I’ve been busy photocopying, sending international faxes, learning Spearman’s Rank coefficients, and how to do paired T-tests in Systat, little chores from Melissa in between other bits of projects I am assigned. Also working with a researcher, Micaela, who has wild dog data from South Africa. I helped her plot the positions of predators from GPS points taken in the field. Eventually she wants to break the sightings down by month to visualize the locations of wild dogs, lions, hyenas, and cheetahs. Unfortunately, we ran into a problem where the plotted points didn’t line up with the outline of the park boundary-something to do with the way the park data is projected/displayed. She is trying to learn more about the source map data. I hope to work more with her because the project involves exactly the types of questions I am interested in learning to answer using GIS. The main reason I am now learning GIS skills is because I was turned off by the lack of conservation application of the project I was working on in Thailand. Yet, it seems she has been able to link both behavioral studies and conservation work.
Last weekend David, Mandy, Heather, and I drove into Thorton Gap in Shenandoah National Park on Friday. Then, we walked home – literally to the doorstep of Leach house (a little less than 30 miles total over the course of Fri., Sat., and Sun.). The entire trip was along the Appalachian Trail where the park service has basic wooden huts for backpackers. Nice because we didn’t have to carry a tent, but this also meant that the second night we had a communal hut. There were at least fifteen people at the same site. Got too crowded for my taste and really impressed upon me that I wouldn’t enjoy hiking the entire AT. The route wasn’t exactly steep, steep, but the hills we did walk were plenty challenging for me-I was puffing and panting my way up a few. Upon return we celebrated by going wine tasting (after much needed showers).
The Land of Nalgene Bottles
Front Royal, Virginia. And here I was worried about being too casual wearing my fleece in place of a stylish spring jacket for the plane ride. David, the guy who picked me up at the airport, picked me out of the crowd BECAUSE of my fleece and hiking boots and no makeup/nails done. The only reason I didn’t have my Nalgene bottle to complete the ensemble was because I left it at home on the kitchen counter by mistake. As David commented, “we all look the same around here.” Seems to be a great group of outdoors/science people. It is scary how alike everyone is. I’m living with a roommate and eight others. The house is an old farmhouse and shows it, but the rooms are spacious. Three refrigerators, dishwasher, washer and dryer, cable T.V., and hot showers this time.
I spent my first week of work self-consciously, nervously working through the beginners guide to GIS and ArcView. I got nervous because Melissa asked me to answer the questions in the manual for use in an upcoming course. Now, I get the general gist of the training, but wasn’t positive about many of my answers. I struggle silently on my own because I feel like I should try to cover every avenue possible and do everything I can to come up with an answer before I interrupt someone else’s concentration. Some hours I really question whether or not I can handle sitting in front of a computer 8hrs. a day. Come home after work with a headache. I have to get used to working in a big room among others – constant talking, movement while people work on their own projects.
Don’t think I will have a lack of things to do after work or on weekends. The Conservation and Research Center (CRC) holds a weekly lecture series open to the community. On Wednesday we went to a lecture: Banded Mongooses: Enlightened Despots and Caring Uncles, that focused on the complex social system of the communal banded mongoose. FYI: naked mole rats have a community similar to termites that includes sterile workers/helpers. Cool, huh? On Thursday, 14 interns came along for a tour of the Smithsonian Museum Support Center. It is basically where they store all of the items not on display and where they prepare biological specimens. The day also included getting an ID badge from the Smithsonian Institution and a quick run through of the new mammal exhibit in the Natural History Museum. AND, to top it off, our house hosted a party the same night. A frantic week.
I spent my first week of work self-consciously, nervously working through the beginners guide to GIS and ArcView. I got nervous because Melissa asked me to answer the questions in the manual for use in an upcoming course. Now, I get the general gist of the training, but wasn’t positive about many of my answers. I struggle silently on my own because I feel like I should try to cover every avenue possible and do everything I can to come up with an answer before I interrupt someone else’s concentration. Some hours I really question whether or not I can handle sitting in front of a computer 8hrs. a day. Come home after work with a headache. I have to get used to working in a big room among others – constant talking, movement while people work on their own projects.
Don’t think I will have a lack of things to do after work or on weekends. The Conservation and Research Center (CRC) holds a weekly lecture series open to the community. On Wednesday we went to a lecture: Banded Mongooses: Enlightened Despots and Caring Uncles, that focused on the complex social system of the communal banded mongoose. FYI: naked mole rats have a community similar to termites that includes sterile workers/helpers. Cool, huh? On Thursday, 14 interns came along for a tour of the Smithsonian Museum Support Center. It is basically where they store all of the items not on display and where they prepare biological specimens. The day also included getting an ID badge from the Smithsonian Institution and a quick run through of the new mammal exhibit in the Natural History Museum. AND, to top it off, our house hosted a party the same night. A frantic week.
Pandas?!
I returned from Thailand on February 2nd. They gave me a nice send-off. During my time in the sanctuary I held an English class for some of the children, and the morning I left their bus made a special stop at my house to say goodbye :) Since then I have been busy unpacking, cleaning my field gear, and traveling to surrounding states to visit family and friends. I have barely had time to settle in and I will be packing again to leave for Virginia on March 14th.
The other news is that I applied for a Ph.D. position at Michigan State University under Dr. Jianguo Liu. I was planning to apply to graduate schools this coming fall, so this was unexpected timing. I saw an announcement on the Ecolog Listserve posted March 4th, advertising the opportunity to join Liu's interdisciplinary and international team on biocomplexity. The major goal of the NSF-funded project is to study complex interactions among panda habitat, people, and policies. Research projects of the lab group members seemed to coincide well with my broad range of interests. However, I was tentative to apply without a Master's degree. I just have to wait and see if anything comes of this...
The other news is that I applied for a Ph.D. position at Michigan State University under Dr. Jianguo Liu. I was planning to apply to graduate schools this coming fall, so this was unexpected timing. I saw an announcement on the Ecolog Listserve posted March 4th, advertising the opportunity to join Liu's interdisciplinary and international team on biocomplexity. The major goal of the NSF-funded project is to study complex interactions among panda habitat, people, and policies. Research projects of the lab group members seemed to coincide well with my broad range of interests. However, I was tentative to apply without a Master's degree. I just have to wait and see if anything comes of this...