In 2014, Sze Wing Yu (ENSP, Biodiversity and Conservation Biology) participated in a Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) at the Sevilleta Long Term Ecological Research (LTER) Station in Socorro, New Mexico. As an REU student, Sze Wing worked closely with another student and their mentor, refuge manager Kathy Granillo, to study the Gray Vireo breeding population and habitat within the Sevilleta (NM) National Wildlife Refuge. Their project involved searching for and monitoring the nests of these rare songbirds, assessing the vegetation surrounding their nest sites, and coauthoring a report based on their findings. In addition to presenting the project at the program’s symposium, Sze Wing and her colleague also presented their research as a poster session at The Wildlife Society Annual Conference in October.
The full group of REU students participated in grassland bird counts, small mammal trapping, and camping trips. Here they are working on a fencing project in Valles Caldera National Preserve to help improve wildlife habitat.
Sze Wing has taken the opportunity to participate in internships and educational activities whenever she can, and encourages others to do the same! She as participated in the Student Conservation Association Career Discovery Internship Program (SCA CDIP) at Parker River National Wildlife Refuge in Massachusetts, and an education internship at the Philadelphia Zoo. She has also been active in the Wildlife Society at Maryland and is currently its president. In her spare time (!) she is an ENSP Honors student in Dr. Dan Gruner’s insect ecology lab. Sze Wing graduates in May and hopes to work for a natural resources agency in order to study and conserve wildlife.
