Well my loyal blog readers, this will be my final blog post, as we have reached the end of the REU program. To recap you on recent events, all of the REUs met up at Spruce Ranch, where the South Slough interns and graduate research fellows stay, for a crab boil this past weekend, and I was super excited that my fellow REUs had the opportunity to meet Lara and Jay, the NOAA Davidson fellow and her intern assistant that I have been working with all summer. The crab boil was Sebastian and Colleen’s idea, so of course, the invasive European green crab was the main dish, along with shrimp and corn. I have not really been exposed to seafood that much throughout my life, so this was the first time that I have ever eaten crab. Overall, the food was delicious, and everyone had a really great time. To end the night, I had to say goodbye to Lara and Jay, which made me tear up a little bit because they were great to work with and I will miss them both very much.
Movie Night Update: For our final movie night, we watched Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen with Lindsay Lohan. Personally, I have not watched this movie in a long time, so it was nice to refresh myself on the plot of such a good movie with my REU friends. To make this movie night extra special, we even brought face masks so that we could have a mini spa session during the movie. Making edits and finalizing the details of our posters has been the main theme of this week, so we have all been working tirelessly in preparation for the poster presentation. We finally turned in the final draft of our poster on Tuesday for printing, so in celebration (and as a last hurrah), we went to Hall Lake, which is approximately 11 acres in size and about thirty minutes from Charleston. This gorgeous lake features beautiful sand dunes surrounded by evergreen forests. For the first time this summer, I actually fully got into the water, which was so nice. I simply dipped my toes into the water every other time this summer because the water was too cold, and even though the lake water was chilly, I really enjoyed swimming after such a long time. We also listened to some music and relaxed on the sand, a much needed break from the stress of the poster this week. Overall, I am slightly nervous about the poster presentation, but I am also proud of the work that I have accomplished. Reflecting on the entire program, I can definitely see that I have grown not only as a scientist and a researcher but also as an individual. This program has taught me various scientific and professional skills, ranging from fieldwork to data analysis to how to apply to graduate schools. Additionally, I have branched out and come out of my shell a little, allowing me to meet some really cool people and make some really awesome friends during my time here. Even though I am ecstatic to be heading home soon, saying farewell to my fellow REUs is certainly going to be the most difficult part of the end of this program. Until next time, Chloe Cummins (aka the “Eelgrass Whisperer”, as dubbed by my mentor Ali)
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It is week 8, blog readers! As promised, I have attached some pictures taken at the invertebrate ball this past weekend. The ball was very fun, and as I expected, my favorite part about the event was seeing everyone’s fascinating costumes. Some people put quite a bit of effort and thought into their costumes, and being able to see their invertebrate on full display while they strutted down the “catwalk” was vastly entertaining. Unfortunately, I did not realize that every person who dressed up was required to walk down the catwalk in front of everyone. When it was my turn to parade my jelly costume, I felt a little nervous, but luckily, Sherlyn was there to walk with me since we dressed as the same organism. After costume prizes were given out, all of us left the invert ball early to go hang out at 7 Devils and listen to some live music, which was a great way to end an already amazing night. We also had the CMLC presentation session this past weekend. The ability to communicate information effectively to broad audiences, such as the public, is an essential skill, especially in any scientific field, and this presentation at the CMLC allowed us to further refine our abilities. For my table setup, I made a mock eelgrass meadow out of green streamers and some brown pipe cleaners, and I decorated the meadow with some stickers of various marine organisms. Since I had a plethora of stickers left over, I decided to place them on my table for people to take as they pleased, and seeing younger kids (as well as some adults) get excited about the stickers definitely put a smile on my face. Overall, I really enjoyed sharing my research with the CMLC visitors and as well as hearing and answering their interesting questions.
