Amanda Doan
The final stretch
posted August 11, 2017
Wow! These 8 weeks have flown by fast and I’m sad to be leaving this program. Stanford has given me the opportunity to think more deeply about the world, meet new friends, and also do hands on research! I don’t think any other program can top that. I’m amazed at what we accomplished in a short amount of time.
To start off, Lena, Sai and I measured 3,815 butterfly and moth specimens! All the hours spent inputting data into the computer really paid off. I’m excited to see our data utilized in a future scientific paper!
My partner Lena and I worked hard on our Ursidae body size relationship with climate change project. There was a ton of sweat and effort put into this project and it paid off in the end! When we were watching our poster print, I could feel my heart swell with pride. I remember my first day walking into the Braun hall and looking at the scientific posters around me. Now, I produced one of my very own. That’s a really big accomplishment and it was the highlight of my summer. Lena and I brought it back to school and gifted it to our teacher who recommended us to do this program as a “thank you” present! He loved the visuals and graphs and stated how we knew how to use R more than he did.
Although it is quite bittersweet to be leaving, I am forever grateful for the opportunity to be in this program. I thank my teacher, Mr. Khong for pushing me to apply for this program. I also want to thank Jenny and Noel for their support and guidance throughout the summer. I genuinely appreciated the time and effort you both put into the program to make our summer fun! Your hard work has not gone unnoticed and I hope you enjoyed your summer as much as I did. Most importantly, I want to thank all of my fellow interns for welcoming me with open arms and wide smiles. Through our canoeing trip, the bees eating our fajitas, and even the time we all sang Andrew L. happy birthday (although he wasn’t even there), I truly enjoyed the presence of each and every person. Thanks for making my summer a fun one and I hope we keep in touch!
Signing out,
Amanda Doan
Being at Stanford has made summer breeze through quickly
posted August 04, 2017
Being at Stanford has made summer breeze through quickly. The continuous learning and laughter is what I love most about this program-- not only are you expanding your
knowledge, but you also make great friends while you're at it. So many things have happened and I don't know if I can recollect everything, but here I go!
Before this program, I never thought much about science and how wide the field is. The daily presentations given by professors,grad, and undergrad students have changed
that perspective of mine. It's fascinating to see how they conduct their research and how everything ties perfectly with each other. The amount of time and precision that
goes into their research is something I admire!
We had our camping trip recently and it was pretty fun. That was my first time camping ever so I'm glad I got to do it with people who made it enjoyable! Before we
headed to the campsite, we visited some mountains that had crab and shell fossils on the rocks. We had a chance to go out and find them ourselves! It was quite scary
though because it was right by a road and many cars would pass by quickly. We then got to our campsite and set up tents and got ready for dinner. After that, we set up
the moth station and waited until night time. When night time came, we caught a huge moth. The rest of the night was spent gazing at the stars and eating s'mores!
The next day, we packed all of our belongings and got ready to hike up a trail. The trail itself was only about a mile and a half long but the
incline was tremendous. The hot sun was not my favorite part of this hike, but we got to learn about the history of the rocks and had fun bonding with everyone!
Lotsoflearninglaughterandbutterflies
posted July 05, 2017
The last 2 weeks here at Stanford have been quite exciting. I learn something new every day and it seems like the fun never stops! My peers have welcomed me
with open arms and I can’t wait to see what we will accomplish together by the end of the summer. In our program this year, we are focusing on butterflies and
moths. Our days consist of a lot of data collection, in fact, my partners and I have inputted 1,500 butterflies and moths! We also recently learned how to use
the program R, which I have to admit, was difficult! My partner and I worked together to figure out the program. The functions don’t make sense in my mind yet
but with practice it will!
My favorite part of the program is when we do team building activities. For example, Noel split us up into 3 groups and had us work on geological time
scales! We had a sheet of paper with species on it and we split up the work to find their geological time periods. After that, we drew everything to scale.
My group had a lot of fun making the time scale and drawing amazing images of the animals. Call me biased, but I think my group’s time scale looked the best!
;)
Emily, a graduate student at Stanford, has been taking us out every week to new places on campus during lunch. Last week we went to a lake and all
the interns were hunting for frogs. Stephanie must be the frog whisperer because she’s the only one who has found frogs….
Did you hear about our field trip last week? We went down to Capitola beach to look at whale and shell fossils. It was a beautiful day to learn more
about fossils and bond with the other interns. There were shell beds along the beach and as we analyzed it, we noticed the placement of the shells. The
older shells are on the bottom as the rock pushes it down over time. After lunch on the beach, we all went down to the sand to look for sand crabs. We
even saw pregnant sand crabs! When Noel turned it upside down and pointed out its eggs, I was surprised at the amount of eggs a small creature can carry.
Did you know a sand crab can carry up to 45,000 eggs? That’s crazy!
From my experience at Stanford so far, I’ve been thinking on my way home about all the species I’ve encountered but never thought much about. I’ve always known about sand crabs, but I never knew that different sizes existed and one single sand crab can carry up to 45,000 eggs. Or how when wet, mice carry twice
their weight! I realize how we tend to overlook the simplest things and I’m looking forward to thinking more deeply about the world.