This Summer has gone by incredibly quick. I have had to dust off my “nice voice” that I haven’t used since I was taking orders at Texas Roadhouse, and honestly, I will be glad to put it away again. I have learned that most people are incredibly nice and a shocking number are willing to take time out of their day to take a survey. There are other people who are not as accommodating. I forgot how bad it feels for people to avoid eye contact and try to make you go away by ignoring you. Hopefully interacting with this much of the public will not be in my future.
On a more positive note, I have gotten to gain experience with R studio and see some of the innerworkings of what happens to all this data we are collecting. I won’t say I have a great understanding of data analyses but more than I did last week. Early on we sat in on some meetings where a survey was being developed and sample design was being decided. This Summer has given me a more complete picture of the planning, execution, and analyses process that is human dimensions research.
Knowing what I know now I would have tried to get an earlier start on some of the R studio work and tried to be a little more productive with my days off. Time has gone by so fast and there never seems to be enough to get everything done. The next few days will be filled with surveying in Cape Falcon and putting our final presentation together, hopefully the wifi in Garibaldi is working.
Interning with USDA-ARS and OSU through Sea Grant has been an absolute blast. It made all the difference to have such great mentors and an awesome lab partner. The summer may be coming to an end, but the next two weeks still have a chock-full schedule here in Alaska. Oh yeah, you totally read that right. We’re in Alaska!! I’ve learned so many things from this internship that I honestly can’t remember them all. The most important thing that I’ve learned is how to be a good lab manager. One of my mentors had to be away for an extended period of time and since we’ve worked together virtually since last summer, he left me in charge of the lab. I got to take on and learn more serious responsibilities, such as schedule making, coordinating, and even a bit of mentoring.
Top left: views of Alaska from the plane. Bottom left: some sea stars from the mudflat. Right: views from the mudflat
A really interesting thing that has surprised me about this summer has been learning about all the other people and projects that are involved in the mud shrimp system. I mean, it makes sense, this has been a 10+ year project with lots of collaborators. John and Brett have folks all over the world (like Colorado, Japan, Russia, and Australia) who have worked or are currently working with Upogebia and Neotrypaea. A completely unrelated thing that completely surprised me however, is the fact that using the yabi guns (slurp guns, as I call them) hurts my back waaayyyyy more than using the sediment/clam cores to obtain shrimp!
Top left: me wearing my field work vest from University of Colorado, Boulder (CU). Bottom left: Joshua and our new CU collaborator. Top right: everyone checking out our first mud shrimp in the field. Bottom right: John and our CU collaborators analyzing shrimp in our “Alaska Lab.”
Knowing what I know now, I would only do a couple of things differently if I could restart my summer. First and most importantly, I would have things a bit more organized and set-up at the beginning of the summer. It was mostly fine, but I feel having a slightly more detailed schedule would be beneficial and less stressful. Next, I would make sure there was allotted time to go to the Art in Science meetings. As it was, I was travelling for field work both times. And finally, I would have made Joshua come to movie nights sooner with my awesome house mates, Lisette and Phoenix, so we could have all finished watching She-Ra together.
The most important thing that I have learned during my time at Haystack Rock Awareness Program (HRAP) is just how important setting a schedule and sticking to it is. Because I was working so independently on my project I was fully responsible for the timeline and pace that I was working at. As someone who is used to having timelines fully set up by school or work this was a big change and it definitely took me a few weeks to get settled into but now I feel like I’ve gotten the hang of how I spend my time to make sure that I am getting everything done in a timely manner. I have also gotten to learn about grad school and the various career paths in environmental science that I hadn’t really had much exposure to before this summer. Getting to meet and talk to so many different people that all got where they are by taking so many different paths definitely really opened up my view of how I can get to the career that I want in a variety of different ways.
One of the most surprising things about working at HRAP is that everyone has an opinion on education. Every time I talk to someone about my project whether they work in education or not, they always seem to have some sort of feedback or information about educational techniques or what they would want to see. Initially I was really surprised that everyone had so much to say but then I realized that every single person is a stakeholder in education. We all go to school and then people send their kids to schools so it is actually not surprising to see that everyone cares about how we are teaching kids. This also reframed the way that I thought of education as a much broader part of our daily lives.
I think that if I could redo this summer the only thing I would do differently is to incorporate more interviews into my project. I only ended up doing two interviews with teachers but I feel like they both had really valuable input and having the chance to talk to more teachers would’ve given me a different perspective that would have strengthened my overall project.
