Adviser: Jeannine Cavender-Bares (Ecology, Evolution and Behavior)
“One important benefit to biology students who study abroad is gaining the ability to understand and communicate with other cultures about their natural heritage. Generally, this could benefit research into the medicinal use of plants, broaden our agricultural horizons, and promote conservation and sustainable resource use here and in other countries.
My first research abroad experience was in Mexico in fall 2007. I was based at the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México-Morelia. I traveled through the remote mountainous parts of the central and northern states in search of Douglas fir, a common tree in the United States and Canada, but rare and threatened in Mexico. My second experience was in Cuba, where I accompanied my adviser [Jeannine Cavender-Bares] last October to study the origin of oaks on the island.
Beyond the scientific merits of the research, I found great value in the cultural experiences in each place. Mexico was my formal introduction to Latin America. … But for me, even more profound than my trip to Mexico was my experience in Cuba because I was able to reconnect with family. My mother was born and raised in the city of Cienfuegos on the southern shore of Cuba. Shortly after the Cuban Revolution, in 1962, they were forced to flee to the United States, where they were naturalized as refugees, eventually settling in New Jersey.”
Adviser: George Weiblen (Plant Biology)
“I volunteered on a biodiversity study in Madagascar as an undergraduate and I’ve been to Papua New Guinea twice, including for six months this past summer and fall. I’m looking at the relationship between figs and pollinating wasps—a well-known topic of co-evolution. … It’s been a model of specificity, but that’s coming into question.
Papua New Guinea is definitely much different than anywhere else I’ve been. … There are a lot of social dynamics going on. You have to become much more than a scientist. You have to be a politician, a linguist, an educator. You have to play a lot of roles you’re not used to playing. It’s challenging but also rewarding. While I was there I got involved in local conservation efforts and taught lessons at the local school. … You become invested in the area.
Being in ecology and seeing where the jobs are going—climate change, global issues—having these research experiences means I can be marketable to any global ecology project. … If I can work in Papua New Guinea, I can work anywhere.”
See an audio slideshow of Annika’s fieldwork in Papua New Guinea.
Adviser: Jennifer Powers (Ecology, Evolution and Behavior)
“I spent the summers of 2007 and 2008 living and working in the tropical dry forests of the Guanacaste province of Costa Rica.
I feel that having the opportunity to work, live and conduct research abroad has shaped me into a much more confident and ambitious student and person. It’s amazing to experience the people and culture of a country different than your own. … You realize that your existence on earth is so small in relation to not only all that has come before you and all that will follow you, but all that is going on around you in the present.
Conducting research abroad forces you to be more independent and self-sufficient. The luxury of a safe, warm, dry laboratory doesn’t exist in the field. You’re confronted with unique and difficult challenges at every turn; however, you know that struggling through them and finding ways to solve them will make you a much stronger person and a much more determined scientist. It’s one thing to learn concepts and theories from a textbook, but it’s a completely different thing when you have a hands-on, first-person encounter with what you’re studying.”
