Greater Boston
In my current role, I am primarily responsible for the daily care of the thousands of Xenopus frogs in the National Xenopus Resource at the Marine Biological Laboratory as well as the maintenance of the recirculating aquatic systems they are kept on. This position also involves conducting matings, genotyping individuals, making mutants, caring for tadpoles, performing oocyte extractions, testing water quality and closely monitoring set parameters.
During the 2021-2022 academic year, I worked in the lab of Dr. Lori LaPlante investigating if thermal environment during development affected melanin pigment expression in larval convict cichlids. I also wrote my honors thesis and gave a poster presentation on the methods and findings of this study.
This fieldwork was for a long-term conservation project based in Francestown, NH. It included taking various data readings at streams of interest, such as temperature, dissolved oxygen, and total dissolved substance using YSI and TDS meters, as well as filtering water on-site to collect eDNA which would be used to assess brook trout population levels. In addition, I organized study data dating back to 2011 as well as conducted an exploratory analysis and created a final report on the data using RStudio.
As a shorebird monitor, I was responsible for completing daily logs of behavioral and locational data of threatened Piping Plover broods. In addition, I performed Least Tern proximity checks by locating and distinguishing chicks of different age classes and recording high counts. This position also required working with the public in conservation education.
This position entailed transporting and supervising groups on daily field trips throughout New England. When plans unexpectedly changed, I was responsible for designing new schedules and activities.
In this role, my primary responsibilities were to feed, medicate, and monitor the cats being boarded over the weekend while the hospital was closed. I also assisted with appointments (cut nails, drew vaccines, held for blood draws and vaccinations, etc.) and ensured that equipment was stocked and that the hospital was clean.