FWS Research Assistant Highlights: Rebecca Lee

Hi, my name is Rebecca Lee and I’m a junior majoring in Global Affairs while also pursuing minors in Information Technology and Japanese Studies. I’m currently working for Professor Woolsey in conducting analysis of technical geospatial understandings in the country of Haiti following the earthquake that occurred in 2010. I meet with Professor Woolsey every other week to discuss the work I’ve been assigned to do and the research progress. When I’m not meeting with Professor Woolsey, I work from my computer or at the library in completing the research.  I’m currently working on researching different international development agencies and non-governmental organizations such as the United Nations Development Program and Haiti Innovation in seeing how they portray geographical pictures of Haiti to support their material regarding the issue of deforestation. As I’ve read information found online released by different organizations, I have noticed that their use of images showing Haiti have been used in different ways explain the issue. This particular observation from reading information from a number of organizations and non-profit environmental organizations have led me to realize the importance of images in conveying information to the public which is what I discovered recently. Before working on this assignment, I was working on collecting aerial and satellite images of Haiti from January 11^th, 2010 to January 15^th, 2011 and then collecting more images from January 11^th to the 13^th of this year from the AP Images database. The reason of going through the AP Images database was to gather before and after images of the earthquake during the time the earthquake struck Haiti. Then gather any images of Haiti that showed the damage the earthquake caused in Haiti five years after the natural disaster occurred. My position as a research assistant helping Professor Woolsey in the area of Cultural Studies will help me in strengthening my skills in research and analysis. Furthermore, I believe the work I am doing through this position will help me to prepare for graduate school in the area of Global Affairs.