Dr. Keith Pecor: [0:00] Hi, I'm Dr. Keith Pecor. I'm an assistant professor of biology here at the College of New Jersey and my research specialty is the ecology of exotic crayfish in New Jersey.

[0:12] The project originated in part because my research interests include crayfish biology and exotic crayfish biology. In surveying the literature to determine which species are found in New Jersey, I found that not much research had been done to document the distributions of these animals in the past fifty years.

[0:34] It seemed pertinent then to conduct our own survey, and then once we had a handle on that information, bring selected species back into the lab and then look at behavioral interactions, general ecology, and other aspects of their biology.

[0:50] Sarah became involved in the project in the fall of 2007. She approached me then about participating in the MUSE program, and interested in doing something in the general field of ecology.

Sarah Wolfson: [1:03] Hi, I'm Sarah Wolfson. I'm a junior biology major at TCNJ and I'm working with Dr. Pecor on crayfish ecology.

[1:11] I approached Dr. Pecor because I was really excited about doing research and I wanted to get as involved as I could. I went up to him and just asked what he was doing and if I could be a part of it.

Keith: [1:22] Sarah is doing very well. She is performing very well in the field and is very capable. Once we have distributions of the animals in the state we want to bring animals into the lab and do behavioral observations to better understand their foraging ecology, their reproductive ecology, and interactions between native and exotic species.

[1:45] We have been focusing on aspects of Hunterdon County, and we hope to have a pretty good map of the crayfish distributions by the end of the summer. We also hope to have the start of a laboratory program, working towards better understanding the foraging decisions that a certain species of exotic crayfish, what types of foraging preferences those animals are exhibiting here in New Jersey.

Sarah: [2:10] Research is extremely important in the graduate school entry process. Its almost as important as GPA and GRE scores. So, the more experience I have in the field and working at TCNJ in a lab, as opposed to in just a classroom, is extremely important.

Keith: [2:23] Being part of the MUSE program has helped in this research in a number of ways. It has provided the opportunity to have a research assistant.

Sarah: [2:32] The MUSE program is extremely fun. They try to make as many activities as they can. We went canoeing, they have laser tag, they're taking us to the movies.

Keith: [2:39] It has provided a community of scholars this summer in which to interact and exchange ideas and generally have a community of people working towards having a successful research summer that incorporates undergraduate students.

Sarah: We'll be eating lunch and talking about somebody's history research in Africa, or somebody's chemistry research. So its interdisciplinary people working together, just interacting and discussing research and people's experience...

[3:06] [audio ends]