3 August 2007
Benjamin Linzmeier
Bowling Green State University
Bowling Green, Ohio
Dear NMNH Office of the Director,
Without your support
of the Research Training Program, I would only have been able to dream
of working and learning at a facility such as the Smithsonian. I am
truly grateful for the opportunity for research and exploration I was
given this summer through the RTP at Smithsonian's National Museum of
Natural History.
This summer opened
a world of learning and opportunity to the other RTP students and me.
We met and became acquainted with many different people of varied disciplines,
participated in a plethora of collection tours and talks, and were still
able to experience life in Washington D.C. As a group we were able to
learn how to do research effectively, and discussed and debated the
merits of our own research.
Working with my
advisor, Dr. Marty Buzas, was a surreal experience. It was only last
semester I was reading papers written by him in my micropaleontology
course, but since May, I have been able to discuss not only the engaging
research I am doing with him, but also my future. Learning how to use
the equipment at the museum gave me a sense of my research's independence,
which I had never experienced before.
This summer I also
found a potential research project, inspired by a lecture from Richard
Bambach and discussions with Marty, which I hope to develop into my
senior thesis. Specifically, I would like to look at species richness
in an environment through both time and space. The study may find trends
in the number of species that are present in a certain environment which
could provide evidence for trends in global diversity.
I would like to
thank you again for the opportunity offered me and others this summer.
I hope I can in the future contribute to such an amazing program and
provide the same opportunities I was given to others.
Sincerely,
Benjamin Linzmeier
Research Training Program
Class of '07