What am I doing

So...
...What am I doing for 3 months in Guatemala?

Last summer (2008) I received an award from a group at UPenn, University Scholars (UScholars), promoting research for undergraduates. This award "matched" me with a professor, Dr. Barg, who shared my research interests.
Dr. Barg was working with UPenn's Guatemala Health Initiative (GHI)-a joint program among the School of Arts and Sciecnes (my home school) and the schools of Engineering, Nursing, and Medicine. I appreciated what she was doing there--contributing her knowledge of medical anthropology to combat maternal and child mortality.

So, last summer I spent 2 weeks in Guatemala, getting a brief experience in the "field," as anthropologists call it. Most of last summer I helped Dr. Barg back in Philadelphia, processing field notes submitted from researchers who were in Guatemala all summer. I also build a literature database related to maternal and child health.

In reading through pages of field notes, I noticed a recurrent theme...
...local physicians, non-local physicians, nurses, comadronas (midwives), community members, and mothers themselves said pregnant women weren't gaining weight, or gaining very little weight...

This shared observation and concern transferred to me!

Fall 2008 I applied to be a part of UScholars, which guaranteed me a research community with which to share my interests and funding for summer research! I presented my research interest as maternal health in Guatemala with a medical anthropology focus.
After learning I got in, it was time to start applying for funding through the program. I constructed my own research protocol, which involved tracking a group of 60 Guatemalan women in their 2nd and 3rd trimesters of pregnancy. I would track their weight gain over three months and their initial height. I would also collect food recalls for 24 hour periods.