Embedded Files
Professor Gurrola's Research Group
For my research, I am a member of Professor Gurrola’s Skull Lab. In this lab, we are examining the skull morphology and dental pathology of California sea lions at California Academy of Science. I am constantly learning terminology on the anatomy of sea lions. For the skull morphology, I learned how to measure the total height, the lateral tooth length, the mandible length, the mandible width, and the sagittal height using calipers. For dental pathology, I analyzed teeth by noting information such as abrasions, fractures, or supernumerary teeth. In addition, I learned how to identify key skull characteristics that differentiate this mammal species in the age classes, and sexes. One of the key characteristics are sagittal crests which can be found only in males. The skulls vary in size and their teeth. All the variations in these differences between the skulls could be caused by a variety of factors, which is what makes each skull unique to observe.
During this semester of research, I developed a range of transferable skills. Communication was one of these skills because I was able to form genuine connections with my team members and professor. While working with this team, I was taught the importance of clear communication and active listening. I constantly want to improve myself and ensure everyone is included in our conversations. With the diversity of our group, I feel like I am constantly learning new things from everyone. During our data collection, we usually work in pairs and trade partners every week. We constantly practice clear communication because one of us measures the skulls/ counts teeth while the other is inputting data. We switch our responsibilities so that everyone is putting in a fair amount of work which is crucial for a collaborative team.
Another transferable skill I learned was attention to detail. For our research we are collecting a large number of skull data. For the measurements, it is vital that we are measuring and counting teeth precisely. These measurements and counting are what will help us create our research questions and it is vital that we are inputting the numbers to the best of our abilities. Practicing this ability for attention to detail is keeping me accountable for consistency and quality work. Attention to detail is an important skill because it is valuable for a wide variety of professions. Being able to consistently put in my best effort creates efficiency and helps me be constantly engaged in the work. From this, I have also
Something that I would like to improve on is being more confident in knowing what the different parts of the skull anatomy are. I am learning new information about the skull anatomy every week but I feel like I am not able to confidently point out those names just yet. I also would like to take measurements a little bit faster. I would like to have the code names memorized so that I don’t have to switch between the tabs as much. The different codes stand for stuff like the abrasion levels, and the age classes correlating with the skull length. This would ultimately lead to faster data collection on my end.
Overall, I am very happy with my research topic and my group. I initially felt overwhelmed with the complexity of the measurement, but as I practiced, I became more confident. I like having a routine where I knew what was needed of me every week. Collecting sea lion skull data is very fascinating to me because you never know what you will be encountering every week. We see a variety of factors such as gunshots wounds, tooth congenital loss, supernumerary teeth and different levels of abrasion. I am excited to continue my research for the next 2 semesters and create my poster to present at the science symposium.
Page updated
Report abuse