My name is Alessondra Bruno and I am a senior at Kings Park High School. Having always had an interest in environmental science, I decided to join the Davalos Lab in order to pursue research in the field of ecology and evolution. The main goal of my project is to identify traits that have contributed to the extinction of Caribbean bats. My project utilizes R programming to execute analyses. Throughout my time in the lab, I have been strengthening my skills in computer science as well as gaining a vast amount of knowledge in bioinformatics, ecology, and phylogenetics. I hope that my research this summer will reveal ways to reduce anthropogenic effects on the environment and continue to preserve extant species.