UROP Research Mentor Project Submission Portal: Submission #884 | Center for Undergraduate Research and Academic Engagement

Submission information

Submission Number: 884

Submission ID: 15046

Submission UUID: fa01f6b7-dc3e-452a-8c2b-c5b1fd0d9ac8

Submission URI: /urop-research-mentor-project-submission-portal

Submission Update: /urop-research-mentor-project-submission-portal?token=XiyREeDCkHnw2RLgLMDLfhq3-m7Jx_9-VHVRFuIduY4

Created: Mon, 08/19/2024 - 03:06 PM

Completed: Mon, 08/19/2024 - 03:06 PM

Changed: Mon, 08/26/2024 - 01:56 PM

Remote IP address: 217.180.192.175

Submitted by: Anonymous

Language: English

Is draft: No

Webform: UROP Project Proposal Portal

Submitted to: UROP Research Mentor Project Submission Portal

Research Mentor Information

Primary Research Mentor Name Kimberly Hughes

Research Mentor Preferred Pronouns she

When potential research assistants are reaching out via email, what is your preferred honorific? Dr.

Contact Email (FSU Email if affiliated) kahughes@fsu.edu

Position Title Faculty

FSU College (if applicable) Arts and Sciences

FSU Department or Non-FSU Organization Affiliation Biological Science

Headshot (optional) {Empty}

Additional Research Mentor(s)

Research Assistant Supervisor (if different from above) {Empty}

Research Assistant Supervisor Preferred Pronouns {Empty}

Research Assistant Supervisor Preferred Honorific? {Empty}

Contact Email (FSU Email if affiliated) {Empty}

Name of Other Faculty/Collaborator(s) (if applicable) {Empty}

Other Faculty/Collaborator(s) Preferred Pronouns {Empty}

Other Faculty/Collaborator(s) Preferred Honorific? {Empty}

Contact Email (FSU Email if affiliated) {Empty}

Overall Project Details

Title of the Project Animal coloration--using digital image processing to understand variation and evolution

Project Keywords zoology

Are you currently looking for research assistants? Yes

Number of Research Assistants Needed 2

Relevant Research Assistant Major(s) Biological Science, Scientific Computing

Project Location: On FSU Main Campus

If the project location is off campus, does the research assistant(s) need to provide their own transportation? {Empty}

Please select the choice that most accurately describes your expectations for the research assistant(s): In-person

Approximately how many hours a week would the research assistant(s) need to work? 5-10

Roughly what time frame do you expect research assistant(s) to work? Flexible schedule (Combination of business and outside of business. TBD between student and research mentor.)

Overall Research Project Description We are interested in why organisms are so genetically diverse. We examine this question using one of the best-studied species for understanding the maintenance of genetic diversity, the Trinidad guppy (Poecilia reticulata). Individual guppies vary greatly in many traits, but one of the most obvious is male body color. In previous research, we found that males with rare or novel color patterns are favored by natural selection, a process that tends to maintain high genetic variation. As the result of a long-term experiment, we have a large collection of digital images of guppy coloration. UROP students will have the opportunity to assist in digitizing those images and, ultimately, analyzing that data to rigorously test the hypothesis that selection favoring rare color patterns is responsible for maintaining high genetic diversity in this species.

Research Tasks data collections (digitize images of fish coloration)
data analysis (use computational tools to analyze animal color data)

Skills that research assistant(s) may need: familiarity with personal computers
ability to focus on small details for long periods
good hand-eye coordination

Mentoring Philosophy My philosophy for mentoring undergraduate research students is that each student is unique in the interests and talents they bring. I therefore like to to begin student's project by focusing on a single discrete skill. Once that skill is mastered, we will add new skill, thereby sequentially building the students' confidence and competence. Our research is very "basic" (that is, it does not have immediate, direct applications to biomedicine, agriculture, or veterinary medicine). The skills students will learn should be transferable to wide range of career goals, however. This project will *not* involve work with live animals. so student's will need to be happy to work on a computational project that relates to animal biology and evolution, but without hands-on exposure to the animals themselves.

Please provide a link to your publications, a video clip, or a website for your research project (if applicable): https://www.bio.fsu.edu/kahughes/research.html

Please add any additional information here (if applicable): {Empty}

Are you interested in participating in the UROP Research Mentor Roundtable? No

Roundtable times and Zoom links {Empty}

UROP Program Elements

Mentor Handbook, FAQs, and Communication Yes

UROP Performance Evaluation Yes

Materials Grant Yes

UROP Poster Presentation Yes

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Year 2024

update url https://cre.fsu.edu/urop-research-mentor-project-submission-portal?token=XiyREeDCkHnw2RLgLMDLfhq3-m7Jx_9-VHVRFuIduY4