This summer, I had the opportunity to tackle research in two different domains: academia and the industrial sector. This summer not only allowed me to better understand these two different perspectives on research but gave me insight into the overlap between them.

By pursuing my personal research project with the Duke Lemur Lab, I was able to understand the independence of conducting my own research and serving as a project lead. At the beginning of the summer, I had proposed my work to the Atlanta Primate Language Research Center, where I had previously worked as an intern under Dr. Charlie Menzel. Having had my research accepted there, I began to wonder if observing chimps and capuchins would be a large enough sample size. I soon looked into research opportunities at the Duke Lemur Lab, which hosted around 20 species of non-human primates. After contacting the lead researcher, my project proposal was also accepted. Faced with a decision between Atlanta and Durham, I thought to myself “why not choose both”! Thus, while all my research this summer was conducted in Durham, I anticipate traveling to Atlanta to conduct observations during fall break of this year on chimps and capuchins.