Duke University | Howard Hughes Undergraduate Program

The Howard Hughes program ended almost three days ago, and though I’ve loved being home, I’ve got to say that I miss the fast-paced life of a researcher. Running from the lab to the bird rooms to a seminar to the apartment may have been stressful at times, but it definitely kept me on my toes! Nonetheless, I intend to enjoy my time off as thoroughly as possible. Before I really start relaxing, though, I’ll leave you with a few parting thoughts about the whole HH experience.

As I mentioned before, the poster session was on Friday. I anticipated it with a bit of trepidation—standing for an hour and a half in a hall crowded with people waiting to poke holes in my research (or worse, ignore it) didn’t sound like the most pleasant way to spend my morning. It turns out that I needn’t have worried—the poster session was a BLAST. One of the first people who stopped by had worked with Lincoln sparrows, so I had a great conversation with her. I was surprised at how easy it was to talk about my research! I enjoyed explaining my work to all of the people stopped by—from friends, to fellow lab members, to the unexpected number of people who had worked with birds, to the people who just seemed surprised to see a poster about birds in the sea of medical research. I was amazed at how soon twelve o’ clock struck, and I was almost disappointed that the poster session couldn’t go on longer. However, my disappointment was soon replaced by contentment brought on by the fabulous lunch (thanks, Blue Express!) and by receiving my last paycheck. :)

So, before I end this blog, I’d like to thank everyone involved in organizing the Howard Hughes program this summer for keeping everything running so smoothly, everyone in the Nowicki lab for being wonderful people and teaching me so much, and my fellow fellows for the camaraderie we’ve shared. Though I’m not sure if my future will involve research, this summer has helped me grow as a scientist and a person, and I’m very grateful to Howard Hughes for making it possible. Finally, to whoever is reading this, thanks for coming along on this journey with me. I hope I’ve made it semi-entertaining for you!
 

Until I blog again,
 

Molly
 

As a great many of my friends and fellow Howard Hughes-ers are on a medical trajectory, I’m constantly reminded how unusual it is to be a Duke Bio major and to not be pre-med. I’m used to getting the question: “So, if you’re not pre-med, what on earth are you planning to do with a Biology degree?” Up until pretty recently, my response has been an eloquent: “Um…something to do with animals, but I’m not exactly sure what.” As you can probably imagine, that’s not a reassuring answer to parents worrying about their daughter’s ability to land a job post-education (or to me, for that matter). However, over the past year, I’ve heard about some things that truly inspire me and ignite passion in me, and the rough sketches of possible careers have begun to emerge.

One possibility I’m entertaining is to become involved in the zoo system. This appeals to me for two reasons: One, I believe that zoos (when run well) are invaluable tools for educating the public and fostering a respect for animals. Though I’m on the fence about whether or not it’s completely ethical to keep wild animals in captivity, I do know that most champions of wildlife and animal protection probably gained a love and appreciation for animals by being able to see them in zoos as children.

In a similar vein, I think zoos definitely have room for improvement. In the Animals and Ethics class I took last semester (which was oddly cross-listed under Women’s Studies, but I digress) I learned about some of the atrocities committed to animals in the smaller, less regulated, roadside stand type of zoos. Animals are kept in horrendous conditions, and these places either fly under the radar or slip by through loopholes in regulations. So, I’ve considered working to help improve and clarify the regulation of small zoos.

Another area that I’m passionate about is human-wildlife interaction. When I tell people that I want to work with animals, I can sometimes sense the person thinking, “That’s nice, but why waste your time on animals when human beings are starving?” While I’d never want to devalue human suffering, I don’t think we can adopt a “humans first” attitude either. Luckily, there are ways to look out for the interests of both. I read about one such initiative in Kenya that really got me excited. Members of a Kenyan village had declared a hunt against an elephant that had been breaking fences and eating crops. Considering that one elephant alone can eat almost 400 pounds of vegetation in one day, I can see why they’d be angry. And though I’d hate to see an elephant killed, there’s an obvious human-wildlife conflict here. So, a conservation group decided to fit out the elephants of the area with GPS tracking devices so that their position was monitored hourly and they could head the elephants off if they were going towards the village (plus, you have tracking data of the elephant—yay!) So if possible, I’d love to mediate human-wildlife conflicts from a research/ humanitarian position.

