Summer Intern Class of
2012: From L: Alex Kellum, Pearce Cooper, Joey Matt, Caitlin Fikes,
Lydia Bienlien, Jessica Braunstein, Laura Tait, Margaret Walker, Sean Lusk,
Madeline Karp, Sabrina Ramirez, Natalie Ross. Photo by David
Malmquist.
By Erin Kelly
Twelve undergraduates from across the nation spent 10 weeks at the Virginia Institute of Marine Science this summer gaining valuable research experience in marine science.
Twelve undergraduates from across the nation spent 10 weeks at the Virginia Institute of Marine Science this summer gaining valuable research experience in marine science.
The interns in this year’s
“Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU)” program were Lydia Bienlien
(Morningside College); Jessica Braunstein (Lee University); Pearce Cooper and
Sean Lusk (Virginia Tech); Caitlin Fikes (University of Miami); Madeline Karp
(The College of William & Mary); Alex Kellum (Clemson University); Joseph
Matt (Wake Forest University); Sabrina Ramirez (Old Dominion University);
Natalie Ross (North Carolina State University); Laura Tait (Amherst
University); and Margaret Walker (University of Mary Washington). [Laura Tait worked with the CHSD lab.]
The interns worked with faculty and graduate-student mentors on a diversity of active research projects at VIMS—an aspect of the program that the interns particularly enjoyed. Hundreds of students from all over the U.S. apply to the internship, with the 12 to 15 handpicked selections assigned a marine project of their own—including being responsible for a final presentation and paper.
The internship—now in its 23rd year—is funded by the National Science Foundation. It is one of the longest-standing REU programs in the nation, and boasts a high retention rate with more than half of its participants going on to study marine science in graduate school.
VIMS encourages all students who are interested in marine science to apply for the program. Students can pursue a variety of areas of marine science including marine biology and ecology; biological, geological, chemical, and physical oceanography; environmental science; fisheries; and resource management.
The interns worked with faculty and graduate-student mentors on a diversity of active research projects at VIMS—an aspect of the program that the interns particularly enjoyed. Hundreds of students from all over the U.S. apply to the internship, with the 12 to 15 handpicked selections assigned a marine project of their own—including being responsible for a final presentation and paper.
The internship—now in its 23rd year—is funded by the National Science Foundation. It is one of the longest-standing REU programs in the nation, and boasts a high retention rate with more than half of its participants going on to study marine science in graduate school.
VIMS encourages all students who are interested in marine science to apply for the program. Students can pursue a variety of areas of marine science including marine biology and ecology; biological, geological, chemical, and physical oceanography; environmental science; fisheries; and resource management.
Excerpted from: http://www.vims.edu/newsandevents/topstories/reu_2012_interns.php
Swimming with Sharks:
REU students “swim” with sharks at the VIMS Eastern Shore Lab in Wachapreague.
L-R (top row): Natalie Ross, Madeline Karp, Laura Tait, Margaret Walker, Joseph
Matt, and Rochelle Seitz. Bottom row: Sabrina Ramirez, Lydia Bienlien, Jessica
Braunstein, and Caitlin Fikes.
Photo by Jennifer
Dreyer
