Research Narrative 2021

I was incredibly fortunate to work closely with a remarkable student from the beginning of my
time at SUNY Potsdam. Camille Holmes, who was a sophomore when I started in the fall of
2016, is the kind of student with whom professors dream to work. She was intelligent, driven, a
natural problem solver, not to mention kind and friendly. The successful establishment of the
button quail colony that forms the foundation of my research is due in large part to her efforts.
Camille was successful in completing an ambitious project comparing growth parameters of
two different colored quail: splash and wildtype. Her data suggest splash colored birds (birds
spotted with excessive white coloring) exhibit significantly slower growth rates than the
wildtype (non-white spotted) as well as significantly lower adult mass. She also documented
differences in organ size between the two colors. She presented her data in poster form at the
2019 SUNY Undergraduate Research Conference and the 2019 SUNY Potsdam Learning &
Research Fair. She also gave an oral presentation for the Presidential Scholar’s program. I am
incredibly proud of Camille and was thrilled when she was accepted into Cornell University’s
College of Veterinary Medicine to pursue a doctoral degree in equine immunobiology. She will
always be a close friend and I take pride knowing that her undergraduate experience at SUNY
Potsdam has readied her for a bright future. I am currently in the process of preparing her data
for publication. I expect to submit the article for review sometime in 2021. Another student,
Rebecca Wildigg, completed a small project with me as part of her Kilmer grant. Initially we had
planned to conduct a nest-predation study, but this project was made impossible due to the
prolonged snowfall we experienced during the spring 2019 semester. Instead, Rebecca
designed a project to examine temperature preference of splash and wildtype button quail
chicks. She presented her project at the 2019 SUNY Potsdam Learning & Research fair.

Since the submission of the previous research narrative, my tenth coauthored article was
published in mid 2019. This paper looked at enzymatic activity in the muscles of red-winged
blackbirds during early post-hatch development. My former doctoral advisor, former graduate
colleagues and I are currently preparing two other articles for publication from data collected
during my doctoral work, including projects which examined the role of thyroid hormone
manipulations in alligators and red-winged blackbirds, respectively. These articles will likely be
ready for submission in the upcoming months.

I was looking forward to working with another presidential scholar during the 2019 and 2020
academic period. I had tentative plans for them to begin a project comparing blood hematocrit
levels between splash and wildtype birds. However, the COVID-19 pandemic thwarted our
plans. As the primary caretaker for the birds, I was deemed essential personnel during the
pandemic closures. I have continued to maintain the button quail colony; however, active
research was discontinued to limit the amount of time spent on campus. I look forward to when
the university can return to a more typical situation so that I can continue my active research.