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 Western biology major Kaitlin Bookless has
shown an enthusiastic dedication to building her research skills in
her field that has impressed her faculty mentors and enriched the
classroom experience of her peers. That dedication has been rewarded
with her recent selection as an intern in the Yale-Peabody Museum of
Natural History invertebrate zoology division.
It has been a remarkable academic journey for
Bookless, who arrived at WCSU as an 18-year-old transfer student
unfamiliar with Western’s biology program and unaccustomed to the
modern lab facilities available in the Science Building. Unlike her
first college, she discovered it was expected at Western that
research would play an integral role in her scientific education.
Even after gaining a solid foundation in biology, she admitted that
she entered her group senior research class last fall with some
trepidation.
“I had not taken an invertebrate zoology class
before, so my first experience with invertebrates came in my senior
research class,” Bookless said. The focus of her group’s research
project was the comparative study of organisms living on the
external surface of healthy and hospitalized loggerhead sea turtles.
She gained new awareness from the class’s study of turtles injured
by causes ranging from boating and fishery to oil spills that “human
activities are causing loggerhead populations to decline, and many
ecosystems are being altered, which is causing a loss of
biodiversity.”
Associate Professor of Biological and
Environmental Sciences Dr. Theodora Pinou recalled how Bookless
demonstrated a special gift for research and analysis in laboratory
and classroom work.
“Kaity worked with other students to document
and quantify the biodiversity or organisms attached to the body of
sea turtles,” Pinou observed. In learning to identify different
species, Bookless quickly mastered lab techniques for measurement
and statistical analysis as tools to address questions regarding sea
turtle conservation and behavior as well as the biodiversity of the
marine environment.
“She was keen to gather as much data as
possible, and was detailed in doing so. She demonstrated commitment
to the project by volunteering to work in the lab beyond what was
expected of her, and to help other students complete their data
collection,” Pinou said.
“I have had some very insightful conversations
with her about the appropriateness of applying various statistical
tests to the data,” she added.” It was most interesting to me as a
faculty member to see how reflective and thoughtful she was as she
navigated her research.”
Bookless also made a positive impression on
Eric Lazo-Wasem, senior collections manager of invertebrate zoology
at Yale-Peabody and director of the museum’s internship program.
Lazo-Wasem, with whom Pinou has collaborated in research projects,
was a frequent visitor to the senior research class and was
impressed by Bookless’ dedication to her work. Pinou noted the
Yale-Peabody internship will afford an opportunity to become
familiar with a wide range of tasks ranging from storage and
documentation of artifacts and taxonomy to fossil curation and the
art of museum exhibition development.
Bookless cited the opportunity to work with a diversity of
invertebrates and benefit from Lazo-Wasem’s wide experience in the
field has been a major benefit.
“At the internship, I am learning that
evolution can be tracked through the museum records, and I have been
able to catalog specimens from Antarctica, Fiji, Africa, Indonesia,
Florida and many other locations that show the world’s
biodiversity,” Bookless remarked. “I have attended seminars at Yale
that have exposed me to research by scientists all over the world,
in many different fields from vaccine evolution and conservation
biology to the evolution and genetics of the stickleback fish.”
“As an intern, she will learn about the career
opportunities that biology majors may pursue at museums,” Pinou
remarked. “Most important will be her interaction with visitors from
around the globe, and opportunities to attend seminars and lectures
as well as to take advantage of the library and other collection
resources at Yale University. I hope it will open the door to a
whole new world that she would never have known about without this
opportunity!”
Bookless credited the opportunities she has
discovered for building her research skills to WCSU faculty mentors
in the biological and environmental studies department including
Pinou and Professors Dr. Thomas Philbrick and Dr. Frank Dye. She has
not yet decided what path to pursue in her professional career, but
expressed excitement at the opportunities that have unfolded during
her Western experience. Recalling that she overcame a few
challenging semesters to reach her present accomplishments, she
advised her fellow students to persevere in their studies.
“I was able to pick myself up and turn the bad
semesters around,” she said. “One of the most important things I can
share with other students is to pick yourself up after you fall
down.”
Above photo:
(left to right) Kaitlin with Lourdes Rojas, assistant in Invertebrate Zoology,
Yale-Peabody Museum
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