I accepted the Science Corps fellowship with very little idea of what to expect. I was exhausted after defending my dissertation in December and needed to reinvigorate my passion for research and education. I began my journey as a Science Corps fellow with a very open mind, willing to accept whatever Jagna and the Central Visayan Institute Foundation (CVIF) had to offer.
I arrived in Bohol from Cebu and the first few days were a blur from jet lag (Thank you to Ma'am Ella and her father for the transportation!). There was an Astrophysics workshop occurring at CVIF the week I arrived, so classes were cancelled. I was able to attend a few interesting talks — a lot of it went over my head, but it was great to learn more about a field I had very little background in. I was a lot less jet lagged by the first day of class on Monday, which may have been from the excitement of finally meeting the CVIF students.
Working with the students so far has been incredible. The students are very polite, respectful, intelligent, and hard working. The first month of the fellowship has been focused on completing the research projects they started at the beginning of the semester in November. Because I have a background in morphometric analysis, I was excited to lead the morphometrics group. Overall, there are four research groups — morphometrics, biodiversity, environmental analysis, and astrophysics.
The second week of school meant that the students had fieldwork to collect data, so we jumped right into establishing field plans and experimental design. The first day of fieldwork took place before sunrise on Monday. We collected data for nearly five hours before heading back to the Bernido Compound for sample processing. Students were tasked to identify the collected specimens and take photographs for future measuring. It was a long day, but spirits were high. We did a second day of fieldwork, which went by quickly as the students were more comfortable with the protocol. Thanks to Richedel and a coconut harvester, I was able to drink fresh coconut water and eat coconut meat after the second day — electrolytes successfully replenished!
Since completing fieldwork, we have focused on processing samples through species identification and measuring the collected molluscs using ImageJ. It has been really interesting to see the breadth of biodiversity on the coast of Jagna. In just a small area, there are mangroves, seagrass, and reef flats — and within those areas, the students have identified a wide variety of mollusc species. I am so excited to continue working with my students and to see the final outcome of their research projects.
Beyond the classroom, Jagna itself has been full of surprises. The food is delicious, the people are incredibly kind, and the coast is beautiful. I've been struck by how similar the landscape feels to the intertidal zones I studied during my PhD, and yet everything is new — different species, different rhythms, different colors. It's a strange and wonderful kind of déjà vu.
I came here exhausted and open. One month in, I am still open — and considerably less exhausted. I can't wait to see what the next five months bring.
— Adriane McDonald, Science Corps Fellow at CVIF, Jagna, Philippines (Jan–June 2026)