What I have learned on the job:

This summer, I’ve been able to learn a lot about what it is like to work in a field setting and what all goes into it. I had not done much formal field work prior to this internship so; it has been nice to see how scientists operate in the field. I’ve learned how to collect different organisms and more about how to work on a boat as well.

I am also learning how to use R statistical software and I’ve come a long way from where I was at the beginning of my internship although there is still a lot to learn. My project supervisor has helped me immensely when it comes to R and I have learned so much more about it from her than I did through my undergraduate courses. It is helpful to work with actual data and be given the time necessary to work through R that I haven’t had up until this point.

Being able to work with government scientists has allowed me to learn about what it’s like to be a scientist in a non-academic setting. Since I eventually want to be a government scientist, this has definitely made this area of work less mysterious to me. I also feel my supervisors have done really well at including me in their process of research as a whole. In past internships and positions, my supervisors often didn’t include me in certain aspects of the work and I’ve often felt I was left out of the loop or didn’t understand fully what I was working towards. My internship this summer has been quite the opposite and I’m grateful for that as it has allowed me to understand more how research works.

Surprising aspects of my work:

Surprisingly, I like field work more than lab work. I didn’t think I would feel this way because field work is labor intensive and exhausting but, as the summer went on, I found myself wanting to be in the field vs. the lab or working from home. I was sure I’d be loving spending my time in the lab but that ended up not being the case for me.

I also realized how little I really knew about operating boats or working on boats. As part of my project, I have worked on boats several times to collect minnow traps of staghorn sculpin. Below, there is a picture of my self pulling up one of these traps. Although I’ve been a passenger on boats many times in my life, I had never even tied a boat to a dock, so this was a learning curve for me. As an aspiring marine biologist, I feel I should definitely make an effort to learn how to operate a boat so that is a new goal for me.

What I might have done differently:

I might have utilized my free time better and explored Newport more. I’m coming close to the end of my internship and trying to cram a lot of exploring into my last few weeks. I do wish I would’ve gone out and explored more than I have but, I still have time left so I will be cherishing it.

For my internship itself, I don’t think I would’ve done much differently. I’ve been able to learn a lot in my short time here. I’ve also been going to all the webinars that I’m able to and working on my professional goals as well.

One thing I might have done differently is scheduling more meetings with other Sea Grant scholars from the beginning so we could have gotten to know each other more. Other than that, I have had a fantastic experience with Oregon Sea Grant.