Regrettably, I have no movie night update for you this week. Victoria went away this weekend to visit some family back in California, so we decided to sit this movie night out. Nevertheless, since this upcoming weekend will be the last weekend of the REU program, we are hoping to have a big movie night planned. This fieldwork week has featured some very early mornings (like out in the field before 5 am early) and, hence, has led to my first ever use of a headlamp. Completing eelgrass monitoring and sampling in the pitch darkness is certainly difficult, but at the same time, there is something eerily beautiful about conducting fieldwork at these sites so early. First of all, I have glimpsed a myriad of organisms active this week that I normally do not see during fieldwork, and we got to experience the sunrise almost every day this week, which was absolutely breathtaking every time. Speaking of organisms observed during fieldwork, I had a startling encounter with a Dungeness crab at Fossil Point on Tuesday. I was almost finished collecting my data from the transect and was reaching the point of exhaustion when suddenly I spotted something massive moving in my peripheral vision. A fairly large Dungeness crab emerged from the tangled mess of eelgrass and algae near me and strolled right beside my leg, suspiciously eyeing me the whole time. I definitely felt more awake after that! In addition, I also spotted an opalescent nudibranch (sea slug), and I even held a jelly (with gloves on of course)! Earlier this week, all of the REUs were required to show the rough draft of their poster and receive constructive feedback on potential things to change. I was somewhat skeptical about showing everyone my poster, as I have been diligently working on it and afraid of receiving negative criticism, but the poster critique went relatively well. The ideas that everyone had for my poster certainly improved the poster as a whole and allowed me to organize the poster in a more interpretable manner. As the poster presentation looms ever closer, I feel more and more excited (as well as anxious and slightly stressed) to share the findings of my summer research. Hello again! Welcome back to Chloe’s Blog: The Neap Tides and Full Week of Lab Work version. This past weekend, Colleen was kind enough to take us (me, Sherlyn, and Victoria) into Coos Bay to get materials for our invertebrate ball costumes. In case you are not familiar with OIMB traditions, the invertebrate ball is an event that OIMB hosts every year during the summer in which students and REUs dress as their favorite invertebrates, and prizes are given out for the best costumes. Since arriving at OIMB and looking back at the blogs of previous REUs, I have heard that the invertebrate ball is really fun, so I am excited that it is coming up this Friday night and that I get to see everyone’s interesting costumes! Sherlyn and I decided to stick with something simple, so we are both going as jellies. Don’t worry though, I will give more updates on the happenings of the invertebrate ball during next week’s blog post.
Anyways, after picking up stuff for our costumes, we decided to check out this thrift shop that Victoria had mentioned. When she went, the store was having a sale where anything that could fit in a large, brown paper bag would only cost $5, no matter how much was in the bag, and when we went to the same store this last weekend, it just so happened that the sale was still continuing. After looking around the shop, we had some luck and ended up filling two bags with clothes and other items; I got a cardigan, a cute sweater, and something small for my mom, which was pretty exciting. Then, later that day, we had our (you guessed it) weekly movie night. This week, we decided to really delve back to our childhood roots and watch Hannah Montana: The Movie. I was obsessed with Hannah Montana when I was younger. I even had a Hannah Montana pen that featured a small plastic TV on the top, and when you clicked a button on the pen, the image on the TV screen changed to a different picture of Hannah. As we were watching the movie, I forgot that it is set in Tennessee, which was pretty cool and kind of bittersweet since Tennessee has such personal meaning to me, and after finishing the movie, I definitely felt my longing for home grow. As I briefly suggested earlier, there were not any good spring low tides this week, so that means no fieldwork and mainly lab/office work, which is a nice respite after the busyness of fieldwork last week. I am in the process of finalizing the details of my poster and updating my previously made graphs with the new data from last week to get them poster ready, especially since I will have to add next week’s data