I’ve
always had a fascination with animals, from watching documentaries on animal
planet, to searching for ways to work with animals in real life. This brought
me to discovering Dr. Davis and working in her ABAC Lab. When working as a research
assistant in the summer of 2016, I was helping the undergraduates and graduates
with their observations and it was interesting to hear some of the reason why
they chose to do their work. While working with my colleagues and with the help
of Dr. Davis they brought me to the conclusion that I would want to conduct my
own research. The idea of getting a better understanding of how chickens
develop their food preferences intrigued me. This, along with the memory of a
recent class I took known as ‘Food Choices and Consequences’, which discussed
the difficulty in changing food preferences in adult humans, caused me to
question whether or not these rules apply to animals.
One of
the biggest obstacles I have faced is getting approval from IACUC. Throughout
the entire fall semester Logan Woodhouse, Dr. Davis, and I have worked on the
form for IACUC and even though we have been declined once this would not stop us
from reapplying. We have taken a lot of their comments and revised our form to
meet their standards and hope to see that this second submission we will be
approved.
I always
thought that researching would be such an interesting field to work in and that
being in the Oscars program would be a wonderful opportunity to experience what
it would be to run your own observations.
Even though this research might not leave a huge impact in the world of
psychology I do believe that this could cascade into something bigger, like
building on this research or even open new doors with other psychologist that
are interested in how animal’s behaviors work. My research can be a gateway
into meeting other professors and other researchers that are in my field and
develop connections with these people. I know that there will be obstacles that
I will face throughout this whole experience, but these obstacles will only
make me stronger and help improve on what I should and shouldn’t be dedicating
my time to.
