Junior zoology major Brooke Goodman is working on a project tracking the songs of birds and how they are impacted by human noise pollution. It's one of many wonderful opportunities she enjoys through the biological sciences program, helpful faculty and the unique resources in Rice Creek Field Station.

Q. Why did you decide to study ornithology?

A. I've always been really interested in birds, ever since my dad brought home a rescued parrot. I got really into birds, and then locally I started doing things with my Audubon Society and a rehabber and I got really interested in our native birds. And so I came to Oswego with the goal of doing ornithology-related things, and there's been a lot of opportunities here, which has been really nice.

Q. What interested you in attending SUNY Oswego?

A. The reason I wanted to come to Oswego was because I was looking for a zoology program that really actively involved its students, so had students doing research and also jobs on campus that were zoology-related, and Oswego had both of those. Lots of professors involved students in their research and also there are jobs at Rice Creek. So I felt that no matter what happened if I went, I would be able to do something that wasn't just going to class, but actively applying what I was learning.

Q. Can you tell us how this research started?

A. Within my first couple of weeks at Oswego, I emailed Dr. (Dan) Baldassarre and asked if he had any space in the Bird Behavior Lab and, luckily for me, he did. So I started working with him over the summers, working with Northern Cardinals.

Q. What are the goals of your research project?

A. My project specifically is kfiguring out if urban versus rural Northern Cardinals sing differently. So if the urban Cardinals sing more frequently, sing higher-pitch songs and different temporal like factors that. (Related to human activity and noise pollution.)

Q. What can you tell us about the faculty?

A. The biology faculty have been really helpful in teaching really awesome classes, but also helping me work with my career. And a lot of the zoology faculty have been really involved and always so helpful with my endless questions about things like grad school and it's been really nice. The classes are really small, so I get to know my professors really well, which is really helpful because they're the experts. I want to do what they're doing. So it's really nice to get to interact with them so closely.

Q. What are your plans for after graduation?

A. After I graduate, I really would like to work with a state or government agency and do applied conservation work, so managing a conservation plan. And, yeah, that's my goal. I'll be going to graduate school to be able to accomplish that, so that's also on the radar.