Photo by LJMC
As a third year Biological Science major, this academic year has felt like the first where I could really explore my interests outside of larger introductory chem and bio classes. When I came across this CURE course in the schedule of courses, it immediately piqued my interest and I knew it would be a great learning experience to broaden and diversify my typical course load. Having no real research experience prior, CURE provided me with a great opportunity to have exposure to the field through course-based research under the guidance of Dr. Laura May-Collado, who could not have been a more helpful and enthusiastic mentor and collaborator.
Doing this course under restrictions as to how we were able to meet as a class was a little challenging; I would have loved to work altogether more in person, but despite these circumstances, Dr. May-Collado made sure we all stayed engaged with her and our research whether that was online or through individual meetings in the lab with her. Covid-19 also allowed most of our projects to be based on changes in marine communities due to the unusual circumstances the pandemic provided. My research looked into how covid-19 restrictions changed the contribution of anthropogenic noise to the marine soundscape of sites in Coiba National Park, Panama. I thought it was so cool to look at data collected from so far away, and use it to not only better understand the marine communities there, but also better understand the impact human activity can have on marine communities.
Overall, this class was an incredible learning experience that made me more confident in skills I already had, but also taught me many new skills I can apply to further academic and personal experiences. Being able to go through the whole process of deciding a research question, doing the research itself, making conclusions, and formulating it all into a complete manuscript was something I had not done to this extent before, and I found it both informative and exciting to do with Dr. May-Collado’s help! If you are someone who wants a meaningful class that will help you gain scientific and personal skills and introduce you to what research looks like in and out of an undergraduate setting, I highly recommend this course!
Doing this course under restrictions as to how we were able to meet as a class was a little challenging; I would have loved to work altogether more in person, but despite these circumstances, Dr. May-Collado made sure we all stayed engaged with her and our research whether that was online or through individual meetings in the lab with her. Covid-19 also allowed most of our projects to be based on changes in marine communities due to the unusual circumstances the pandemic provided. My research looked into how covid-19 restrictions changed the contribution of anthropogenic noise to the marine soundscape of sites in Coiba National Park, Panama. I thought it was so cool to look at data collected from so far away, and use it to not only better understand the marine communities there, but also better understand the impact human activity can have on marine communities.
Overall, this class was an incredible learning experience that made me more confident in skills I already had, but also taught me many new skills I can apply to further academic and personal experiences. Being able to go through the whole process of deciding a research question, doing the research itself, making conclusions, and formulating it all into a complete manuscript was something I had not done to this extent before, and I found it both informative and exciting to do with Dr. May-Collado’s help! If you are someone who wants a meaningful class that will help you gain scientific and personal skills and introduce you to what research looks like in and out of an undergraduate setting, I highly recommend this course!
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