This semester, I recruited University of Cincinnati undergrads interested in gaining research experience with a volunteer data analysis opportunity. The students used data collected at the Cincinnati Zoo, and generously shared by Dr. Katie Kalafut, to start to learn how to clean and manage data, run analyses, and code in R.
After lots of hard work this semester learning how to code and analyze data, the members of my Penguin Data Club got a great reward. Thanks to Katie Kalafut and Rickey Kinley, we got a fantastic behind the scenes tour of the Little Blue penguin colony at the Cincinnati Zoo.
Left to right: Liz Hobson, Emily Noeska, Breanah Reid, Grace Walters, Jonathan Bowden, Shruti Parashar, Nathan Pack, Katie Kalafut, Rickey Kinley (not present at field trip, but part of the PDC, Kyle Costa)
It was great to “meet” the penguins whose movement data we’ve been studying all semester.
Even better, this new generation of quantitative biologists got the meet some of the newest generation of penguins!
I had a great time working with these students this semester. We’ve got some preliminary results on penguin association networks and the students have some new quantitative skills. I’m looking forward to continuing to work with this dataset, and hopefully getting new data when the new penguin exhibit at the zoo is finished next summer (with a new fancy integrated tracking system!).
Penguin Data Club v 2.0 kicks off in January 2020!
Students interested in joining are welcome to fill out their information here.
