Undergraduate Research Assistant, Spring 2014
During my spring 2014 semester at the University of Pittsburgh, I had the privilege of working with a post-baccalaureate student and Walter Carson PhD to investigate the effect of post-wind throw salvage logging on terrestrial salamander populations at Powdermill Nature Reserve in Pennsylvania. As a research assistant, I located and read previous related studies and wrote a literature review on the topic prior to conducting the study. I then participated in study design and implementation by constructing and placing cover boards at all site types: salvage logged, non-salvage logged, and reference forest. Throughout the following months, we measured relative abundance of salamanders using the cover boards, as well as conducting night time visual encounter surveys.
Review Paper by J. Coulter: Extrapolating the Effects of Post-Wind Throw Salvage Logging on Native, Terrestrial Salamander Populations (2014).
Undergraduate Research Assistant, Spring 2015
My research with Dr. Carson continued in 2015. While working with a PhD student, I conducted literature searches and compiled information for a literature review pertaining to non-trophic animal disturbances in forest, grassland and savanna ecosystems. I identified, read, and summarized approximately 50 scientific articles, as well as contributed to and maintained a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet of key information about previous studies.
Undergraduate Research Assistant, Fall 2015 - Spring 2016
I spent my senior year working for Dr. Elizabeth Hufnagel in the Department of Instruction and Learning at the University of Pittsburgh on research studies pertaining to science education, climate change education, and the role of emotions in learning. I contributed to the research process in a wide variety of ways, including literature searches, data entry and organization, data analysis, and creating tables and figures for scientific articles. I have transcribed and analyzed interviews using various video software, and I regularly use Microsoft Office programs.
Research Projects