Today I got the chance to speak with Ariel Christensen who is an environmental epidemiologist and Ph.D. student at UNC Chapel Hill. Among other things, she gave me some advice that really stuck with me. She told me that people tend to trap themselves in their major rather than following their passions. This is definitely the opposite of what she has done as she started in Marine Biology before moving to infectious disease, and now she works as an environmental epidemiologist. I told her about some of my interests and we discussed various careers that combine them. It was great to hear her insight and I really enjoyed our conversation!
This week I’m doing my own thing, so yesterday was spent reaching out to various people in hopes of finding someone to speak with. I did have someone success, and today I spent a few hours with Royden Saah, who currently works for Island Conservation, a non-profit group with the goal of preventing extinctions on islands by removing invasive rodents. They have been experimenting with gene drive technology, and while this was interesting to hear about, I admit it was hard to fully understand. Gene drive is a way that scientists can spread desired traits through a population faster than they would spread naturally with Mendelian inheritance. Using this technology, they can genetically engineer male rodents to only have male offspring. Then this trait will be passed on, eventually making it so that there are no longer enough females to reproduce. I also got to speak with a recently graduated student and current undergrad about their work in the lab and college advice more generally. Overall I had a very interesting day and I’m very grateful for the people who I got to speak with.
Today was my last day at the museum! On a normal week, the curators and volunteers would only be working at the museum a couple days a week, however, this week was the exception which is why I was allowed to shadow. To wrap up my expirenced I had conversations with both Dr. O’Shea and Dr. Gerwin to discuss what my next steps might be to pursue my goals. Both of them stated that experience and connections are very important and they recommended some people and organizations for me to reach out to. I will be sure to contact some of the people and I’m very excited to see where that will take me!
This may have been my favorite day so far! There wasn’t very much for me to do in the morning, so I got the opportunity to spend a couple of hours in the library on the A level of the museum. The library had books covering every imaginable subject regarding natural science, but sadly I was limited by time and not able to focus on each of the books as I would have liked to. After finding a couple books from the early 1900s, I set out on a hunt to find the oldest book, which turned out to be a paleontology field guide from 1834. However, paleontology is not really my interest and I felt afraid of harming such an old book, so I picked out one of the latest ornithology reference books. I read the sections on the cultural significance of owls and ended up very surprised as I had no clue how much negative stigma they have in many parts of the world.
19th century illustration of a bat-eared fox
In the afternoon I visited Prairie Ridge and spoke to curators from the herpetology and ichthyology departments. They were very happy to give me a tour of the collections and we had a very interesting discussion about the misunderstood nature of many reptiles which perpetuates fear and ultimately causes harm to the animals. Pretty shortly after having this conversation, I encountered a snapping turtle in the middle of the road, and after seeing its bite I’ve decided that while reptiles are more often than not harmless, it is still best to keep a healthy level of caution.
Today I learned a lot about the research done by staff both in and out of the museum. I probably will not be able to get first-hand field research experience during this program, but I got to discuss several staff members’ research projects. Additionally, Dr. Gerwin is working on contacting some staff members at Prairie Ridge, so hopefully, I can go see the work done there. It turns out that Veronica (one of the volunteers) used to be Vice President of the NC Herpetological Society and she encouraged me to join. Overall I had a productive day, I learned a lot from my conversations and helped out with some more organization projects.
After I labeled some boxes that I didn’t finish yesterday, I got the chance to explore the collection in the basement of the museum. It has a very large array of specimens ranging from dinosaur skulls to polar bears and I had lots of fun seeing everything. While we were down there, Dr. O’Shea told me about some of his research in Guyana and Suriname, part of which was on finches used for popular singing contests. I had never heard of this before, so it was very interesting to hear his stories. Besides storytelling and exploring, we got some actual work done by returning some items that were previously on loan and planning how to organize the specimens in the ‘on hold’ cabinets. Tomorrow will be a busy day of organizing but I’m excited to spend more time with the people I’ve met and maybe even explore more of the museum!
Today was very chill, and I mean that literally. Ready for a hot summer day, I wore a short-sleeve top, but soon discovered that the museum currently has heating problems. I have learned my lesson and will come prepared with warmer clothes tomorrow. Other than the freezing cold, today was very successful. The museum was closed and felt very peaceful with no visitors. I met Dr. Gerwin, Veronica, and Kiera, all of whom are very nice, and told me about the work they do and the purpose of the museum’s collection. After watching them work for a while, I helped out by labeling specimens and preparing enough tags to last for weeks. Overall it was a good day, and I’m very excited for tomorrow!
