Blog 9 - Advisory Prep 3

This is both a hilarious and a prime example of dinosaur giving advice. By the way, dinosaurs aren't extinct. They're everywhere! Birds are the last branch of this family of animals; birds are specifically known as avian dinosaurs. The ones we think of, like T. Rex and Triceratops, are called non-avian dinosaurs.

I know this has nothing to do with this blog so the next picture will have everything to do with it.

1. State whether or not you currently have a mentor, and what the status of your interview is with that person.

- Currently, I still have my mentor, Dr. Eric Scott. Regarding interview 2, I'm still trying to coordinate a date with him for it.

2. At this point, your research is probably guiding your studies toward more specific areas within your topic.  Name the area or two you find most promising and explain your reasons.   

- So far, the one area of Paleontology that is beginning to grow on me is Paleoecology, more specifically the reconstruction of paleoenvironments. Paleoecology is the paleontological sub field that aims to reconstruct the entire ecology, meaning everything from food webs to organism interaction, using the evidence given by fossils and the matrix they are found in. The main reason why I'm starting to like this part of paleontology is the fact that I want to be able to reconstruct the world of any dinosaur from their perspective, but in order to do that I need to be able to put together who their world worked in the big picture. It is like the old phrase of "putting yourself in someone's shoes" to get to know who they are and why they do what they do. To be able to accurately render a dinosaur's life, or any other ancient creature, a paleontologist has to understand the context in which they lived: what other organisms were around, what type of biome did it live in, etc. So long story short I'm beginning to lean towards the paleontological sub field of paleoecology for my project because it would impart a great deal of understanding of how an ancient creature's life was like.

3. What kinds of sources do you think will help you in the next month to gain more research depth?  Where will you go to get them?

- Honestly, I've been exploring the Cal Poly Pomona Library database like crazy for articles about paleoenvironments or even how some fossils can reveal a lot about what an ancient environment was like, so I'm not sure how I can get more specific than that. However, one thing that would be really nice is if I can find a source where the study focuses on the reconstruction of a specific organism as a whole within its ecological context; such a source, would give lots of insight as to what I need to be studying. One place I can look for this might be the research help desk at Cal Poly, I just need to set aside the time to look for that one guy that showed us the Cal Poly database. Additionally, I think that there is probably a documentary out there that tries to do this so it'd be helpful to find a database of those.

4. Write down a possible EQ.  Please don't worry about wording other than ensuring that it provides the option for multiple correct answers.  At this point, the senior team is most interested in understanding your thought process.

- What evidence is most useful when a paleontologist attempts to reconstruct an organism and its ecological context?

Blog 6 - Advisory Prep

This is one very wise and cute turtle.

1. What has worked well for you concerning senior project this year?  What has made it a positive experience for you?  

- So far, what has worked well for me as far as the senior project goes is my mentorship because my mentor is an extremely nice person and we both contact each other ahead of time to set up days for me to go to the San Bernardino County Museum. Also, the fact that my mentor takes time out of his work to show me really cool fossils, like the brown fragment of a Timber wolf femur that he published an article about (its one of my sources), always reminds of how awesome my topic is.

The fossil I talked about is the one in the center. As one can see, the interesting thing about it is the fact that its quite obvious that it was the result of an injury, yet the animal it belonged lived long enough for the bone to heal which is suggested by its roughness. Cool right!

2. What are you finding difficult concerning senior project?  How can you adapt to make that portion work better for you?  How might the senior team help?

- The really difficult part of senior project for me so far is coming up with an idea of what I can do for my first independent component, because I've looked for any possible classes I can take and I've found absolutely nothing so I can perhaps talk a lot more with my mentor about this so he could help me brainstorm ideas. On this point, it would be very helpful if the senior team could perhaps give examples of what past seniors have done, explain it to me, or even help me brainstorm ideas.