A project titled “Understanding Climate, Renewable Energy, and Oceanic Condition Effects on International Connections of Birds of Prey” is Boise State University’s first International Research Experiences for Students (IRES) program. Nearly $300,000 in funding from the National Science Foundation (NSF) supports student research focused on raptors in Spain. Project directors Jim Belthoff, professor in Boise State University’s Department of Biological Sciences and Raptor Research Center, and Boise State University Intermountain Bird Observatory Director Greg Kaltenecker lead the IRES-Raptor Research program, partnering with globally recognized Fundación Migres Spanish biologists.
Six outstanding students from Boise State University and other U.S. colleges participated in the first year of the IRES-Raptor Research program in 2024. Their research experience began in the spring with an online class, followed by 8 weeks abroad in Spain for field research, culminating with an autumn trip to the Raptor Research Foundation conference to present their findings to other scientists. One of the six selected participants, undergraduate student Maxima Gomez-Palmer, studied Egyptian Vulture behavioral ecology, and her experience is detailed in a recent story from Carleton College.
“…there were some things that I showed to the ornithologist and the scientists there, and they were like, ‘we have never seen that before’…It just felt so cool to be able to contribute to that.”