Well, there you have my dreams for the future. Come back next year and ask me what my plans are, and they may have changed completely. I still haven’t completely ruled out jumping ship from science altogether and going to live in the theatre world ;)

All signs point to the ending of the Howard Hughes fellowship and my imminent departure: My poster is all but completed; I’ve commenced the initial stages of packing; and my roommates and I are cleaning out the fridge (“So guys, what can we make with half a pond of ground beef, a squash, and cinnamon raisin bagels?”). Another indication that the final days are upon us is the fact that there’s only one more guest lecture scheduled for us to attend. I’m really looking forward to it, because these talks have really enriched my HH experience.
 

I’ve occasionally joked that I get less out of the talks than some of my fellow fellows do, since the talks have been mainly medical/ cell bio in nature and I play in the zoological/ organismal bio arena. However, this couldn’t be further from the truth. Our guest speakers have given me a great introduction to some of the cutting-edge research being done in the medical field these days. I’ve learned so much about the current issues affecting human health, and I feel like a much more informed member of the scientific community for having attended these talks. Not to mention, I’m constantly astounded by how many top-notch scientists call Duke home.
 

While I’m certainly looking forward to spending a few weeks at home before classes begin, I’ll miss being here (I’m almost sad that my project is completed!). However, I’m excited about our final week, and invite anyone who cares to come to our poster session this Friday from 10:30-12:00 in the LSRC. Cheers!

P.S. I almost forgot that not everyone who reads this blog will end up at the poster session! Perhaps i should share the results of my reserach, huh? I won't go into detail (to entice you to come to the poster session :-) ) but good news! My data indicate that females do discriminate between plastic (immature) and first-year crystallized (mature) song, and they prefer crystallized! Huzzah! That, combined with the fact that they didn't show much discrimination between first- and third-year crystallized song , could support to the theory that female song preferences for song evolved mainly to help females discrimnate between mature and immature males, since mature males would probably be better mates. Isn't science cool? :D
 

With an abstract due this Wednesday and a poster due in less than a week, it really has begun to sink in that my HH experience is drawing to a close. So, what exciting results have I produced during my time in the Nowicki lab? Now, that's an interesting question. I've run my experiment twice-- the second eight-day trial will finish in about twenty minutes, actually--So, I have my data! Yay! The only prblem is....I'm not exactly sure what it means just yet.

This afternoon, I'm going to be putting my data through a program called SYSTAT, which will, in a nutshell, gobble up my numbers, digest them, and then spit out some more numbers. What thse new numbers will basically tell me is is either, "yes, your results are significant" (fingers crossed) or, "no, sorry, better luck next time." Just looking at the raw data, I'm pretty optimistic about getting a significant result, but since my knowledge of statistics is lacking, I can't be sure, which is why I need SYSTAT. However, whether or not my data is significant or not, I've definitely learned a lot working in the lab this summer.

Even once SYSTAT has given it's opinion, that's not the end of my analysis, though. I'm still not decided on how to put information into SYSTAT-- which way will give me the most accurate picture of what's happening? Will using just the raw data suffice? Should I look at the two-hour period when the bird was most active? What about side bias? Do these birds even have a consistent side bias? If a bird consistenly hops much less than the others, should I disregard that data point (and reduce my already small n?) So, I will be trying lots of different things and working closely with my mentors to bring you, dear reader, and the scientific community at large the conclusions with the most scientific integrity. I wish I could just ask the birds what their agenda is, but as it is I'm trying to interpret their behavior as best I can.  It's a puzzle, but one that I'm enjoying trying to piece together!

Hello again! This time, I'm writing to share my ruminations on the concept of responsible conduct in research. Although any ethical issues I might face in the lab probably wouldn't be as dramatic as the ones featured in the movie And the Band Played On (which the HH fellows watched together, and which I highly recommend watching), I can certainly see why anyone involved in research should have RCR in the back of their mind at all times.

Since I work with animals, there's a different dimension of RCR that comes into play-- making sure that the animals are treated properly and that any pain or suffering on their part is as minimal as possible. Luckily my experiments don't cause any pain to the birds, but part of RCR is having a vet on call in case anything were to happen, and to make sure that the animals are not neglected.

Although I don't expect to get any glory from working with birds, it's important that any scientist is forthright in their data collection and analysis, and doesn't try to skew data to get the results they want. Basically, in research as in life, honesty is the best policy.

*steps down off of soapbox*