Over the course of my sophomore year, I have continued working the Carter Lab here at Ohio State. Specifically, I was given the opportunity to work on a project that is studying how rabies impacts vampire bat behavior. Every week, I went through about 5 hours of video footage of the vampire bats, collecting data about their behaviors and movement at certain intervals throughout the video. Over the course of the year, I spent over 100 hours scoring video. Additionally, I was asked by my PI to spend some time learning more about why this research is so important and then write a report about it. Over the course of a week this past semester, I watched TED talks and read articles and blog posts in order to learn about how rabies in vampire bats.Vampire bats pose a significant health risk to the people living in the areas where they are found. In general, the more that can be discovered about how rabies effects bats, the more that can be done to protect public health in those areas.
Undergraduate research has been a rewarding experience for me thus far. I’m so thankful that I was able to join a lab my freshman year. I have become more comfortable with my data collection skills and learned more about the process of getting research published. The specific project I have worked on still has a ways to go until publishing, but I look forward to being there along the journey. Additionally, I have found the topic of the research very interesting. I never thought I would work on a project that mixes ecology, my main interest, with public health. I am thankful that I was encouraged to write the report about the issue of rabies in vampire bats. It gave me a more well-rounded understanding of everything I was doing and contributing to. I am excited to continue in the lab as I finish my undergraduate career. I am hopeful that I will be able to continue to help on this project and possibly start a project of my own.
Photo by Dr. Gerry Carter