A collection of things found during a field trip by walking in Cannon Beach including a shore crab, squid eggs, and sand dollars
As a Summer Scholar, I work with the Oregon Coastal and Ocean Information Network (OCOIN). Updating their Coastal Research Explorer tool and leaving my mark on it is one of my most significant tasks this summer. The tool uses ArcGIS, featuring an interactive map to present research along the Oregon coast. ArcGIS is software that I have not worked with before, but I have hoped for the chance to learn it. With OCOIN staff, I have had one-on-one trainings, tutorials to complete on my own, and an in-depth opportunity to put these skills to use as I updated the Coastal Research Explorer tool. I am grateful to have the opportunity to learn such useful software in my field, fulling one of my goals this summer of learning a technical skill that I can add to my resume. With OCOIN, I have learned additional software skills, learning ESRI’s Survey123, Mailchimp, and becoming more proficient with the programming language R.
Working remotely, I get to take breaks in my garden.
Over that past year and a half, I have gotten used to working remotely. However, before this summer, remote work could get lonely. Working with OCOIN, I have daily meetings with staff and Zoom work parties with the other intern Charlotte. As a Summer Scholar, I have learned a new, more inspiring form of remote work, collaborating with those in my network.
Prior to my internship, I wished I realized that professional development could come from additional sources other than those directly related to OCOIN. While getting acquainted with OCOIN staff and tools, there was some lag time before I could work on my projects. I was invited to outside organization meetings, informational interviews, and offered training materials during this time. I was assured that while I could not start my projects yet, professional development was equally important. It has felt amazing to feel support during my internship to learn what I need. One of these learnings has been a deeper knowledge of the programing language R, even though it didn’t directly relate to my placement with OCOIN. Since this onboarding period, I have been quite busy with my OCOIN projects and have still been able to work through the expectations laid out for me while also fulfilling some additional professional goals for the summer.
This summer has flown by! I can’t believe it is already week eight of the summer scholars internship. In the past two weeks I have been able to attend Eat Oregon Seafood’s “Shop at the Dock” events. Shop at the Dock is a tour of the local fishing docks that goes over Oregon fishing management regulations and helps consumers navigate purchasing seafood directly from fishermen. In addition to contributing information to the tours, I have also learned a lot from participating in them. One fun fact is that all Oregon fishing gear is required to have safety systems in place that release gear after a short period of time to prevent ghost fishing!
This Friday will mark my last Shop at the Dock and my last interview for my Oregon Seafood Journey project. I am so excited to be posting the interviews from this project to our Instagram account (@eatORseafood) next week! I have learned a lot about the Oregon seafood industry while connecting with people up and down the coast and hope these interviews make other Oregonians just as passionate about purchasing local seafood. In addition to learning more about the industry, I have also gotten a lot better with my interview skills. It is fun comparing the flow of my first interview to my most recent one and realizing how much more relaxed they sound now. Hopefully I’ll be able to use my new found interview skills during my graduate degree!
The docks of Newport
The most surprising part of the summer for me was how similar the values of everyone I interviewed was. It didn’t matter if they were a processor or fisher or restaurant owner or retailer. Every person wanted the public to know how well managed and beneficial (for the environment and the economy) the Oregon seafood industry is! This message also shined through at our Shop at the Dock tours. In post tour interviews, consumers were even raving about the high standards of the Oregon seafood industry!
The outside of Port Orford Sustainable Seafoods
If I could start the summer over, knowing what I know now, there is one thing that I would definitely change. I would connect more with the other Oregon seafood commissions and try to set up a better network for re-sharing our information. I would also write a couple of press releases to try and spread the word more as well! Nevertheless, I am glad our posts are reaching as many people as they are currently. Hopefully the information will continue to spread to other Oregonians!!
I can’t believe we’re about to finish week 8 of this internship program. Time has been going so fast and I’ve gained so much knowledge in the past few weeks.
This internship has definitely let me build skills that I would have never gotten otherwise. The main one being graphic design skills which I never thought I would gain from a marine biology internship. Adobe Illustrator was definitely frustrating to figure out at first, but once I got the hang of it I’ve really enjoyed delving more into my artistic side. When I was a freshman in high school I thought that I wanted to be an animator but slowly lost passion for that over the course of high school. While I no longer have the desire to pursue a career in art, this internship has allowed me to rekindle my artistic side while combining it with my scientific side.
Some of my old artwork from high school. The bottom one I submitted to the Tri-Valley Art Show where it won for Mixed Media!
On the science side, I have definitely learned how to better read scientific articles. During my undergrad, reading scientific articles was often a daunting task, especially during my thesis project. Much of the language was so complex and sometimes hard to interpret. But after spending about three weeks reading over 100 scientific papers, they are no longer as intimidating as they once were. Interestingly, it even restarted my interest in reading books.
