As an undergraduate student at UF, Rebecca Wilson has traveled the world gaining experiences that will help her fulfill her life’s passion.
Representing the Smithsonian National Zoo, Rebecca spent a summer doing research as an animal behaviorist intern at a giant panda breeding facility in Chengdu, China. During her internship, she was responsible for collecting behavioral data for seven male giant pandas. “I collected and prepared blood smears for a study on a kind of white blood cell called an eosinophillia, and I helped translate signs and tourist information into readable English,” she said.
Rebecca was up against tough competition in applying for the internship.
The Smithsonian internship was a graduate position, but Rebecca was selected over a master's student and a Ph.D. candidate, both from large, prestigious institutions.
She gives credit to her professors at UF for much of her experience, as they gave excellent recommendations for her and were prompt in their responses with the people at the Smithsonian. “Here at Findlay, I have been very fortunate to work with an extremely talented group of faculty, who really care about me as an individual and have taken the time to get to know me really well. It makes all the difference in the world when applying to grad school and for internships like this one,” she added.
China wasn’t Rebecca’s first experience in animal research overseas. She was a volunteer research assistant in Malaysian Borneo counting Sumatran rhinoceroses. She also spent a summer in Africa working with crocodiles.
Rebecca hopes to turn her experiences into a career, as her long-term goal is to work on international wildlife conservation. After graduating from The University of Findlay in May 2006, Rebecca plans to work on a master of science in conservation and wild animal biology at the Royal Veterinary College of London in the United Kingdom. Eventually, she anticipates obtaining a Ph.D. in animal behavior. One day, she hopes to work with the Chinese Zoological Association. She would like to develop an enrichment and training protocol for the association’s zoological parks and study giant panda cognition.
“Giant pandas are truly amazing animals, and there is so much we do not know about them. It is my hope that by gaining a better understanding of how they learn and function we can save them before time runs out,” she concluded.
