Hi my name is Briana and I am a sophomore biology major with a wildlife biology minor. In the Fall semester of 2020, I helped professor Laura May-Collado by sorting through humpback whale data. She recommended this class to me which gave me the opportunity to do my own research. I had really wanted to dip my toes into research to see if it was something I enjoyed or not and wanted to learn more about how scientists did their research. This class made undergraduate research less intimidating and is a good stepping stone for research in the future.
During covid this past year, it was very strange working from home but I was glad I could still participate in research. For my research I investigated how the acoustic structure of humpback whale songs changed before and after the pandemic due to boat traffic. Some of my main struggles while doing this project was issues with WIFI causing programs to run slowly. During the project I was also a bit nervous if I was running on time to get my project done; although I later realized I was ahead of my project. If I were to go into this project again I would have asked more questions in the beginning stages of my project so I was comfortable with the timeline of the project. I also would have worried less about grades and focused on the learning experience. Once my data was collected, analyzing data was very rewarding. It was fun to analyze data and see the results of my hard work. I also found the presentation of my study to be fun and it made me feel like a real researcher.
Overall, this was a very informative class that furthered my confidence in my own abilities as well as taught me about the scientific process. Writing a report in a regular class is not the same as writing a manuscript so it was good for me to experience this. This class also taught me about the reality of doing research and the importance of keeping on schedule for deadlines. I think this class has opened up opportunities for me to continue doing research and inspired me to do more research projects in the future.
During covid this past year, it was very strange working from home but I was glad I could still participate in research. For my research I investigated how the acoustic structure of humpback whale songs changed before and after the pandemic due to boat traffic. Some of my main struggles while doing this project was issues with WIFI causing programs to run slowly. During the project I was also a bit nervous if I was running on time to get my project done; although I later realized I was ahead of my project. If I were to go into this project again I would have asked more questions in the beginning stages of my project so I was comfortable with the timeline of the project. I also would have worried less about grades and focused on the learning experience. Once my data was collected, analyzing data was very rewarding. It was fun to analyze data and see the results of my hard work. I also found the presentation of my study to be fun and it made me feel like a real researcher.
Overall, this was a very informative class that furthered my confidence in my own abilities as well as taught me about the scientific process. Writing a report in a regular class is not the same as writing a manuscript so it was good for me to experience this. This class also taught me about the reality of doing research and the importance of keeping on schedule for deadlines. I think this class has opened up opportunities for me to continue doing research and inspired me to do more research projects in the future.
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