NACE Career Readiness

Through this project, I have been able to acquire a variety of skills within fieldwork such as transect sampling, observational data collection, and GPS tracking, which I know these will be critical in advancing my career. I have also been able to sharpen my skills in writing effective grant proposals that have allowed me to secure funding for this project. Additionally, I have had opportunities outside of the Undergraduate Research Forum to present my findings, such as at this year's annual American Association of Biological Anthropologists meeting in Baltimore, Maryland. Through this opportunity, I was able to network and talk with professionals in the field, graduate professors, and other undergraduate students. As a result, I am able to contribute to expanding our knowledge on the wild primates found at Soqtapata to the scientific and primatological communities.

This year, I had the opportunity to be the head of a research project which is not something I had previously been able to do. My past experiences would typically be more under the leadership of a PI or my professor in which I would act more as a research assistant. However, with this experience, I felt more independence in delegating tasks to other students in order to effectively be able to collect data during our eight weeks in the field. We also created a schedule that we would have weekly check-ins for in order to prioritize conducting censuses at all of the relevant trails, along with thinking ahead for what resources (i.e. packed meals, extra batteries) we would need depending on how long we anticipated going out for.

Another valuable aspect of this experience was being able to work in a team with other student researchers. While there were three different projects that were being conducted in Soqtapata, the other students and I were able to effectively collaborate with one another whenever we came across something that would benefit the other's projects. 

For example, during a census walk that took us towards the river, a fellow student and I were able to spot some of the seeds that another project who were looking into frugivores was interested in. Once we returned to camp, we made note of the location of where the fruiting tree was so that they could potentially set up a camera trap there and were even able to provide samples to use for plant identification. Additionally, there was one day where I had just finished a census walk and another group found capuchins around camp. By having them write down the the demographic and location details, I was able to then use this for my analysis. 

The field can certainly be unpredictable at times, but I was fortunate enough to have others around me who provided consistent support and encouragement.