Another important thing that I have learned about is informational interviews and how helpful these can be. I’ve always had anxiety around asking for help, especially if it requires a meeting as I am worried about bothering people. But with all my conversations with ODFW employees, I have been pleasantly surprised as to how open people are to speaking with me to talk about their paths and provide advice. I always appreciate the enthusiasm they bring to our conversation and the genuine interest that have in helping me in my career path. Even within the CEI program, I’ve been surrounded by people to ask for advice and to help me build connections with others. Networking is definitely a huge part of any career path and I’ve learned to be less afraid to build those connections.
On that note, I’ve been surprised by simply how many things each person within the organization is working on. Every person I have talked to seems to be working on about 100 projects at once and it just seems to be magic that they still get everything done. Despite their busy schedules, they still find time in their day to meet with me which just makes me that much more appreciative of them.
Another surprising thing for me was how I haven’t been burnt out by virtual work yet. After a year and a half of doing college virtually and already at Zoom burnout, I have been surprisingly okay with doing the whole internship virtually. Not sure if it’s the change in settings, if I’ve just finally gotten used to the virtual world, or if I just really enjoy the work, but being in front of my computer for 8 hours a day hasn’t been as exhausting as I thought it would be. I even find the energy occasionally to spend an hour or two after the workday to edit a couple of my undergraduate projects for publication.
Some of the gelatinous creatures I found last summer at OIMB while I was working on my thesis project. Left: Clione, middle: Aurelia aurita, right: Eutonia indicans.
If I could do anything differently, it would be to have engaged with people earlier on in my internship. It took until about week 4 or 5 for me to start setting meetings to talk with professionals as I was just finding myself overwhelmed with having to talk with them one-on-one. But these conversations have been so beneficial to my learning, as well as a great break from just sitting alone in my room and working.
Interning at the Oregon Coastal and Ocean Information Network forced me to become a jack of all trades – working on outreach emails, interviewing researchers and writing spotlight articles, drafting a budget, and understanding ArcGIS online. I have gained valuable experience in areas that I could never have imagined at the start of my internship because I was willing to jump into any and all projects, even those outside of the scope of original internship description!
With wonderful mentors in the Sea Grant CEI program, and within OCOIN itself, I learned the importance of networking and met passionate ocean and coastal researchers. I am also grateful for my coworker and fellow summer scholar, Joshua, who I teamed up with at OCOIN to divide and complete all of our summer tasks. Together we have navigated working in a remote environment, learning new software, and optimizing a research mapping tool. Our teamwork allowed us to share and learn from one another and organize our agendas and workloads like a real professional team.
As I enter the last few weeks of my internship, I look forward to organizing OCOIN’s annual meeting and updating more research in our mapping tool that will help our research network stay connected throughout the year to come.
Even though my internship is virtual, I still made it to some tidepools on the coast!
Doing an internship through Oregon Seagrant has been an incredible experience. Working alongside the Haystack Rock Awareness Program and Friends of Haystack Rock has provided me with invaluable experience. Approaching the end of the internship feels a bit bittersweet. I am excited to see the manifestation of my project, but I’m also fully aware that the days of watching the puffins jump off of the Haystack Rock are coming to an end.
Through this internship, I’ve been able to learn a lot about people’s passions regarding nature. Throughout the summer I have spoken to many people that have shared stories about what the tidepools looked like when they were younger or about how their love for the outdoors always leads them back to the rock. I’ve learned that many people have traveled all around the world, but Haystack Rock remains special in their hearts. They often talk about how they came as kids, and how they ended up bringing their own kids. While I’ve learned a lot about the marine environment and species identification, I’ve also learned that Haystack Rock is also home to many people and that’s why its protection is important. It has been mentioned to me time and time again that there is a feeling of hopelessness a feeling that there is little they can do as individuals to help. I’ve realized it is a common notion to feel helpless and alone when it comes to the state of the natural environment, however, we have this feeling as a collective. Collective hopelessness, about individual impact. I believe that through effective methods of science communication, this feeling can transform into a feeling of collective hope and community. Science communication is more than just making research more accessible, it is also a way to bring people from all different backgrounds together for the things that matter.
Something that surprised me this summer was the large disparity between female and male volunteers and staff. I noticed that the majority of the staff and volunteers were female and as introductions were being made and I attended meetings, I realized that most of the people I was meeting were women. This was something that made me feel empowered because throughout my college career I have felt imposter syndrome because of the lack of representation within stem for women and people of color. Seeing women in the different positions and involvement in marine conservation provided me with a great perspective and a better sense of the different roles I can see myself in, in the future.