to them after fieldwork each day. Additionally, Ali helped me figure out how to gather metrics on the mature eelgrass seeds that have been released from the flowering shoots we collected, so I spent a few hours this week using calipers to determine the size of the seeds. I have neither seen nor used calipers before, so this experience was yet another to add to my list of what I have learned throughout the program so far. Anyhow, I was able to work in the lab by myself and put on a little bit of music while examining the adorable eelgrass seeds, which I thought was really enjoyable. Finally, I have also been working on my presentation for the CMLC session this Saturday. Even though this week has been somewhat stressful as the program is beginning to come to a close and things are becoming more intense, I feel as if the CMLC presentation will be a fun experience to share our research and what we have been doing this summer with the public. For our professional development session this week, we had a discussion about graduate schools. We heard from some OIMB faculty members as well as a panel of current and incoming graduate students. Since I am in the process of looking at graduate schools right now, I really enjoyed hearing what graduate schools and PIs are or are not looking for, and the discussion addressed a vast majority of the questions that I already had and some questions that I did not realize that I had. Overall, I feel as if this professional development session is the most productive one that we have had so far. My 21st birthday was on Tuesday of this week (August 2), and I have to say that this birthday is in the top three of all of my birthdays combined. I normally do not make a big deal out of my birthday (largely because I am not usually keen on being the center of attention), but everyone really went out of their way to make me feel special, which meant more to me than words can describe. My day started with me noticing a happy birthday banner hung over the wall in front of my desk (courtesy of Colleen), which instantly put a smile on my face. Throughout the day, I received numerous birthday wishes from my family and my fellow REUs as well as a few gifts and cards. During dinner, members of the dining hall staff brought me a cupcake with a lit candle in it, and everyone sang happy birthday, which was most certainly appreciated but also definitely made me blush. Later that night, we spent the evening in town with Ali; being able to spend time and talk with my mentor and friends was a nice way to end my day. As I end this blog, I would just like to again highlight how grateful I am for my family’s support throughout this experience and how thankful I am for the absolutely amazing people that I have met during my time here. I am beyond humbled by everyone’s effort to make me stand out on my birthday as well as for everything that people have done for me during the program, no matter how small the task may have seemed. Salutations, blog readers! This week has been an eventful one, so prepare yourself for a lengthy blog post (sorry). To begin, I want to flashback to the end of last week. I was leaving the dining hall, and as I was walking out of the door, Colleen, who was walking in front of me, mentioned that I had received mail. Of course, I was not expecting any, but as I walked back in, I saw that there was definitely a letter sitting in my mailbox. To my astonishment, it was a letter from my great aunt and uncle, who I love dearly. The letter was simply asking me about my time in Oregon so far and keeping me updated as to their recent happenings at their home down in Florida. It was absolutely exciting to read and receive the letter, and I hope to start an old-fashioned letter correspondence with her.
This weekend, Sebastian, Sherlyn, Victoria, Annika, and I visited the West Coast Game Park Safari in Bandon. At the start of the program, Victoria mentioned something about noticing a wildlife park on her drive in to OIMB, and ever since, we all have wanted to go and decided that this past weekend would be the perfect time. In case you are not familiar with the Oregon area, Bandon is approximately 45 minutes from Charleston, so it was a little bit of a drive to get to the safari park. Nevertheless, we had a great idea to make a playlist of our top ten favorite songs, and if you know me, then you also know that the task of narrowing my song choices down to only ten songs was extremely challenging because of my long-lived, deep appreciation of music (my playlist on Spotify amounts to about 21 hours of listening, just to put things into perspective). Anyways, sharing my music and listening to everyone else’s music during the drive was really nice, especially