I have had an amazing summer internship working with the USDA-ARS in Newport, OR. It has been a summer of adapting as we deal with the pandemic and wildfires here in Oregon. Newport has been safe from wildfires, but the smoke caused some eerie scenes last week. The picture below is right outside of Hatfield Marine Science Center housing. Looking out of the window seeing this when it was midday definitely made working difficult!
I am still glad that I was able to do some work in person while using social distancing protocols throughout the first half of the summer. The second half of my internship has been mostly working from home and doing data analysis with R statistical software. I am learning a lot about how to use R and I spend most of my time making plots of the data I am working with. Pictured below is a screenshot of some of the work I have been doing in R.
I am really grateful for my time at Hatfield Marine Science Center. I am working with some amazing scientists who I have learned a lot from and that in itself has been invaluable. I also really love the Oregon Coast! It has really made me think about my career path. I did not expect to enjoy my internship as much as I have so I feel like it has opened up another potential career path that I may be interested in pursing if working with coral reefs doesn’t work out for me.
Future Directions:
After I leave Newport, I will be heading to Reston, VA to do an internship with USGS. This internship will focus more on biogeochemistry of watersheds so it will be a totally different experience. I am also hoping to start applying to graduate schools next year so hopefully I will get into some programs! I will definitely be keeping Oregon in mind; I would like to spend more time here!
I’m glad that you are staying safe in Newport! That is definitely an unsettling image of the skyline. I think it’s great that you were able to learn so much this summer and become familiar with R, that will serve you well in the future! Congrats on your other internship and good luck with the grad school search!
Wow that is a crazy photo Natalie, I’m so glad that you stayed safe in Newport! Congratulations on being the only Oregon Sea Grant Summer Scholar to complete a summer internship at Hatfield this summer, that in and of itself is an amazing accomplishment. And I’m very excited to hear more about your internship with the USGS! Please keep us in the loop regarding your grad school plans, I am standing by to provide letters and support!
I’m glad the orange skies only lasted a couple days here, I know other parts of Oregon are having to deal with it much longer.
Thank you so much Jenny! I am definitely grateful I have been able to stay at HMSC. I will be staying in touch!
Also, thank you Rachel, good luck with your grad school search as well!