Kordell Hamilton earned his bachelor’s degree in biology after completing internships at the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center and with Virginia Tech’s The Ecology of Bird Loss Project in the Northern Mariana Islands. (Photo by Derik Holtmann)
Kordell Hamilton doesn’t remember where his love of science originated. It’s been there since childhood, and he carried it with him to Gateway STEM High School and then the University of Missouri–St. Louis.
“I just always thought it was cool and fun,” Hamilton said.
It’s only in the past few years at UMSL that Hamilton – who completed his bachelor’s degree in biology and took part in Saturday afternoon’s commencement ceremony for graduates of the College of Arts and Sciences – has started to figure out where it might lead.
He first chose to enroll at the university after getting positive reviews from his stepmother, an alum, and received the University Scholarship, the UMSL Bound Dual Credit Scholarship and the Enterprise Residential Award, among other scholarships.
Hamilton decided to major in biology thinking he might one day want to become a veterinarian. But opportunities he discovered with the help of faculty members such as Assistant Teaching Professor Meghann Humphries in the Department of Biology have shown him a multitude of career paths available in the field.
He secured a Research Experience for Undergraduates – or REU – through the National Science Foundation in the summer of 2023. That gave him the opportunity to work in a lab at the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center, where he experimented with a strain of research corn while working closely with Patricia Baldrich González, then a principal investigator with the center.
“I did basically micro cell biology, where I was working with recombination of cells and trying to mess with the genes,” Hamilton said.
He enjoyed the experience enough to know he wanted to explore other avenues for scientific research this past summer.
Kordell Hamilton peers through binoculars at the landscape in the Northern Mariana Islands last summer during his internship with The Ecology of Bird Loss Project. (Photo courtesy of Kordell Hamilton)
Hamilton recalled being in a course with Humphries when he first heard about an internship opportunity connected to The Ecology of Bird Loss Project. Organized by researchers at Virginia Tech, the project aims to investigate the ecological importance of birds for forests and the consequences of losing them on an ecosystem, including supporting a functioning ecosystem and maintaining biodiversity.
The researchers do field work in Guam – the southernmost of the Northern Mariana Islands in the western Pacific Ocean – because a brown tree snake introduced there in the 1940s led to the extirpation of all native forest bird species, resulting in the world’s only contemporary case of whole-ecosystem bird loss.
Hamilton had never been to the ocean when he decided to apply, and he became one of four interns selected to work on the project.
“It’s a big commitment and a long way from home, but he was all in,” Humphries said.
The eight weeks he spent in the islands between June and August couldn’t have looked more different from the work he’d done the previous year at Danforth. It showed him what field work is really like.
Hamilton spent time hiking across rugged terrain on the islands of Saipan and Rota, trapping birds, taking fecal samples and trying to get a sense for what the birds were eating and with which plants they might be coming in contact. Later, he moved to Guam, where he set up cameras on different flowering plants to capture what insects or other animals were pollinating them.
Hamilton said one aim of the project is to determine which birds would be best to reintroduce to Guam.
“They were both great experiences,” Hamilton said of his two internships. “Now that I’ve gotten these experiences, I’m interested in what others are out there.”
Hamilton is exploring that in his job search now that he’s finished his degree.
“Is there something I might like even more?” he said. “Is there something I want to do even more? I’d like to try to find some new things, and if I really like something, go to graduate school for it.”
He’s looking into lab positions in St. Louis and beyond.
Biology graduate Kordell Hamilton listens intently during Saturday’s commencement ceremony for graduates of the College of Arts and Sciences. (Photo by Derik Holtmann)
“I’m excited to see where he goes from here,” Humphries said. “I’m sure he’ll excel wherever he lands.”
Hamilton is grateful for the support and encouragement of faculty members in the Department of Biology and Teaching Professor Jennifer Siciliani in the Department of Psychological Sciences, who’ve helped him get to this point.
“I’ve had great professors throughout my years, and they helped me get internships and helped me plan my career,” he said. “They’ve just been great all around.”
He feels well-prepared – though still a little anxious – to take the next step in his life journey.
“I think it’s going to be very beneficial because it shows I’ve done the work,” he said of his internship experience. “I’m familiar, I’m comfortable, I know what I’m doing. I think that will be very helpful with jobs.”
He added: “But now the free trial period is over. I have to really be an adult. I have to really take charge of my life and see where I go from here.”
