Ostracod body size trends

This internship has really been an amazing learning experience. I used to think that paleontology and paleobiology involved fossil hunting and dealt mostly with dinosaurs. First and foremost, this internship made me realize that these fields of science consist of a huge variety of different studies and research. In the beginning of this internship, we collected data for echinoderms and ostracods. Throughout the weeks, we would read different articles pertaining to our research, and it did help us understand the different rules and climate changes better. Learning from the other researchers on Tuesdays and Wednesdays were equally as interesting.

We went on field trips during the last weeks at Stanford. We went to the Cantor Art Museum and looked at modern art, and got to scrutinize the artist’s works. It was interesting to see such a variety of art from various cultures. We saw Native American art, Greek art, Renaissance art, and modern art. This art museum had so much to see that

one visit just isn’t enough. I hope to visit the museum again to spend more time browsing around and getting to know more. We also went on a creek walk. We ate burritos from the Treehouse, and then went walked through the dried out creek for a couple hours. We learned about the different rocks and the formation of the creek.

During the last few weeks of the internship, we worked on our individual projects with full concentration. The project my group and I worked on was, “Ostracod body size trends does not follow either Bergmann’s rule or Cope’s rule during periods of constant temperature increase”. After hard work and constant proofreading, we finished the poster and awaited it to be printed. For a while, the poster refused to come out of the printer. After ages of waiting and constant printing, the poster finally came out of the printer. My group and I had to present our poster on Friday instead of Wednesday because one of our group members had to leave early. Presenting the poster was fun, because we got to teach our peers and the other scientists about the never-before-seen research we did. In total, I really enjoyed this internship. I found the research we did for the projects interesting, and just seeing how scientists really work, opened my eyes to a whole new world. Scientists don’t just do field work- they have to order and sift through the data collected. We did that for the beginning of the internship, and it really gave me time to bond with my iPod. The data collection may not be interesting, but it is necessary and it is a prelude to the actual research. Without the data collection we did, my group and I would have had a difficult time finding data for our project. I am truly grateful to Jenny for giving me this opportunity, and can’t wait till December to present my poster in AGU!