In September, students from the Vertebrate Zoology Lab, a community-engaged learning partnership between the John Charles Meditz College of Arts and Sciences and the Connecticut Beardsley Zoo, presented research at the annual Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA) conference in Tampa, Florida.
The AZA is a nonprofit organization representing 250 facilities in the United States and around the world. They provide educational programs, conservation research, and ensure that the highest standards of animal care and welfare are met at AZA-accredited zoos.
Ashley Byun, PhD, a Fairfield Meditz associate professor of biology, helped to launch the RIZE partnership with Connecticut’s Beardsley Zoo in 2012. Through RIZE, students enrolled in the Vertebrate Zoology Lab participate in weekly visits to the zoo, collaborating with experts in the field and conducting on-site research.
Dr. Byun said that as the RIZE research expanded year by year “our community partner began to realize the solid value in what the students and I could offer to their zoo. They believed in the students and recommended they attend the AZA conference as poster presenters.” The RIZE program went on to win the Education Award during the 2023 AZA Conference.
Through the Center for Social Impact’s Community Engaged Learning (CEL) program, an experiential approach to teaching and learning that links academic studies to community-engaged work, students are encouraged to submit trip and grant applications, and arrange their own travel. “They really have to want to go; there’s a lot of preparation that they are responsible for carrying out,” said Dr. Byun.
All students enrolled in the sophomore-level Vertebrate Zoology Lab design their own research methods, collect data, analyze results, and present their findings. For the past 13 years, student projects have been accepted for the AZA Conference through a peer-review process, competing primarily against doctoral and professional-level researchers in the field.
This year, nine students attended the conference, held at Zoo Tampa at Lowry Park: Marlee Dubin '26, Isabella Manole '26, Elia Haghbin '26, Cooper Penberth '27, Ben Tran '27, Nora Crowley '26, Brianna Cassese '26, and alumna Lilley Barry '25.
“Even though they are undergraduates and new to the field, they do incredible work,” said Dr. Byun of her students. “They are totally capable of making important findings, and some of their findings have fully changed protocols at the Beardsley Zoo to improve the welfare conditions of animals.”
