Exploring science and sound around the world
At St. Olaf College, Mikayla Carlson ’23 and Mackenzie Farrell ’23 found meaningful ways to combine both of their passions: science and sound.
They participated in hands-on research as members of Associate Professor of Biology Norman Lee’s Neural Systems and Behavior Lab, which has gained international recognition for its work on how animals process sound. While not in the lab, they explored sound in a completely different way as musicians in the renowned St. Olaf Band — Carlson playing the clarinet and Farrell the flute.
As members of the Lee Lab, their research focused on how the acoustic parasitoid fly Ormia ochracea can recognize and locate the calling songs of its host, the field cricket. Host crickets on the Hawaiian Islands have recently evolved novel cricket songs to avoid being heard by the flies, which is now a textbook example of rapid evolution in an animal communication system. Carlson and Farrell were part of a team of student researchers who examined how Ormia ochracea are adapting and responding to these novel cricket songs. To further this work, the duo accompanied Lee on a research trip to Hawaii to research cricket songs.
“This lab really spoke to what I want to do with my life,” says Carlson. “I always knew I wanted to do something in research and something in neuroscience, but tying music into it has given me more of a path than I had coming in.”
“This lab really spoke to what I want to do with my life. I always knew I wanted to do something in research and something in neuroscience, but tying music into it has given me more of a path than I had coming in.”
Mikayla Carlson ’23
And their research wasn’t the only thing that took them off the Hill. In June of 2023 they joined the St. Olaf Band on a tour of Japan, where they performed in concert halls in cities from Hiroshima to Tokyo, collaborated with local Japanese concert bands and wind ensembles, and had a variety of sightseeing and cultural learning opportunities. It was the capstone of their experience participating in high-level music-making at St. Olaf, where students don’t need to major in music in order to join ensembles that tour nationally each year and internationally every four years.
Carlson and Farrell were able to pursue all of these experiences thanks to the broad opportunities presented through a St. Olaf education. Lee’s research lab is not reserved solely for those majoring in the science field. He welcomes students of any major, saying that the different experiences of each individual in the lab aids in research and supports a welcoming, inclusive environment. While at St. Olaf, Carlson majored in music and biology with a concentration in neuroscience. Farrell majored in biology and environmental studies.
“I feel like the training students get through this liberal arts education is different from what I was trained in, and that gives them a different perspective and skillset,” Lee says. “I really value their diverse experiences that they’re contributing to projects in the lab.”
Lee’s lab is one of many hands-on research opportunities available to students at St. Olaf. These include both Directed Undergraduate Research (DUR), a research course overseen by a St. Olaf faculty member, and the Collaborative Undergraduate Research and Inquiry (CURI) program, a research experience conducted in conjunction with a St. Olaf faculty member.
The general focus of research in Lee’s lab is an extension of Lee’s own undergraduate and graduate work at the University of Toronto, and his postdoctoral work in the Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Behavior at the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities.
“My students are actually doing the projects from start to finish, and that is an experience that is very hard to come by at a larger institution,” says Lee. “At a liberal arts college, these students are gaining that real experience. In my past years at a larger university, I didn’t see myself as being part of a team, contributing to that whole conceptualization from start to finish as much as I can see that these students are as they are doing research here.”
After graduating from St. Olaf, Carlson was hired as a research associate at the Allen Institute of Neural Dynamics in Seattle, Washington. She is involved in the collection of in vivo electrophysiology data from actively behaving head-fixed mice, using multiple Neuropixels probes to record neural activity from hundreds of neurons simultaneously. She plans to eventually enroll in a graduate program in neuroscience.
Farrell moved to Boise, Idaho, where she is a veterinary technician assistant at a small animal clinic. She is applying to veterinary school, and plans to study wildlife medicine. Music continues to be part of her life, too. She plays in the Capitol City Flute Club, recently performing for a master class, and also plays in flute choir events at Boise State University.