I first became interested in ants when I was matched with the Longino lab through the University of Utah ACCESS Scholars program my freshman year of college. I started working on a project investigating the flight seasonality of male army ants, comparing sites in Costa Rica, Ecuador and southern Brazil. As with insects in general, ants are fascinating. There are many questions to be explored about their evolution, how they’ve spread geographically and their social behaviors.
Working with army ants has made me appreciate their value as indicators of ecosystem health by virtue of their presence, absence or abundance. With large, predatory and nomadic colonies, army ants need intact habitat and are some of the first ant species to disappear when an area becomes too degraded or fragmented to support them. This makes them a strong indicator species of ecosystem health, which could help us identify areas in need of conservation.
I have been able to make real contributions to research on ants by working on projects led by John (Jack) Longino, a professor of biology, and Rodolfo Probst, a biology alum and postdoctoral researcher for the Science Research Initiative (SRI). I never imagined science would take me beyond the borders of Utah to Brazil, Canada and Oregon, where I have presented at scientific conferences. Nor did I imagine ever working alongside scientists collecting and studying ants and insects in New Mexico, at the Los Angeles County Museum of Natural History, at the Museu de Zoologia da Universidade de São Paulo in São Paulo and the Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas da Amazônia in Manaus, also in Brazil.
I am autistic and a member of the LGBTQ+ community. Throughout high school, I often felt isolated and different from my peers. Being a part of ACCESS Scholars, SACNAS and the myrmecology community has helped me feel I belong and have the support needed to succeed in my field. As an undergraduate researcher, the College of Science–SRI learning assistant and a teaching assistant for entomology, I’ve seen my peers and I grow a lot through these unique experiences.
My goal is to become a professor at a top R1 research university or a scientist at a natural history museum so that I can pursue research in ant systematics and taxonomy. I’m planning to take a fifth year to finish my classes and undergraduate research before I move on to graduate school. I’ve learned that I would rather go at a slower pace and have more time to process and do my best work.”
—Megan DuVal is a senior honors student from Salt Lake City majoring in biology, with an emphasis in ecology, evolution and environment, and a minor in mathematics
I am autistic and a member of the LGBTQ+ community. Throughout high school, I often felt isolated and different from my peers. Being a part of ACCESS Scholars, SACNAS and the myrmecology community has helped me feel I belong and have the support needed to succeed in my field. As an undergraduate researcher, the College of Science–SRI learning assistant and a teaching assistant for entomology, I’ve seen my peers and I grow a lot through these unique experiences.
My goal is to become a professor at a top R1 research university or a scientist at a natural history museum so that I can pursue research in ant systematics and taxonomy. I’m planning to take a fifth year to finish my classes and undergraduate research before I move on to graduate school. I’ve learned that I would rather go at a slower pace and have more time to process and do my best work.”