An Honors Thesis in the Midst of a global Pandemic
At Stanford you can often hear students talking about their four-year plan, what classes or study abroad programs they want to do when. Four-year plans aren’t always followed to a T and sometimes they aren’t really a FOUR-year plan at all. Personally I never had a four-year plan, I had more of a two-year plan. During the spring quarter of my sophomore year was when I first sat down to really look at all of the classes I had to take for my major. Though I didn’t have a four-year plan throughout my time at Stanford, I did figure out early on that I wanted to conduct independent research and do an Honors Thesis.
Typically students conduct the research for their Thesis during the summer before their senior year, and then spend the rest of the year conducting the analysis and writing up their findings. This timeline meant that this summer (the summer of 2020) was the time to do my Honors Thesis. During the winter of last year I started reaching out to professors and applying for funding. I was all set to be conducting research on the hypoxia (lack of oxygen) tolerance of sea hares (a type of sea slug) in the San Juan Islands in Washington State. I had been writing a proposal with this professor to apply for funding and was beginning the Honors application as well. Suddenly, the world got turned upside down. Campus shut down, we were all sent home and many states put stay-at-home orders in place to try and control the spread of COVID-19. I went home to stay with my family, took the quarter off from classes and crossed my fingers that I would still be allowed to go to Friday Harbor to conduct my research. That didn’t end up happening.
As most everyone has experienced in the past six months, nothing has gone according to plan. People have lost their jobs, others have to stay away from their families and are working on the front lines of this pandemic. 2020 has not gone as planned for anyone. As soon as it became obvious that I wasn’t going to be able to go up to Friday Harbor, I began reaching out to other professors who could advise me on a project that could be done remotely. While I am not doing the research I was initially going to be doing, I am still conducting research and I still get to do my Honors Thesis. Like many scientists now, I had to switch gears from a field based project to a meta-analysis or data mining project. Most scientists are spending this time in their homes or labs (if they are allowed in) processing and analyzing data that has already been collected. I am doing the same thing.
Now, I am doing a project that is using data that has already been collected by other paleoecologists (scientists who study ancient ecosystems via fossils and the rock record). I am searching through literature to find data that can help me understand the change in abundance (similar to population size) of organisms in shallow benthic (ocean-floor) marine ecosystems throughout the Mesozoic Era (think dinosaur time). Basically, I am trying to understand how the abundance of organisms in ecosystems like reefs and lagoons changed throughout the Mesozoic Era.
To do this, I am not digging through rocks or finding fossils (though I am looking at pictures of them). Instead I am digging through all of the research that mentions abundance during the Mesozoic to gather the data that other people have already collected (don’t worry, they will all be properly cited and given their due recognition). During this time where field research isn’t really possible, I am fortunate enough to come behind so many great scientists that have published data that I can use to illuminate some more of our oceans’ past.
It is in times like this that you really appreciate how connected and collaborative science really is. I wouldn’t be able to conduct the research that I am without the help of my advisors, but also without the previous research and investigation of so many scientists whose published data I am gathering to answer this question. In order for me to conduct my research and complete an Honors Thesis I need the work and input of many, many scientists who came before me and all of those who helped and mentored them. We are all connected and current research and discoveries wouldn’t be possible without all of the work put in by those who came before us.
