Thursday, January 26, 2012

Alpha Chi at Work: Lindsey Bidwell

Read all about Lindsey Bidwell's job at the Primate Osteology Lab!

Joining Alpha Chi the spring term of my freshman year was one of the easiest and most influential decisions I have made in my 21 years of life. I quickly made lifelong friendships and had experienced such a strong bond with my new sisters that I would consider them my family. With such a wide variety of interests and life passions I knew that being a biological anthropology major would be something that I would have in common with very few of my sisters. As each new term begins I both nervous and exhilarated to know that I might not recognize many people in my new classes.

 This term I decided that it would be beneficial for me to branch out and find an opportunity that would help me not only gain knowledge in my major but also allow me more personal and hands on experience with anthropology as a field. After hearing about it through a new friend in one of my classes fall term I decided I would look into becoming a volunteer in the Primate Osteology Lab on campus. Being that my interest in bones, skeletons and all of the gory stuff, I knew that rather than continuing to gross out my sisters I would look into this potential opportunity.

 Now that I have been given the chance to volunteer in the lab this term I have been able to build connections with people who have similar interests as mine as well as begin to have a greater feel as to what my future will hopefully entail. Within the lab itself there are hundreds of different primate specimens that lab students use to gain hands on knowledge. These range from Old World Monkeys to Prosimians and New World Monkeys also.  Though the lab also has other animals as well ranging from bats, marsupials, birds and reptiles. Within the lab we use the knowledge we have gained in previous classes as well as each other and other resources to determine the species of each skeleton if its already known and collect any other information such as skeletal pathologies that may be of interest before they are saved in the online database.

 Being able to work volunteer within the lab as already allowed me to gained more knowledge and experience about the field that I am beyond confident that forensic science is what I would like to study. I like that the Osteology Lab not only helps me study and learn but also show a side of my self that doesn’t necessarily fit in fully with Alpha Chi.
What a unique job Lindsey has! Who knew that an Alpha Chi was involved in the Osteology Lab? Well now all of  you do!!
LITB,
Chrissy Hardesty

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