(WBIR, Knoxville) - Three college students from across the country are spending their summer at the University of Tennessee to research rare birds in the area.
It's a program through NIMBioS, which is the National Institute of Mathematical and Biological Synthesis.
Students use recording devices to research the bird calls of different species.
From there, they take the recordings back to the lab and try to make mathematical algorithms that will tell what bird species are near the monitoring device.
"Whenever there are species in peril and you want to know how many there are and where they're at, this will be great technology for pursuing that.," said Dr. David Buehler, a wildlife professor at UT.
Researchers say the ultimate goal is to better conserve the bird population.