Hello all! Yalin again, I am working with the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife (ODFW) this summer researching the effects of ocean acidification and hypoxia (OAH) on our coastal species with a focus on creating a hypoxia infographic.

So far I have read over 100 scientific papers on how hypoxia is affecting our coastal species, and I still have tons more readings to do in the coming week or so. As I am a virtual intern due to COVID, my daily routine has been pretty simple. I get up bright and early to get a nice cup of coffee and a warm breakfast before I settling into my desk for the rest of the day. Typically, my day split up between reading papers, attending seminars, meetings, and starting to figure out how Adobe Illustrator works. I have weekly check-in meetings with my mentor Liz Perotti and Caren Braby, who is one of the co-chairs of the OAH Council. Other meetings I partake in with my mentor Liz include the Pacific Coast Collaborative bi-weekly meetings, the Shellfish Program meetings, and much more. 

As it can get pretty quiet just working alone from home, I try to play music or listen to podcasts to liven up my room a bit. My current favorite podcast is called “Two Hot Takes” which I highly recommend you check out. To give my brain a break between reading papers, I will treat myself to 5 or so minutes of scrolling through TikTok or just people watch outside my window to give my eyes a break from looking at a screen. After the workday is over, I usually take a walk around my neighborhood and say hi to the neighborhood cats if it’s not too hot outside. On the weekends, I try to give myself as much outdoor time and social interaction as I can handle to make up for the hours of being indoors for work. This last weekend, I was cat-sitting for a past professor of mine in Eugene and got to visit a few friends while I was there. We even made a trip to Florance where we found a few clams and saw tons of crabs. 

One of my favorite on-the-job activities so far has been interacting with other interns and getting to talk with other professionals from ODFW and beyond. Last week I got to meet Jack Barth, who is the other co-chair of the OAH Council, and Emily Marrow who is an MSI intern working on an ocean acidification awareness project. We had a great time sharing outreach ideas but also just talking amongst ourself about our interest, thoughts about a certain ocean documentary, and so on. We are hoping to meet up in person sometime this summer in Newport, so fingers crossed that we can make that happen!