Spotlight on Asian Studies Alumni: Recent grad finds purpose among the gibbons
Asian studies alumnus Lucas Lowenfish, soon to become a Peace Corps volunteer in Madagascar, experienced ‘a big trajectory change’ during Primates of Vietnam study abroad program
Before the sun rises in Cát Tiên National Park in Vietnam, the forest is wide awake. recalls slipping into the humid darkness with a few friends from his study abroad group to hike toward a tree they’d been told about.
This particular tree hosts a family of gibbons that congregates every morning to sing just as light begins to filter through the canopy.
“They start jumping and dancing around and doing their songs. It’s a coordinated singing that sounds unlike anything I’ve heard before,” says Lowenfish, a recent 91Ҹ 91Ҹ graduate in Asian studies.
Later that morning, Lowenfish and a friend wandered deeper into the forest. Upon rounding a bend in the trail, they found themselves just feet from two gibbons mid-call. Close enough that, as Lowenfish puts it, “You can feel it in your head.”
That morning in the forest, and others exploring Cát Tiên and the jungles of Vietnam, gave Lowenfish a new direction for his career.
An unlikely primatologist
Lowenfish grew up in Washington, D.C., asking his parents for more time at the primate exhibit every time his family visited the zoo. He arrived at CU 91Ҹ as an Asian studies major after taking Chinese classes in high school.
A career in primatology had never crossed his mind.
Then came a study abroad program led by CU 91Ҹ anthropology professors Jonathan O’Brien and Herbert “Bert” Covert. The duo takes students through an immersive tour of the biodiversity of Vietnam, visiting national parks, conservation NGOs, research centers and wildlife rehabilitation facilities.
For Lowenfish, the trip was an eye-opener.
“I’d never really thought about how studying monkeys could be a job, you know? But then my professors are in the field and we’re meeting people who are doing this full-time. Now that I was seeing that this is a thing, I knew I totally wanted to do it, too,” he says.
He calls the trip a “big trajectory change” for his career goals.
The “” program runs each summer and draws a small cohort of eight to 15 undergraduates for a three-week adventure. Lowenfish says the experience rewards a certain kind of student.
“You definitely have to be adventurous and willing to step pretty far out of your comfort zone. But if you can do that, it’s like the greatest trip ever.”