Marissa Altmann

Brookfield, CT

What has been your favorite class at COA? Why?
Mammalogy with John Anderson. It was a challenging course with subject matter that I'm very passionate about. I enjoyed being part of such a small, seminar-style class where I was able to research on my own and also work with my classmates to survey the mammals on a piece of land on the island.

What classes have you taken at COA? 
Human Ecology Core Course
Lincoln Before the Presidency
Marine Biology
A History of Midwifery and Women's Healthcare in the US
Biology I
International Wildlife Policy and Protected Areas
Biology II
Communicating Science
Mammalogy
Chemistry I
an independent study in Variations in Primate Sexuality
Environmental Physiology
Ecology
Anatomy and Physiology I
Molecular and Cell Biology
and a short course at Mount Desert Island Bio Lab in Ecological Developmental Biology.

What was your favorite lecture at COA? Why?
Any lecture from Steve Ressel is my favorite. He's great at using visuals and I always learn some cool fact about a species that I've never heard of before. He can make even the driest information look fascinating through the use of examples and with his sense of humor. In Environmental Physiology he had someone come in who studied diving physiology and it was just a very enriching experience, even though the topic wasn't something that I was especially interested in.

What is your dream occupation?
Something between museum collections manager, exotic small animal veterinarian, animal behaviorist, evolutionary biologist, wildlife conservationist, and a conglomerate of human health and sexuality studies... so I'm a bit undecided.

Do you work on or off campus? If yes, where?
I work on campus with the Dorr Museum of Natural History's teaching collection. I tend to work primarily with our mammal specimens.

What do you see yourself doing after COA?
I'll likely work at a large museum for a couple of years in a mammalogy collection while I decide where I want to go from there. Today it's veterinary school, but I change my mind all the time.

What country or state would you like to visit? Where would you love to live?
I've been wanting to visit Madagascar for years and years for biological, cultural, and conservation reasons. I'd love to live a little bit closer to Manhattan than COA, or maybe somewhere warmer, but I'm quite happy as long as I'm near friends and family.

What is happiness to you?
Happiness is self-confidence and the feeling of being supported and enjoyed by those around you.

Have you had an internship? If so, doing what? Where? If not, what are your plans, if any, for your internship?
I did an unofficial internship last summer at the American Museum of Natural History's (AMNH) Southwest Research Station in Portal, Arizona for six weeks. I've also been volunteering at the AMNH in Manhattan over breaks in their mammalogy collection. This summer I will be doing my official internship with my mentor at the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History in Washington, DC in the mammalogy collection there, doing mostly collections management and also some specimen preparation. I'll probably do another unofficial internship before I graduate, as well, but I'm not sure yet.

What are your ideas for your senior project? If you have already done one, what did you do?
I have no idea... I am really interested in how genetic databases created through the use of collections can be used for a variety of purposes, from regulating trade in wildlife, updating taxonomy, to studying populations, so I might want to do something with that. But I also am interested in morphology and behavior in general, so it's pretty up in the air.