Undergraduate Students at Ngogo
Norma Angelica Jaimez– Spent two months at Mainaro and Ngogo during the summer of 2009 doing an independent project on the behavioral endocrinology of gray-cheeked mangabeys, with a focus on the relationship between habitat disturbance and indicators of physiological stress. This was the basis for her senior essay in Anthropology (Spring, 2010) titled “Inter and intra-group variation in urinary cortisol levels among grey-cheeked mangabey (Lophocebus albigena) at disturbed and undisturbed sites in Kibale National Park, Uganda”.
Ariane Kirtley– Ariane spent 2 months at Ngogo as a research assistant during spring semester, 1999 (while on a leave of absence from Yale College). She subsequently wrote a senior essay that, while not specifically based on Ngogo research, built on her experience there: “Emerging Evidence for Female Chimpanzee Gregariousness: Potential Costs and Benefits of Grouping Within Nursery Parties”. (Senior Essay, Anthropology, Fall, 2000)
Adrian Heinzelman– Adrian spent two months in Kibale during the summer of 2005 as a research assistant for Kevin Potts while Kevin was doing his Anthropology Ph.D. thesis research. She also had the opportunity to collect some data of her own, and this served as the basis for her senior essay in Anthropology (Spring, 2006) on “Sex Differences in the Feeding Ecology of Chimpanzees in the Kibale National Park, Uganda”.
Charlotte Payne– Funded by the Yale Molecular Anthropology Lab(YMAL) and The Yale Institute for Biospheric Studies(YIBS), Charlotte came to Mainaro to collect fecal samples. She was also a post-bac from Cambridge University.
Graduate Students at Ngogo
Several students in the Yale Anthropology graduate program have conducted Ph.D. research at Ngogo and related sites under the supervision of Professor Watts. There are currently two Yale Anthropology graduate students working on their dissertation regarding their research at Ngogo.
Submitted Yale University Ph.D. Dissertations:
https://campuspress.yale.edu/ngogochimp/files/2011/11/Dissertations1.pdf
Student Research by Graduate Students in Uganda:
While serving as Project Manager for the Ngogo Chimpanzee Project, Jeremiah Lwanga, who had earlier done Master’s and Ph.D. research in Kibale (on blue monkey behavioral ecology and on forest ecology in Kibale), has participated in chimpanzee research and has conducted research on monkey ecology and population dynamics and on forest succession and regeneration of forest from previous human disturbance. He still manages the chimpanzee project, but since 2010 has also been the Director of MUBFS and a Lecturer at Makerere University. The Ngogo Chimpanzee Project has sponsored Master’s research by three Makerere students. Lwanga and researchers at Ngogo work with UWA officials and Park Rangers to help coordinate anti-poaching efforts, and the project has contributed formally and informally to financing these efforts (including employing three men who conduct anti-poaching work both on their own and with Park Rangers; this is currently paid for by a grant from the North Carolina Zoological Society) and to maintenance of park infrastructure. Researchers provided information and advice that facilitated successful habituation of chimpanzees for tourism at Kanyanchu and participate in planning of park management strategy and of chimpanzee and forest conservation efforts in Uganda. As at other African research sites where great apes are habituated, research and tourism bring risks of disease transmission from humans, but also help to protect the animals and their habitats.