I’m Rose Leeger!
Hello! My name is Rose Leeger and I am currently triple majoring in Marine Biology, Environmental Science, and Biology at Nova Southeastern University. I am also a National Oceanographic Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) EPP/MSI Scholar! I’m currently in my senior year and am applying for graduate programs in Polar Ecology labs for admission of Fall 2023. My current internship with NOAA began over the summer with the Antarctic Ecosystem Research Division located at the Southeast Fisheries Science Center. My project was titled “Applying Machine Learning to Assess Antarctic Penguin Populations from Drone Imagery”.
For this project, my goal was to create an automated image analysis system using machine learning to create a model for penguin chick detection. Understanding penguin chick counts are important as they can indicate how populations respond to the natural variability and impacts of krill fisheries. This project sampled two of NOAA’s field stations: Cape Shirreff on Livingston Island and Copacabana on King George Island. The images were taken from an unmanned aircraft system (UAS) that was flown during the summer field season and was able to photograph thousands of penguins in breeding colonies.
Using our machine learning software, VIAME, we are able to generate this analysis by annotating a series of train and test imagery. Overall, we were able to generate a successful Adelie and Chinstrap model that could differentiate penguin chicks by species classifications. As future research utilizes more and more machine learning software, especially in remote ecosystems, this becomes a faster, less-invasive way for population counts. This project provides encouragement for future use of machine learning to monitor species in remote locations.
During this project I was exposed to the world of machine learning! I was able to connect what I had learned in school with my background in ecology to truly understand the impact this can have for future penguin colony census. I’m honored to work alongside the scientists at NOAA and am grateful for all their help and support as I learned to navigate a new research topic.
I was adopted from China when I was 14 months old. Since then, I have been back twice and grew up well exposed to Chinese cultures and traditions. I also am Jewish and am an active member in my school’s Hillel! Just before my summer internship I participated in a Birthright trip to Israel and really enjoyed it! It was interesting to learn about Israeli culture and traditions and of course, the food was amazing! I’m currently on the Hillel e-board where I help plan weekly shabbats and events. My favorite is the Chinese- New-Year shabbat that I host each new year where we connect Chinese and Jewish traditions in the celebration of two holidays!
When I’m not doing research or busy with schoolwork, I love going scuba diving!
I became open water certified as a class through my school’s academic diving program and since then I’ve been excited to learn more and more. I recently completed my advanced and rescue certification, and my dream would be to scuba dive in Antarctica one day!
As long as I can remember I have always been interested in penguins. As a kid, we used to do school projects on animals or environments, and I remember my 4th grade teacher calling my parents saying I wasn’t allowed to do any more projects on penguins and that I had to choose a different animal! As I continued my passion for marine science in high school, I volunteered at the National Aquarium in Baltimore and would always visit the Atlantic puffin exhibit before I left work each day. Each has such unique personalities, and it was fun to connect with them over summers.
My family has always been supportive of my research and passions. I don’t think either of my parents were surprised to hear that I wanted to pursue a PhD in polar ecology, especially after my positive experience during my internship with NOAA’s Antarctic Ecosystem Research Division. Throughout my time in school, I was the teaching assistant for the Everglades Ecology and Conservation class. Most weekends were spent chest deep in Florida’s Everglades looking for panthers or running into alligators. I’ve always liked exploring remote ecosystems and don’t see that changing any time soon!
My plans after I graduate are to pursue a Ph.D. in Antarctic ecology. I currently am in the process of applying to graduate institutions spread across the United States and am interested in some of the Long-Term Ecological Research Programs (LTER) in either Palmer or McMurdo. I would love to continue my connection of ecological questions to remote sensing technologies and am excited to enroll in a graduate program next fall!
My biggest inspiration and mentor during my undergraduate career is my mentor, Dr. J. Matthew Hoch (left).
I met Dr. Hoch during my freshman year during an environmental science lab class. He was looking for researchers in his lab for the following year and I was eager to join. Since then, I have worked on numerous projects with him involving USDA labs along with my own Honors Thesis project. He has been there for every step in my career journey from my initial application for my NOAA scholarship to now as I apply for graduate school. I also have been able to gain some valuable teaching experience as I TA for two of his classes, Everglades Ecology and Environmental Science lab. I’ve been fortunate to take all of the courses he teaches at NSU and am very fortunate to have joined such a fun and welcoming lab three years ago. He is a role model for mentorship and teaching and I hope to follow in his ways as I plan on becoming a Professor after graduate school.
My advice would be to never be afraid to ask for help! My peers and past recipients of the NOAA scholarship gave me great advice for interviewing and writing essays. Professors are also very willing to help, you just have to ask! Being very shy growing up, I quickly found my voice in college and am grateful for the people and friends that helped me do so.
Follow Rose and her work on Instagram: @researcherose