![Rachel Wildrick](/ebio/sites/default/files/styles/medium/public/article-image/hl_wildrick_1.jpg?itok=9e4fQl1D)
I became interested in the EBIO major because it covered so many interesting and engaging areas of study, like animal behavior, genetics, speciation and evolution, and allows for diverse interests. Also, the EBIO major requirements can be easily arranged to include pre-med courses, something that was really important for me, as I am still considering medical school as a possible career path. Currently, I'm working on my honor's thesis and a BA-MA degree with Dr. Rebecca Safran. I am currently doing an extensive literature review hypotheses related to age-related reproduction in birds and complementary field studies on this topic at local research sites on wild populations of breeding barn swallows. My research has the following components: scholarly literature review, field data collection on wild birds and molecular lab work. I meet with Safran’s lab once per week with the entire group as well as weekly one-on-one meetings with Professor Safran, where I am able to get direction and help with my individual research. EBIO is a friendly yet rigorous academic environment.
Ìý