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Tracking copperheads in Connecticut - Charles Smith (EEB)
Nutmeg Scholar studies in Singapore - Devika Dhandapani ’07 (CLAS)

Fascination with snakes leading to biology career for Smith

Graduate student Charles Smith hiked more than 1,800 miles through forests and ravines monitoring the movements of 35 copperhead snakes as part of his research.

It is early December, and Charles Smith is putting the finishing touches on his doctoral degree in ecology and evolutionary biology (EEB) in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences.

“I’m ready. It’s been a long haul,” says Smith, from his office in UConn’s Pharmacy/Biology building, about completion of his degree.

For Smith, the “long haul” was spending nearly half of the previous eight years tracking and studying the copperhead snake, specifically the northern copperhead (Agkistrodon contortrix mokasen), the most common venomous viper found in New England.

That meant going to the Metacomet Ridge, the ancient line of traprock ridges running from Suffield to Guilford, which forms the geological spine of Connecticut, and a homeland for copperheads.

Visiting the ridge at least five days per week, Smith estimates he hiked more than 1,800 miles through the forests and ravines of the Metacomet, monitoring the movements of 35 copperheads that he had implanted with radio transmitters.

“When you think of a snake, you often think of a not very intelligent creature that wanders around the forest floor and doesn’t think much beyond finding something to eat,” says Smith.

“But the level of awareness and personality these creatures have goes way beyond anything that you would typically give them credit for.”

Smith’s fascination with things that slither began when his mother gave him a garter snake when he was 8-years-old. By the time he was a teenager, he was spending all his money on books about snakes.

Smith worked in the herpetology departments of several zoos before pursuing a degree in biology at the University of South Carolina and then arriving at UConn to begin his doctoral program.

He has published about 60 articles on snakes and became acquainted with nearly every kind of viper, from king cobras and rattlesnakes to water moccasins and cottonmouths.

Even after tracking the copperhead for so long, his fascination has not ebbed.

“When you think about it, their whole world exists within a 6-inch layer on and above the surface of the ground,” he says.

“They can’t see above it, they don’t have the view [humans] have, yet they’re able to navigate their way through a 3-D maze from a half-mile away.”

Smith’s research has helped contradict several widely held assumptions about northern copperheads, in particular, that their existence amounts to an aimless, chaotic struggle for survival.

He found that male and female copperheads will return to the same series of refuges to mate as they make their way to and from the areas where they spend winters and summers.

“We used to call them bus stops,” he laughs.

“Each individual uses one particular spot, whether it’s a pile of leaves or a hollow tree stump. They go from one spot to another . . . and spend their summers out at their own particular favorite places.”

With his doctorate completed, Smith now faces another important search — to secure a permanent faculty position.

His teaching experiences at UConn, where he was recognized with the 2005-06 EEB departmental award for outstanding teaching in biology, whet his appetite for the classroom.

His dream job would be to teach biology at a small liberal arts college and continue his research.

“For many of my students, I was teaching the only college-level biology course they would take. They came in with the pre-conceived notion that biology is dry and boring, and just a lot of facts to memorize,” he says.

“I enjoy getting students to realize it’s really quite dynamic, challenging and fun.”

— Gary E. Frank

Europe is often the first choice when students study abroad. Devika Dhandapani,’07 (CLAS), however, chose Singapore in order to experience a culture far different from her own.

“It has opened my eyes to what I want to do for the rest of my life,” says Dhandapani, who wants to pursue urban and international medicine.

“The exposure to international students was amazing. There were a lot of students from Europe and Asia. I realized I was out of the loop with that side of the world — politics, lifestyle, and viewpoints. I just hadn’t grown up learning it.”

Dhandapani, a pre-med major who plans to enter the UConn School of Medicine in the fall, studied at the National University of Singapore (NUS) under a new exchange program.

She conducted molecular biology research on a novel snake venom protein and also completed general education classes in history and geography while challenging herself with Tamil, an Indian dialect that is one of Singapore’s national languages.

Now back in Storrs, the Nutmeg Scholar is completing requirements for her degree in physiology and neurobiology and taking classes in humanitarian aid, ethnomedicine and human rights.

Dhandapani’s study abroad dovetails with UConn’s goal of having 30 percent of all students participate in some type of international experience.

In 2006, approximately 13 percent of UConn students studied abroad, part of the University’s academic plan to educate students as global citizens.

“If our students are to be competitive, they must be international,” says Ross Lewin, UConn study abroad director.

“We’re now encouraging more students to study abroad outside of Western Europe, especially in China and India because that’s where the United States will compete in the marketplace.”

When students attend the National University of Singapore, they pay the same UConn fees for tuition and arrange lodging and meals separately.

When Dhandapani landed in Singapore, she was invited to stay with the family of a young woman named Ishwari, whom she met at NUS.

“Ishwari is South Indian, as I am, and she invited me to her house for a meal, then overnight,” Dhandapani recalls. “We became very good friends.

Culturally, we’re very similar, and I ended up staying with her for the first month. It was a blessing.”

Later, Dhandapani moved to campus housing. She spent much of her free time backpacking throughout Southeast Asia to such places as Malaysia, Thailand, Laos, Hong Kong, Indonesia and the Phillipines.

Travel was easy and inexpensive. In Singapore, a mixture of Chinese, Indian and Malay cultures, Dhandapani loved seeing a Buddhist temple, an Indian temple and a mosque all in close proximity.

“Traveling around Asia, you’re exposed to third-world countries, and there is a lot of poverty,” Dhandapani says.

“If they have running water, they are lucky. It makes you more aware that not everyone has what we take for granted.”

— Leslie Virostek