Major: Chemistry with Ecology minor

Anticipated year of graduation: 2028

What collections are you working with: Zooarchaeology

Who is your staff/faculty mentor: Drs. Suzanne Birch and Victor Thompson

What are your interests (academic & otherwise): Academically, I enjoy learning about the life sciences, such as chemistry, biology, and ecology. I am interested in the natural processes that drive environmental change. I am  doing undergraduate research with the Quaternary Isotope Paleoecology (QUIP) lab on campus. I also like taking elective classes about a variety of subjects, including music, photography, archaeology, and architecture. Outside of class, I enjoy hiking, reading, and painting. 

What are you doing with your collection during your internship: This will be my third semester with the zooarchaeology collection. I have been working with the other interns to reorganize the collection after its move from the museum building to the archaeology lab. My work has included organizing the collection and digitizing records to make the reference collection more accessible. Once this information is uploaded online, people will be able to access the data in our collection virtually for use in their research.

What made you want to do an internship with GMNH: Working with GMNH has taught me about real-life applications of natural sciences and how data collection and organization can be useful for future scientists. I have always loved museums and enjoy working behind the scenes on preserving specimens and organizing data for future research. I enjoy zooarchaeology because of the wide variety of specimens that are included in the collection. Specimens in the collection date back to the 1960s, and I appreciate feeling that I am part of a continual process of collecting data.