Max Roberts
Projects, Papers, and Presentations
I have written a lot of papers, given many presentations, and conducted several scientific projects both as assignments and for fun. These are just the best and most recent projects, papers, and presentations I have given, with the latest ones being those at the top of this page and the oldest being at the bottom. Feel free to look at and read them. I hope you get something out of them.
Reptile and Amphibian Microclimate Research Project
January 2019 - June 2022
For this project, I designed and conducted a scientific study on the microclimate niches of common reptile and amphibian species in Coastal Southern California. Afterwards, I wrote and edited a scientific paper on my findings, as well as gave a powerpoint presentation on my work to the Young Lab at UC Santa Barbara. This was not done for a class or graduation requirement, but instead was just something I was interested in doing on my own. As a result, I did almost all of it without any supervision from advisors.
Final Project for California Ecology and Conservation Field Course
May 2022
My last quarter as an undergraduate at UC Santa Barbara was spent traveling across the state of California to practice turning natural history observations into scientific studies through the California Ecology and Conservation UC-wide Field Course. For the final project of this course, I worked with two other students to design and conduct a full scientific experiment looking at the interactions between desert woodrats and buckhorn cholla in the Mojave desert. Not only did we come up with the study question and carry out the experiment, but we also wrote and edited a scientific paper on our findings and gave a symposium-style presentation on our work.
Formal Critique of Bertness et. al. 2014
November 2021
As an assignment for my aquatic communities course, I wrote a formal critique of a published scientific paper in order to practice being critical of the specifics of scientific study design.
Sedgwick Reserve Reptile and Amphibian Field Guide
October 2021
As an assignment for my vertebrate ecology course, I wrote and designed a site-specific field guide for the reptiles and amphibians of Sedgwick Reserve as an assignment for my vertebrate field methods course.
Biometry Data Analysis and Modeling Paper
May - June 2021
As the final for my biometry course, I used RStudio to create a mathematical model describing body mass as a function of body size using data from the AmphiBio global database. I then wrote a scientific paper discussing my analysis and the results.
Indigenous Californians Virtual Museum Exhibit
May - June 2021
For my Indigenous Californians course, I was tasked with designing a virtual museum exhibit showcasing objects and images and how they tell an important story of indigenous culture. My topic was how Chumash basket weaving not only was such a foundational part of Chumash culture but is still a medium through which the Chumash call for positive change in the modern world.
Crocodile Research Coalition Report
November 2020
As an assignment for my conservation biology course, I wrote a 6-page report on the conservation work of the Crocodile Research Coalition.
Fruit Fly Research Paper
November 2020
For my intro ecology lab, I wrote a scientific report on the genetics and evolution of fruit fly populations in a laboratory setting.
Arthropod Evolution Paper
April 2017
As an assignment for my high school zoology class, I wrote a short essay on the evolutionary mechanisms responsible for the high diversity of arthropods. I later revised this paper and reworded it to make it more coherent.