Team Tern

“Team Tern” is an affectionate phrase coined over many years of field crews working on NASSI’s project islands, specifically those for which monitoring terns (rather than the debatably more charasmatic Alcidae) is the priority.

I have spent two summers collecting continuous video data in a Common Tern breeding colony on Stratton Island in Saco Bay, Maine. I have developed an ethogram (a list of behaviors and their definitions) for analyzing these data and began analysis this past spring on a subset of video for my first manuscript. Now I need help analyzing the rest of my video for behavior as well as for environmental parameters in the study system.

**Are you an undergraduate at UC Davis interested in working with me? Let’s talk!**

I am looking to hire 2-3 undergraduate interns for Winter Quarter 2024 with opportunities to extend internships indefinitely. I would encourage students to figure out the level of involvement* they would like to have before applying. *Involvement can range from just data collection level (video analysis) to developing an independent project under my supervision. (Update December 2023 – I am not taking new mentees for independent research!)

For students from WFCB interested in greater involvement, I would like to work together to sponsor you for a Lloyd W. Swift fellowship so we can bring you out to my field site next summer. This also applies to EVE students interested in applying for a summer research opportunity.

Requirements.

Attention to detail

Strong work ethic

Enthusiasm for behavior and conservation

Demonstrated commitment to DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion) in STEM

Excel and VLC Media Player

Compensation.

Research credits

Transcript notation (internship appears on transcript without addition of course credits)

Small stipend (depending on hours/week)

Link to the google form.

I will conduct interviews on a rolling basis. Update 12/18/23: I am no longer evaluating new applications for interns beginning in Winter Quarter 2024!

Photo caption: Summer 2023 seasonal monitoring team, from left to right: Ke Coco Deng, Silas Hernandez, Peyton Priestman, Kay Garlick-Ott (me), and Benjamin Becker (Island Supervisor).

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