By Daphne Bradley I first began my journey at the UC-Davis Bodega Marine Lab through a class assignment at the SRJC. I contacted Kitty Brown, the director of the Bodega Marine Lab, to setup a day for me to shadow someone using chemistry for real world applications. I was then placed in contact with Sarah Merolla, the lab manager and researcher for the Bodega Ocean Acidification Research (BOAR) program. On my shadow day, Sarah showed me multiple research projects that were all unique, inspiring, and innovative. There was so much to learn and write about that I was inspired to come back and learn more through the SRJC-BML internship program. This summer at the UC-Davis Bodega Marine Lab, I had the opportunity to work with many passionate people and great thinkers, while gaining a lot of experience along the way. I wanted to gain hands-on experience of applying chemistry to projects and research outside of the classroom. My mentor, Sarah, introduced me to many people and projects that focused on advancing the scientific community with an extremely positive outlook. By helping with many research projects that take place at the lab, I learned to utilize equipment including a spectrophotometer and robotic titrator to study ocean acidification, and gained experience with common lab methods and practices. Additionally, I had the opportunity to work with Sarah on her research project that investigates whether seagrass can enhance oyster calcification by modifying the chemistry of seawater. The methods that are used to undergo such research are more intensive than I had expected from reading research projects in school. From planning the oysters’ diets to ensuring they all experience similar conditions during the experiment incubations, it was all detail-oriented and thought out. Through my time at the BML I have gained a lot of experience working in a lab, which I believe will help me in the future. Daphne Bradley is a second year at the Santa Rosa Junior College and is pursuing a degree in chemistry. This summer she worked with Sarah Merolla, the lab technician for the Bodega Ocean Acidification Research group. During her time at BML she collaborated on several projects related with seagrasses, mussels, and oysters.
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Summer 2019 SRJC-BML Interns and Mentors. PC: Gabriel Ng Congratulations to all interns and mentors of the 2019 SRJC-BML Internship Program! Our summer was full of field work, lab studies, professional development, mentorship, and science! This was the fourth year of the SRJC-BML Internship Program and the first year that we were able to award stipends to some of our interns. This year, we hosted 15 interns in the program ranging in levels of participation from one day-per week to full time. Interns and mentors worked on a range of projects including: chemical linkage between plankton and deep-sea corals, defense mechanisms of marine invertebrates under predation, ocean engineering of underwater moorings, quantifying ecological interactions in seagrass and salt marsh habitats, impacts of copper toxicity on marine organisms, invasive species ecology in Tomales Bay, and understanding the links between plankton and physical oceanography. We brought together the entire group for a Professional Development Workshop during which interns learned how to leverage this internship opportunity to pursue their individual career goals. We finished the summer with a banquet for all students and mentors at which each intern and mentor shared something about their summer experience. We are grateful to all of the support we received this year and we are so proud of all of the interns and mentors for a great summer of marine science! We are already looking forward to the SRJC-BML Internship Program in 2020! Check back soon for blog posts by each intern to hear about their unique summer internship experiences! By Hannah Palmer and Katie Dubois. Hannah and Katie are PhD Candidates at UC Davis Bodega Marine Laboratory and are the co-directors of the SRJC-BML Internship Program for 2019.
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