Imran Razik, PhD candidate in the Department of Evolution, Ecology, & Organismal Biology and member of the Carter Lab, recently conducted field research in Panama, with support from a 2020 Tinker Field Research Grant awarded by CLAS.
This funding, provided by the Tinker Foundation in support of its mission to promote the development of an equitable, sustainable, and productive society in Latin America, enabled Imran to prepare and conduct experiments about the social behavior of captive vampire bats at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute's Gamboa Bat Lab. Imran's work aims to combat public misperceptions by showing that "vampire bats are more than just vectors of disease; they are socially complex animals and an emerging model for understanding the evolution of cooperation."
To improve public understanding of bat behavior, ecology, and evolution, Imran engaged in extensive outreach work. His activities included international student visits, local park festivals, and presentations to Smithsonian officials visiting from Washington, D.C. Imran is grateful to have had the opportunity to improve his Spanish through the preparation of Spanish flyers for events about vampire bats and his work with Panamanian interns. He also established connections and developed friendships with researchers from over 15 different countries.
Please join us in congratulating Imran on his exceptional work and wishing him luck with his continued research.
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