Summer of studying baboons can open doors for Iowa State students

An Iowa State University professor is helping make immersive animal behavior research more accessible for students. With funding from a three-year federal grant, students selected for the program run by Corinna Most are paid to study olive baboons for eight weeks in Kenya, getting hands-on experience that’s valued in the field but difficult to acquire.

Most, an adjunct assistant professor of ecology, evolution and organismal biology at Iowa State University, is a primatologist and the co-director of the Uaso Ngiro Baboon Project (UNBP) in Kenya. She’ll lead five students on a trip there next summer to conduct paid field research, which could open doors to graduate school and research careers.