About the Project
The work of capturing the ‘education of evolution’ started in the 1960s with Ilda McVeigh and faculty are still working on it today. Students in this fellowship worked alongside mentor and Evolutionary Studies project coordinator Andy Flick, along with library archivists Kathy Smith and Chris Ryland, to do a deep dive on specific evolutionary topics. One fellow, for example, oversaw finding all the instances of research into anti-biotic resistance and developed a compelling story to make this piece of history more accessible. Fellows also collaborated on a virtual museum, creating a series of rooms, which contain 3D images, photos, and short stories about their work. The museum’s main hall is organized by research topic with a timeline of faculty along the back wall. Students also wrote a press release of 500+ words and created social media posts about their research topic that are posted on the evolutionary studies website and shared with University communications.
This Fellowship provided students with a unique opportunity to learn skills in science communication, project management, and the disciplinary areas of evolution and history of Vanderbilt, 3D design and photogrammetry.
Mentors
Andy Flick; Kathy Smith; Chris Ryland
Fellows
Dante Hernandez, Kaitlyn Russell, Sheila Chau, Carly Stewart, Olivia Quiroga, Chuyuan Xu
Project
Students researched and wrote stories on their evolutionary topic, which were presented both in digital form and in a physical magazine.