and Malaysia. We quickly bonded, shared our experiences, and had a blast playing pool and football together. I feel incredibly lucky to have made such great friends through this internship. <\/p>\n\n\n

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The cultural exchange was enriching as well. My professor introduced me to local culture, took me on hikes, and even to the coast, where I got to see the beautiful views of the beach from the mountains. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Overall, this internship has been a fantastic blend of professional growth and personal adventure! <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Muhammed Afsal Athanikkal, Forestry – Oct 1, 2025 I\u2019m from India, currently pursuing a master\u2019s degree in Mediterranean forestry and natural resource management. My journey to an internship with Oregon State University was quite unexpected. I was in my final semester, focused on completing my thesis, and wasn\u2019t planning to apply for any internships. However, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14956,"featured_media":950,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-949","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-visiting-scholars","has-thumbnail"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/cofinternational\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/949","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/cofinternational\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/cofinternational\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/cofinternational\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/14956"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/cofinternational\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=949"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/cofinternational\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/949\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":994,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/cofinternational\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/949\/revisions\/994"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/cofinternational\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/950"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/cofinternational\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=949"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/cofinternational\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=949"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/cofinternational\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=949"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}