I successfully completed an honors thesis through the Biology Honors Program, and graduated with distinction in research.
I wish to study social behaviors in an avian system, with a particular interest in behaviors relating to courtship and breeding. My research experiences have reinforced my dedication to earning my PhD and conducting research in animal behavior. I have worked on research projects spanning topics from social structures to courtship behavior and migration, and I have found my main area of interest to be social behaviors. Hands-on experience is crucial for anyone pursuing or interested in pursuing a graduate degree and a career in field research, and I believe my diverse research experiences have prepared me to be a successful candidate fuck this sentence idk it sounds bad.
Through my work as a field volunteer on a tree swallow project run by Dr Conor Taff, a postdoctoral fellow in Dr Maren Vitousek’s lab, I gained many valuable skills for studying birds. I handled birds on a daily basis, took basic measurements as …show more content…
I took on a research project under the supervision of Dr David Bonter at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, persevered, and saw the project through to completion. Originally, the study only analyzed for sex-based segregation in wintering distributions of herring gulls through a combination of citizen science data and genetic sexing methodologies. I demonstrated my ability to think critically about my preliminary results and adapt/expand my thesis question by adding both an explanatory and response variable based on trends I observed. Based on a common trend I had observed in the literature on seabirds, I suggested adding age as an explanatory variable. While carefully scrutinizing our distribution map, I noticed it appeared as though females were being observed further inland than males, leading to its addition as a new response
I wish to study social behaviors in an avian system, with a particular interest in behaviors relating to courtship and breeding. My research experiences have reinforced my dedication to earning my PhD and conducting research in animal behavior. I have worked on research projects spanning topics from social structures to courtship behavior and migration, and I have found my main area of interest to be social behaviors. Hands-on experience is crucial for anyone pursuing or interested in pursuing a graduate degree and a career in field research, and I believe my diverse research experiences have prepared me to be a successful candidate fuck this sentence idk it sounds bad.
Through my work as a field volunteer on a tree swallow project run by Dr Conor Taff, a postdoctoral fellow in Dr Maren Vitousek’s lab, I gained many valuable skills for studying birds. I handled birds on a daily basis, took basic measurements as …show more content…
I took on a research project under the supervision of Dr David Bonter at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, persevered, and saw the project through to completion. Originally, the study only analyzed for sex-based segregation in wintering distributions of herring gulls through a combination of citizen science data and genetic sexing methodologies. I demonstrated my ability to think critically about my preliminary results and adapt/expand my thesis question by adding both an explanatory and response variable based on trends I observed. Based on a common trend I had observed in the literature on seabirds, I suggested adding age as an explanatory variable. While carefully scrutinizing our distribution map, I noticed it appeared as though females were being observed further inland than males, leading to its addition as a new response