Junior Internship Blog
May 16th-June 10th
Pursuing science in our Natural History Museums!
This experience has shaped a part of myself that I thought was set in stone. As someone who loves Paleontology more than any other science, I was surprised to find how much I enjoyed the other disciplines offered.
I saw the importance of specializing in plants, arthropods, and herps. I was amazed at my level of enjoyment, it was incredible. I still want to be in the natural sciences for sure, of course, but my interests have been opened up even further, and I am indecisive. Is that a good or a bad thing? I guess we'll see! My mentors were nothing but wonderful and informative, and I strive to be able to know as much as they do in their fields one day. The other employees had more varied personalities, but they were very interesting to be with for hours at a time. Everyone was far more laid back than I expected. It was so friendly and fun. I'm going to miss it. Maybe I'll do it next year?
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While I do not have a specific project I worked on during internship, I do have one example of where my work will appear. In Herpetology, I took pictures of dead specimens of Californian herps. These photos will appear on HerpAtlas when you map a species(http://herpatlas.sdnhm.org/). You can check out some of the species I photographed by looking at creatures like the Bipes and Kingsnakes. In each of my departments, I worked on Baja California specimens. These are important because they can surveyed for study. This can lead to conservation efforts and a better understanding of a nearby peninsula. This includes sorting insects for Entomology, photography for Herps, invertebrate cleaning for Paleo, and plant mounting for Botany. No one project is complete, but I did my part to help get those sections of museum work closer to completion. My presentation slides can be found here: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1bCMOBNcIrKubG2o0Fzp_ptfyPafxS0ZVS97cPV0-a-I/edit#slide=id.gc6f972163_0_0 I truly feel as if I've contributed something important to my museum, and I haven't even entered Botany yet! How is this so? Well...
It all started with a jar of insects from Camp Pendleton, which would help the military understand the creatures around them when they train and build. It was a massive undertaking, but it was all for the protection of the smaller animals in our area. Next, I helped my Herpetology mentor, Laura, take pictures of dozens of reptiles and amphibians to put on a museum site, HerpAtlas. It would educate SoCal residents undertsand and identify the herps nearby. Now, I am cleaning and finalizing marine fossils from Baja California. The task needed to be done, and I have a hand in beautifying the specimens for future study. I have learned so much, from taxonomy, to anatomy, to tool use, to everything in between. Who would have known that I could expand my knowledge so much farther than what I thought I knew! Now I can identify arthropods, from coleoptera to embidiina, edit photos, and discuss theories and knowledge with spunky paleontologists. Those who work at the museum aren't serious people. They are laid-back, friendly, boisterous, eccentric, and very, very intelligent. You can't speak to them without learning something, and they are more than happy to help and explain things. I look up those qualities. I want to be a scientist. This has been something I've been sure of for quite a long time. This just enforces what I already knew. I feel like I've learned so much. I plan to become a regular volunteer there as well! There's a real connection there. This fossil shell I prepared is from the recent Pleistocene. It's very pretty in real life, and might have spent its days near Californian mammoths!
Chaos the rattlesnake watches the conversation intently. While I now work in the herpetology wet collection, I had to ask for help quite a few times in entomology. I never have had to speak up for myself really, which is nice, but I've needed support in different ways. It can be difficult to admit that you don't know something, that's for sure. When these animals are under the microscope, it can be a little... difficult. How many wings does it have? Where are its biting mouth parts? Why does it have to be so small? The proper identification of these collected specimens was integral to the project. It's far better to ask for help than simply guess on something like this. (This might also simply be a fluke but I was offered paleontology yesterday after being told it wouldn't be possible. Maybe it was my endless yammering about archosaurs or something?) I'm trying my very best to work as hard as I can and make connections to my coworkers and mentors. I have liked everyone I've met so far, and those who I spend most of my time with, the mentors, are fantastic. Jim was helpful and supportive, and my herpetology mentor, Laura, is hilarious and very fun to work with. It feels like what I'm doing is making a real impact. Maybe my hand-identified mantid will appear during my presentation? Internship projects, in my opinion, are the hardest part. Especially when you neglect to tell your internship about it until a few days before it starts. Whoops! Thankfully, the good Samaritans at the museum have a solution they have practiced on many High Tech Students. Don't! What do I mean? Well, the museum doesn't want a project in a traditional sense. They feel as if it will distract us from what we really need to get from our time, which is knowledge. The things we learn during these weeks so far has been immensely enlightening. Things I thought I knew have been expanded upon in ways I couldn't believe, and I have only barely begun. What I will show to my peers and mentors is what I have done for the museum as a whole, and, more importantly, what I have learned. I can show my specimens, my logs, and my work, but my experiences that I describe will be just as available. What my project will be is not set in stone, because we don't want it to be! I will show what I've done in whatever way I see fit, and that is what the museum would prefer. Now, if only I could get some good Herpetology pictures for it. Something tells me that high schoolers don't want to see me messing with the innards of lizards...? Today i will give a blurb of my discussion with my current mentor, Jim, who is a seasoned entomologist. his help so far has risen me to new levels regarding the bodies and identification of many arthropod specimens. |