Whale of an experience! by Isabel Belash

Joining the CURE team for a semester was a wonderful experience for both learning and personal growth. For those who have not experienced much of what scientific research actually entails, this course offers a very supportive environment to explore the world of research. This course is unique in the way that it is run, being very different from traditional and introductory courses. You must be self-motivated and driven, as well as willing to work through the drudgery of learning new technologies, programs, and sorting through a seemingly endless amount of data. While there is a required class period, a good amount of the work is done outside of class time, either at home or when in the lab on one’s own time. This speaks again to the motivation required to succeed in this course, as the flexibility offered in schedule is enticing but will come back to bite you if not properly taken advantage of. Deadlines will sneak up, the work can seem like a mountain before you at the beginning of the semester, and yet the satisfaction of producing quality independent work makes the effort required worthwhile. My partner and I sloughed through hundreds of acoustic files to find just a few high quality recordings of humpback whales. We put hours into our project only to find that all of the recordings showed songs that followed the same song structure and pattern. While still interesting, we had hoped for different results, which was a little disappointing. However, this discrepancy highlights how real world research works; gathering and analyzing data takes time, and you do not always achieve the results you wanted. It can be frustrating, sure, but equally as (if not more) rewarding with the right attitude. Having a knowledgeable and inspired professor in Dr. Laura May-Collado was crucial to the success of our project as well as the work done by my peers. She was invariably helpful and dedicated to the achievement of all of her students
As a senior majoring in Biology on their way towards graduation, this course further invigorated my desire to pursue science in academic and professional settings. I hadn’t been given much opportunity for traditional research prior to this course, and now, having experienced what that sort of work entails, I feel as though I have a much better understanding of the amount of effort required for such a profession.