since I learned that some of Sherlyn’s favorite songs are also some of my favorites (such as Come and Get Your Love by Redbone). While we were at the park, we saw a myriad of animals, ranging from goats to bears to even fishing cats, and many of the animals at the park roam freely for you to feed and pet. Even though I have developed a profound respect for eelgrass, being able to reconnect with animals after so long was truly refreshing, and many new best friends were made during the course of the trip (refer to the attached photos). As the highlight of the whole experience, one of my lifelong dreams was realized: petting a capybara. I have been fascinated by capybaras since I was younger, and it was so surprising when one of the park’s capybaras walked right up to me and Annika and rolled over for some lovely scratches. Additionally, the weather in Bandon was really warm and sunny, which was a nice change of pace from the gloom and fog in Charleston earlier and later that day. For your movie night update, we watched White Chicks this weekend, which is undoubtedly one of my favorite movies of all time. In fact, I watch this movie every time I am sick because it always makes me laugh and feel better. Also, our usual movie night group expanded to include Gina and J’mie this weekend, which was awesome. Near the beginning of this week, Victoria surprised all of us and kindly gifted the REUs with a small Mason jar filled with shark-themed candy in honor of shark week, which I greatly appreciated. To celebrate shark week, Victoria, Colleen, and I watched a short documentary about sharks found in the deep sea, which was really interesting and kind of shocking, but we all enjoyed learning more about these fascinating elasmobranchs. Project work this week has consisted of some early mornings of fieldwork. After this series of spring low tides, there is only one more week of spring low tides before I finish the REU program, so my fieldwork and data collection is beginning to come to a close, which is somewhat dispiriting but also encouraging. Nevertheless, I will be collecting data until the week before the program ends, so making a mad dash to integrate the new data into my poster quickly will certainly be stressful. During fieldwork this week, we collected data from Fossil Point, Clam Island, Valino Island, and Collver Point. Out of all of these sites, Clam Island is probably my favorite. First of all, the site itself and the views from it are beautiful, but what I like most about it is the squirting clams. As indicated by the name, Clam Island features abundant clams that love to shoot water from their siphons, so when you look across the mudflat, you can always see numerous clams spouting water from their position in the sand, effectively putting on an interesting waterwork display. In fact, the last time that we visited Clam Island, a clam almost shot water right into my face while I was counting eelgrass shoots! On Wednesday of this week, South Slough held an intern celebration potluck at Sunset Bay State Park in which all of the SSNERR interns were honored and fed delicious food. I went to the potluck with Sebastian and Colleen, and I enjoyed seeing and talking to some of the other interns that are leaving soon. As an unexpected surprise, all of the interns and their respective mentors were called to the front, where the mentors shared a short blurb about their interns and presented their intern with a certificate of appreciation. I was absolutely honored by this recognition and the kind words that Ali had to say about me. I have recently received some compliments and words of support/encouragement from dear friends and family who have been keeping up with this blog. I would just like to emphasize that I am genuinely and sincerely grateful for everyone who has taken the time to read about my journey. Your heartfelt messages have meant the world to me, and some happy tears have certainly been shed. As always, thank you for joining me in my reminiscence of this past week of the REU program. Unfortunately, I do not have any quirky or amusing stories from last weekend to share with you, as everyone was busy working on their presentations for this week (more on that later). However, Sherlyn, Victoria, and I kept the movie night tradition alive; sadly, Annika was not feeling well and was unable to join in the merriment. Nevertheless, we watched Aquamarine, which is about a mermaid who befriends two girls that are struggling with the fact that one of them is moving away. I have adored this movie ever since I was little and have rewatched it multiple times, so it was nice to share the experience of rewatching it again and discussing certain parts of the movie with my fellow REUs.
