Lynn Copes
Columbia University
New York, New York
To the National Science Foundation REU program,
Walking into the National Museum of Natural History is impressive to every first-time (and many 10th and 100th time) visitor. Entering the building for the first time, knowing that you have been awarded the opportunity to work, study and learn there for a summer is nothing short of awe-inspiring. The Research Training Program at the NMNH is the reason I was lucky enough to have that experience this summer, and I'm writing to you to thank you for supporting such an amazing program.
Attending college in New York City, I have spent many happy hours at the American Museum of Natural History, and even had an internship in the Anthropology Department there last summer. While I spent this summer working on a project with Dr. Rick Potts in the discipline of Anthropology, I would never say that I spent the summer solely in that department. The real strength of the RTP is that students are exposed to all areas of geology, biology and anthropology through lectures, demonstrations and collection tours. My research on the stratigraphic precision of paleoenvironmental data in relation to paleoanthropology at the sites of Turkana and Olduvai in East Africa was truly multi-disciplinary. I relied on my fellow interns to help me understand the fence diagrams of Olduvai geography and the fossilized plant material found at Koobi Fora. Had I remained isolated in the Anthropology wing, my experience would have been much poorer, and I am grateful that the RTP has been designed to teach its interns about the importance of cross-discipline communication in science. The curriculum ably demonstrates the similarities that crosscut all areas of science as well as allows students to research a topic in their field in depth.
I will be processing all I have learned from this experience for a long time to come, which is perhaps the best measure of a program's success. I am grateful for this opportunity to interact in a community of research scientists located at one of the greatest natural history museums in the world. Thank you so much for providing this experience to me and my fellow interns-we hope you judge it as much a success as we do.
Sincerely,
Lynn Copes
Research Training Program, 2004