The Florida Museum (FM) has already made a lasting impact on my professional development and research skills, and I would be honored to continue my commitment to this vast network of research departments. Initially, I turned to the FM in order to gain research experience and become more assimilated to Gainesville society. As someone who was born and raised in South Dakota, I find it difficult to fully mesh with the Florida scientific community. Fortunately, I had the opportunity to work on a morphological project with Dr. Franck at the FM Herbarium. Although my field is animal oriented, I value the chance I had to better understand the botany sector as well as strengthen my microscope skills. This experience has even driven me to focus on ecological …show more content…
Regardless of the project topic, I hope to gain knowledge on curating research collections and working in the field of research in a museum setting. My previous project, which was volunteer based, emphasized independent collection of data. Although this facilitated growth in an array of skills, I feel that I have not gained much knowledge on how the specimens had been collected and how they are preserved so that I could collect my data. As someone who is open minded to looking into diverse career opportunities, I would like to better understand the role that museums play in the research sector. Additionally, I am eager to share the knowledge I gain through research. I would hope to have this opportunity in some capacity (perhaps through the Undergraduate Research Symposium). This would allow me to experience a symposium through the lens of a researcher, which would be conducive to my future graduate studies. Overall, I feel that I provide the opportunity for a new perspective due to my place of