From a Caterpillar to a Butterfly

It's always amazing to me to look back at a course and look at the immense amount of information I learned and how much work I accomplished in a little over three months. This course was no different, and I enjoyed it because it really complements my future line of work as a researcher. There were definitely two moments from this class that made me feel I was making benefical progress as an undergraduate researcher. The first one was writing my scicomm article, "Tail'ored Taste Buds. It's easy for me to say that I want to be able to make science engaging and digestible for the public. It's another for me to practice doing it. Breaking down the research and thinking of it in story form not only helped me understand the research on another level, but I got to see what aspects I need to improve upon and get a better idea pf my style. For most research papers I read now, I want to think about how I could incorporate storytelling elements. In a decade for now, once I am sure I will have turned many articles into creative speeches or more articles, it will be fun to look back at this first attempt and see how much I've grown. My second transformative moment was watching the film Bird Brain. I wrote a blog post about it a few weeks ago, (check it out if you haven't!), but I find myself watching smaller animals and thinking about how they perceive the world. As a dominant species, humans do have the responsibility of thinking how we want to coexist on Earth. I think understanding how these animals think is a great way to find insight on how to do just that. It's a film I know I will continue to think about for years to come with how much it taught me about bird intelligence.

Where do I go from here?

Although I recognize the good work I have put together, I also need to recognize the struggles that came with it. I encountered many time issues. I had a really hard time meeting deadlines this quarter. I know I need to improve upon this, and I think with dilligent effort this shouldn't continue to be an issue. My second struggle was actually regarding research. It was a struggle to find journal articles about problems and solutions for stray dogs. Much of that information came from social organizations. I'd hoped to do better at finding these sources, but literature search takes time. And as I mentioned, time was not my strong suit.

Moving forward, I plan on prioritizing my research. These studies are something I am passionate about and want to continue interacting with. Keep an eye out for me in the future! You may be using some of my original research in your own science communication efforts.