If I could start the internship again with what I know now, I would start by asking more questions in the beginning. I would give myself the flexibility to be more curious about my project and not just take it as a set of tasks that need to be completed. While I wouldn’t really change anything about my approach to the project, I would make sure to give myself the room to feel the confidence and comfort I feel coming towards the final weeks of the internship. Confidence is something I’ve always valued, but it is something that I know comes with practice.
This summer has been a great learning experience for me on so many levels. On a personal level, I have learned how to manage my time with the utmost efficiency; I have learned how to cut out the time spent on meaningless brain-dead tasks that don’t get me closer to achieving my goals. As I am working on the completion of my honors thesis, serving as an OSG intern, participating in a bird physiology lab, and preparing for PhD program and fellowship applications, I have never been busier. This summer has forced me to manage my time well and to learn what is truly important for my own well-being. If I didn’t have time to relax and socialize, I would surely go nuts, so I have really learned to optimize the free time that I do get. I feel that this summer has taught me that I can handle a large workload and still enjoy my life… as long as I cut out wasted time on the phone, TV, etc.
A brown pelican that I saw while exploring the tidepools with summer science campers at South Cove in Charleston, OR.Urchins and anemones spotted during last camp.
On a completely separate note, I have learned a lot about how various water quality parameters, such as temperature, salinity, turbidity, etc. affect estuarine ecosystems, such as the South Slough. On virtual weeks this summer, I have been working on putting together the SWMP water quality exhibit, which will be a touch-screen exhibit set up at the South Slough Visitor’s Center. In doing so, I have had to read about the different effects that water quality parameters can have on dozens of organisms. The hope is to develop informative slides that visitors can read through, in addition to an interactive slide that allows visitors to manipulate water quality parameters and watch what happens to the organisms on screen (increase in number, disappear, become sick, etc.). Working on this project has forced me to read a surprising amount of primary literature in order to establish the water quality ranges in which different animals and plants can survive!
What’s been surprising:
Compared to last summer, when I was one of the only interns at the South Slough, there are so many interns working this summer! Last year, I worked with both the education team and the science team, but this summer, it seems like every member of the science team has a personal intern, so I am exclusively serving as an education intern. It’s really nice to see SSNERR thriving and busy with projects, research, etc. While, for selfish reasons (more fieldwork opportunities), I enjoyed being one of the couple interns last year, it’s great for the South Slough to have so much support this summer.
What I’d do differently:
I really feel satisfied with how my internship has gone this summer, so there isn’t anything serious that I would have liked to do differently. That being said, I did try to join in with the summer campers on shirt painting during last camp, and boy did I suck at that,,, See pictures below.
This is the front and back of the shirt I painted last camp. That blob you see is supposed to be a flounder. I also tried to write “Bad at Painting” on the back, but started running out of room and thought “Bad at Paint” would be funnier anyway!
Working with the Oregon Coastal and Ocean Information Network (OCOIN) has provided me the unique opportunity of seeing the intersection of science and policy. OCOIN was established to facilitate collaboration between researchers and policymakers. When I first started with OCOIN, I primarily imagined OCOIN as an organization that makes research more available to policymakers. While this is a significant part of OCOIN, I also have begun to see OCOIN as the entity that can provide policymakers the opportunity to connect with researchers about future research needs. This collaborative relationship is imperative for the health of our coasts.
Zoom Selfie! Remote working means lots of time spent on Zoom.
The lesson that stands out the most so far in my learnings with OCOIN is that this type of collaboration takes time. I had initially thought that the goals I had for my internship would be easier to accomplish. However, like any relationship, you must invest time and energy to create a lasting connection. This is a beautiful thing; the steering committee at OCOIN comprises individuals from various organizations throughout Oregon. While each person works for a different organization, they have a familiarity with each other, making it seem as though they work side-by-side. It is this healthy network of organizations that has been most inspiring for me throughout my internship. After college, I look forward to working for an organization that networks with others in the field.
One of the agencies that has stood out to me the most is Oregon’s Department of Land Conservation and Development (DLCD). A couple of people from the OCIOIN steering committee work for DLCD, and they have been very helpful during my onboarding process. They have provided professional development opportunities such as ArcGIS trainings and an invite to a DLCD coastal staff meeting. Each person in the coastal staff meeting was very welcoming and introduced themselves to the other OCOIN intern and me. I feel lucky to have had the opportunity to learn about so many various roles within an organization. The meeting left me excited to finish my degree and start working for an organization that helps drive change in Oregon.
