As part of the Laidlaw Leadership and Research Program, I have worked as an undergraduate research assistant as part of the Commons Biodiversity Project. Driven by the collaboration between scientists from Cornell University and Universiti Malaysia Terengganu, the Commons Biodiversity Project aims to apply environmental DNA (eDNA) techniques to help conserve the Crocus clams (Tridacna crocea) native to the east coast of Peninsular Malaysia. From June 1 to July 15, 2024, I spent six weeks as an undergraduate research assistant in the Cheong Lab at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, USA to complete training on environmental DNA techniques for tracking the Rusty crayfish (Faxonius rusticus), an invasive aquatic invertebrate species in the Cayuga Lake watershed. The following summer, I spent six weeks, from May 29th to July 4th, 2025, in Kuala Terengganu, Terengganu, Malaysia as an undergraduate research assistant at Universiti Malaysia Terengganu. In this position, I worked alongside a fellow Laidlaw scholar to track the presence of the giant clams T. crocea and T. squamosa in different ocean habitats in Terengganu, Malaysia. By taking sea water samples from coral reef habitats, extracting the DNA from these samples, and then doing quantitative PCR on the extracted DNA, we worked to build on the wet lab skills we had gained the previous summer such as micropipetting, preparing 96-well plates for qPCR, developing our own abbreviated lab protocols, completing literature reviews, and using slide presentations to share our results. We also had the opportunity to explore Terengganu and nearby areas, learn more about both marine conservation and fisheries practices that take place there, and form a better understanding and appreciation of Malaysian culture and customs.