Niguidula+Update+February+8,+2015

This semester, I plan on progressing on my project by strengthening the background research, collecting more data, and adding more analyses. For the background research I will prioritize gaining a greater understanding of the relevant social science issues. As has been pointed out to me, the portion of the thesis I wrote last semester dealt mainly with the ecology research surrounding the issue and the internal struggles of that particular field. What would enhance the credibility and strength of the work is the elucidation of social science themes that relate directly to it. For the data collection, I have set a goal of 10 interviews including the one I have already conducted, five of which are scientists familiar with invasive species, five of which are public servants that also deal with the issue. Two requests for interviews have been sent out: one to Dr. Jeremy Farrell, a postdoc at the Darrin Freshwater Institute, the other in a general e-mail to the New York Department of Environmental Conservation Division of Land and Forests. I already have a preliminary list of RPI researchers that expressed interest in being interviewed and will have to contact them soon as well. I believe that a good starting point for future research will be creating a visual representation of the ideological framework that I put forward in the thesis last semester and so will be working on that for next week

2/15/2015 – Draft preliminary list of interviewees and contact them, create framework diagram. 2/21/2015 – Complete second interview, find 10 STS sources 2/28/2015 – Complete third interview, find 10 more STS sources 3/7/2015 – Complete fourth interview 3/14/2015 – Draft Presentation 3/18/2015 – Update presentation 3/23/2015 – Spring break starts 3/29/2015 – Complete fifth and sixth interviews 4/8/2015 – Undergraduate Research Symposium 4/5/2015 – Complete seventh interview, begin writing second thesis draft 4/12/2015 – complete eighth and ninth interviews 4/19/2015 – Complete tenth interview Work on thesis 5/13/2015 – Final Thesis due?