Photo by Erin Nelson.
Kristin Bakkegard, the Paul N. Propst professor of natural sciences in Howard College of Arts and Sciences at Samford University, stands beside a variety of specimens in a lab at Propst Hall. Bakkegard received the Fulbright Scholar Award to study the Bahamian flat-headed frog this fall.
Herpetology, the study of amphibians, has been a lifelong love for Kristin Bakkegard, a professor of natural sciences at Samford University.
“Ever since I was a kid, I’ve been out bird watching, catching lizards, salamanders and snakes in the yard,” Bakkegard said. “It’s just one of these things that I’ve really loved ever since I was little.”
That love led Bakkegard to receiving the Fulbright Scholar Award, an award funded through an international, U.S. government-led program that gives people from different countries the opportunity to travel abroad to teach and conduct research and professional projects.
Bakkegard will do her research at the University of the Bahamas on the Bahamian flat-headed frog. This small brown frog species is entirely unique to the Bahamas and one scientists know little about, due to it not being classified as a full species until 2007, she said.
“You’ve got this frog that’s been there all along, but it was always thought to be a subspecies of another frog, so nobody paid it much mind. But there was some DNA analyses done that determined it’s actually its own unique species, and there’s nothing [known] about it,” Bakkegard said.
She said there is no basic information recorded about the Bahamian flat-headed frog, such as its behaviors, diet, reproduction and even its preferred habitat.
“The exciting thing about that, as a scientist, is that whatever we discover will be interesting and unique,” Bakkegard said. “This frog is basically an open book. We’ve got a blank page, and we have an opportunity to start filling in some of those blanks.”
Bakkegard called the application process for the Fulbright Scholar Award “complex” and multifaceted. It involved writing a grant proposal, letters of recommendation, an initial peer review at the U.S. level and, once approved, a review by the host country to determine whether they are interested in the applicant’s proposal, she said.
Bakkegard said she applied for the grant before but wasn’t able to get a “thumbs up” from both the U.S. and the host country she hoped to study in.
The U.S. approved her proposal but didn’t secure one from the host country she was applying for, she said.
“Somebody sent me an email saying ‘Why don’t you reapply?’ so I did,” Bakkegard said.
Bakkegard said when both countries have made a decision, they send the applicant an email with a “thumbs up or thumbs down,” she said.
“You log in, click on the PDF and it opens up, that’s how you find out,” Bakkegard said. “When it says ‘Congratulations,’ you’re like, ‘Yay, this is exciting!’”
Bakkegard said she’s been to the Bahamas once, but only for a few days to scout for locations for an island ecology study abroad course for Samford University.
While she’s there, she said, she hopes to be able to work with the Bahamian National Trust, an organization that manages and protects the country’s national park system.
“One part of Fulbright is to develop relationships with the host country and with the people of the host country so the Bahamian National Trust, which is in charge of their version of national parks, has a bunch of scientists,” Bakkegard said. “It’s a natural partnership to work with the scientists who are associated with the National Trust. I haven’t had the chance to meet anybody yet. When I get over there this fall, I’m going to go around, try to meet with folks and see what they already know about the frog.”
