Dianne Cardwell

Snapshot

  • Psychology, Neuroscience & Behaviour Level IV student researching bat handling

  • Currently working on a thesis project

  • Position obtained through: Cold emailing

  • Over my past year and a half as a member of the McMaster Bat Lab, I have held various roles and responsibilities. During the summer, I was responsible for the health and well-being of the bats in our captive colony. I would ensure the bats were healthy, well-fed, and lived in a clean environment. Once a year, the lab goes bat catching to catch new bats for our colony. After catching new bats, it was one of my responsibilities to monitor the health of pregnant bats and their pups.

  • I have also assisted numerous graduate students with their projects. I have helped with projects investigating pregnant bat vocalizations, pup vocalization development, auditory brainstem responses (ABRs), and ear development in pups. I am currently working on my thesis project investigating which handling techniques cause bats the least distress.

“I advise students looking into research opportunities to try learning something new. When I joined the McMaster Bat Lab, I knew nothing about bats. I just knew the lab’s research interested me, and I wanted a new experience. I joined the lab with an open mind and a desire to take every learning opportunity the lab threw my way. I’ve learned so much about bats while in the lab that I would never have known if I hadn’t chosen to learn something new.”