So proud of our undergrad researchers who presented their Honors Thesis work at the Syracuse
University Undergraduate Research Fair! Two students showcased their research as posters and
one delivered an oral presentation — all diving into questions at the intersection of bioacoustics
and whale ecology. Watching these students grow as scientists and communicate their work with
confidence is one of the best parts of what we do. Congratulations to all three — we can’t wait to
see where your research takes you!
Huge congratulations to undergraduate researcher Keira Bowers for representing our lab at the
2026 ACC Meeting of the Minds Conference, hosted this year by Florida State University!
Keira was one of only 5 students selected from Syracuse University — and the sole
representative from the College of Arts and Sciences — to present alongside undergrads from all
18 ACC schools. She gave an oral presentation on her Honors/Biology Distinction Thesis
research examining call rates in humpback whales across behavioral and group states. We’re so
proud of the work she’s done and the way she represented the lab. Thank you to SOURCE at
Syracuse for making this opportunity possible!
At the CNY Environmental Science & Studies Conference, Parks Lab PhD student Maya
presented findings from her dissertation research examining humpback whale habitat use
in the Gulf of Maine across a 20-year period. This work draws on GPS tracking data from
over 100 individual whales to understand how habitat selection has shifted alongside
changing ocean conditions.
Recently, BABEL members retrieved and redeployed six hydrophones to listen for the
calls of endangered North Atlantic right whales! This is part of an ongoing project working
to use acoustics to help track when and where right whales are present, giving researchers
and managers critical information to protect this species in busy waters.
Photo Credit:
Photos 1, 3, 4: Sara Tennant
Photo 2: Dana Cusano
