I initially came to Mankato as an Aviation student to be an international pilot for an airline. Leadership and global citizenship are basically requirements for this, but research? Lucky for me, Aviation fit me as well as a suit does a monkey. During the next several semesters I focused on deciding what I wanted to major in; I eventually chose Biology, largely due to an interest in biological research. I soon after had my first chance to work on my research competency.
Summer after sophomore year I went to Dartmouth College for a research internship. There I worked on my own independent project examining how certain pond characteristics affects the pond’s macroinvertebrate community. This was my sink or swim introduction to Information Literacy and Synthesis. This was the first time I had to read published biology research and do something with it. Before I could do any research, I had to first discover what the current body of knowledge on the topic said and what questions I could ask to add to the conversation. This initial “research” guided my independent project and eventually formed the introduction of the poster I presented at the Leadership Alliance National Symposium.
Despite my experience at Dartmouth, I did not recognize the direct and applicable benefits of research. At least I did not until I completed an independent research project while studying abroad in Norway. Using previously collected data, I ran analyses to determine the most efficient sample size needed to run a dietary analysis of brown bears. Dietary analysis was conducted on fecal samples that had to be collected amongst the mountains of Norway and Sweden. This meant many hours and kilometers of hiking. My research could directly impact this, reducing the hours required to conduct dietary analyses and saving precious research funds. At the end of this project I needed to create both a PowerPoint presentation and a paper. While the paper was not submitted to any journal, I was still taken aback by the time and effort needed to write it. A scientific research paper is a different beast from any other paper and requires a different perspective to finish.
The next summer I had the opportunity for another internship, this one at Miami University, Ohio. I attempted to understand how the cellar spider, Pholcus manueli, was successfully invading and displacing the established cellar spider, Pholcus phalangioides. This experience more than any other has helped me practice disseminating the results of my research. From my previous experiences, research conducted at internships or for credit normally have an “end of project” presentation and guarantees little more. However, I took my research from this internship and underwent the process needed to present it at independent conferences. I requested funding, submitted an abstract, and presented my research at the Midwest Ecology and Evolution Conference. This helped me better understand the lengthy process that goes into disseminating research.
All of these experiences lead to what feels like my first real original research project. My previous experiences were always time sensitive. They were either a semester long project or a three-month long project. This meant that I needed to become up to date on the research already being conducted in the lab and produce a question I could conduct research on, in short order. Now I am working on a project that was predetermined to last longer than a year, and I can really stretch my legs and strike out on my own. In Dr. Ruhland’s lab on MNSU I am attempting to elucidate the relationship between lignin concentrations in cell walls and the plant’s rate of photodecay. While most of his work is concentrated on crops, I decided to investigate how lignin concentrations might differ and thus affect photodegradation in the needles of different types of coniferous trees. This illuminates an aspect of climate change that has not experienced a lot of research.
While these experiences have prepared me for a career in research, they have also done much more due to a simple truth. Research is more than just sitting at a lab bench and fiddling around until something interesting happens. Central to research is learning to think critically. These experiences have certainly taught me how to approach and conduct research, but moreso, they have also taught me how to think and experience the world. On balance, I find the latter to be ultimately more valuable.
Summer after sophomore year I went to Dartmouth College for a research internship. There I worked on my own independent project examining how certain pond characteristics affects the pond’s macroinvertebrate community. This was my sink or swim introduction to Information Literacy and Synthesis. This was the first time I had to read published biology research and do something with it. Before I could do any research, I had to first discover what the current body of knowledge on the topic said and what questions I could ask to add to the conversation. This initial “research” guided my independent project and eventually formed the introduction of the poster I presented at the Leadership Alliance National Symposium.
Despite my experience at Dartmouth, I did not recognize the direct and applicable benefits of research. At least I did not until I completed an independent research project while studying abroad in Norway. Using previously collected data, I ran analyses to determine the most efficient sample size needed to run a dietary analysis of brown bears. Dietary analysis was conducted on fecal samples that had to be collected amongst the mountains of Norway and Sweden. This meant many hours and kilometers of hiking. My research could directly impact this, reducing the hours required to conduct dietary analyses and saving precious research funds. At the end of this project I needed to create both a PowerPoint presentation and a paper. While the paper was not submitted to any journal, I was still taken aback by the time and effort needed to write it. A scientific research paper is a different beast from any other paper and requires a different perspective to finish.
The next summer I had the opportunity for another internship, this one at Miami University, Ohio. I attempted to understand how the cellar spider, Pholcus manueli, was successfully invading and displacing the established cellar spider, Pholcus phalangioides. This experience more than any other has helped me practice disseminating the results of my research. From my previous experiences, research conducted at internships or for credit normally have an “end of project” presentation and guarantees little more. However, I took my research from this internship and underwent the process needed to present it at independent conferences. I requested funding, submitted an abstract, and presented my research at the Midwest Ecology and Evolution Conference. This helped me better understand the lengthy process that goes into disseminating research.
All of these experiences lead to what feels like my first real original research project. My previous experiences were always time sensitive. They were either a semester long project or a three-month long project. This meant that I needed to become up to date on the research already being conducted in the lab and produce a question I could conduct research on, in short order. Now I am working on a project that was predetermined to last longer than a year, and I can really stretch my legs and strike out on my own. In Dr. Ruhland’s lab on MNSU I am attempting to elucidate the relationship between lignin concentrations in cell walls and the plant’s rate of photodecay. While most of his work is concentrated on crops, I decided to investigate how lignin concentrations might differ and thus affect photodegradation in the needles of different types of coniferous trees. This illuminates an aspect of climate change that has not experienced a lot of research.
While these experiences have prepared me for a career in research, they have also done much more due to a simple truth. Research is more than just sitting at a lab bench and fiddling around until something interesting happens. Central to research is learning to think critically. These experiences have certainly taught me how to approach and conduct research, but moreso, they have also taught me how to think and experience the world. On balance, I find the latter to be ultimately more valuable.