Penn State Behrend’s Class of 2024 is ready to make its mark on the world!  We’re proud of our students and all that they have learned and accomplished here at Behrend. Over the next several weeks, we will introduce you to a few of our remarkable seniors who have engaged in college life in a big way, conducted valuable research, pioneered innovations, and overcome challenges during their time at Penn State Behrend.

Today, we’d like you to meet Holden Cooper.

Major: Biology with the Ecology, Evolution, and Behavior focus area

Hometown: San Anselmo, California

On choosing his major: I am very passionate about herpetology (the study of amphibians and reptiles) and would love to study in this field post-graduation.

Proudest accomplishment at Behrend: My proudest accomplishment while at Behrend would be the research I have done involving biofluorescence in salamanders. For this project, I documented the trait of biofluorescence in spotted salamanders and red-spotted newts and how the patterns of biofluorescence change through early stages of development.

Awards and recognition: I won an award for first place at the Sigma Xi (Undergraduate Research and Creative Accomplishment) Conference in 2023 for a presentation on my research with biofluorescence in larval stage salamanders.

His passion: I have a strong interest in both reptiles and amphibians, and I enjoy spending a lot of my free time flipping logs in search of them.

After graduation, Holden plans to get a master’s degree in biology at St. Cloud State University in Minnesota.