The spring low tides take place next week, so this week has mainly involved office and lab work. On Monday, I worked on entering recently collected eelgrass monitoring data for Valino Island and Danger Point into the South Slough database that dates back to 2004. Additionally, I finished processed some flowering shoots that were collected from Collver Point back in June before my arrival at OIMB and before finalizing the logistics of my project, so anyways, that means these shoots have been sitting in the tanks for a little while. Needless to say, I was quietly (but not so subtly) gagging and trying to protect my nose from the putrefying stench of decaying eelgrass leaves, so I was definitely grateful when I finished processing the shoots. Then, I began analyzing the data that we have collected for my project thus far on Tuesday. I have some experience with Excel but not with larger datasets like the ones for my project since my research at my home institution involves analyzing DNA sequences. Hence, I am also fairly unfamiliar with PivotTables, so this REU program has most certainly been a learning event for me to expand my knowledge and an outlet for me to refine my technical skills. As of right now, Excel and I are still on questionable grounds sometimes, but we are learning to better understand and appreciate each other. Once I finally finished creating a graph, I felt an overwhelming sense of satisfaction at having the opportunity to see the data that we have collected so far in a more visual and interpretable manner. For our professional development session this week, we were asked to present an overview of our projects, so the presentation was essentially an encapsulation of last week’s research proposal. I was extremely anxious about presenting my project to my peers, so I completed the presentation over the weekend that way I had more time to practice going over it. The experience of silently mouthing my presentation in my dorm as I practiced (since the walls do not go all the way to the ceiling and every sound carries throughout the hall) was definitely strange and unconventional, but all in all, I feel as if the presentation went better than I expected. As part of the REU program, all of the REUs are required to attend OIMB’s weekly summer seminars. For this week’s seminar, Dr. Alexandra (Alex) McInturf gave a talk on basking sharks titled, “A transoceanic perspective on behavior, population dynamics, and conservation of basking sharks (Cetorhinus maximus)”. Dr. McInturf was very passionate about her research, as demonstrated by her involvement in the conservation-based organization known as the Irish Basking Shark Group, and I thoroughly enjoyed hearing about such an interesting organism for which I have limited knowledge. Just to give you some quick fun facts that I learned during the presentation: Basking sharks are the world’s second largest living fish and shark species, typically reaching up to 8 m in length but up to 10 m historically, and basking sharks secrete a black, slimy mucus that can be sampled for genetic research. Additionally, I attended a Bio Breakfast, which is simply an informal gathering of local scientists seeking to hear about the current research and projects of other scientists in the area or elsewhere, at the Southwestern Oregon Community College (SWOCC). During this breakfast, I listened to a presentation by Dr. Aaron Galloway, which involved discussions of kelp forests and even whales. Earlier in this program, the other REUs had lunch with Dr. Galloway, and they have sung his praises since. Nevertheless, I was unable to participate in the lunch because of fieldwork, so I certainly appreciated the chance to listen about his fascinating research and view some high-definition videos taken during his diving adventures for research. Now that week five is over, we only have four more weeks remaining in the program, which seems surreal, and I am definitely starting to feel the growing pressure (and excitement) of the upcoming poster presentation. (Also, as a heads up, I realize that the photos are sparse this week, so I apologize in advance.) Welcome back everyone. If you are a tidy tide tracker, you would remember that this week featured some really nice low tides, which, for obvious reasons, were advantageous for fieldwork. However, before I start weaving tales about the abundance of fieldwork this week, I would like to reflect on this past weekend. On Saturday, my fellow REUs and I went on a scheduled boat trip aboard OIMB’s boat named the R/V Pluteus. In many ways, this excursion was an experience that I will never forget. To paint a picture for you, it was a beautiful, somewhat windy Oregon day that began with smooth, calm ocean waters, but as the trip progressed, the water started becoming choppy. In case you do not know this about me, I get motion sick very easily, so prior to our departure, I took some medicine, hoping that would be enough to prevent me from getting sick. Nevertheless, the water had other plans for me. Anyways, despite my miserable state at the beginning of the trip, I really enjoyed seeing all of the interesting organisms that we dredged from the ocean floor. We caught numerous sea stars, basket stars, gorgonians, and sea cucumbers. Since we decided to make Saturday night our movie night, Annika, Sherlyn, Victoria, and I watched She’s All That later that day. Don’t worry. I know that you are all biting your nails in anticipation of hearing about our movie nights, so I will make sure to keep you updated each week.
Like I previously alluded to, every day this week has involved fieldwork and data collection for my project, which has been really fun and fascinating as I have been delving deeper into my research; I am beyond appreciative that South Slough offers so many field opportunities. On Monday, Ali and I kayaked to Hidden Creek, which is located near the treacherous waist-deep mud of Danger Point, in order to complete an eelgrass presence/absence survey to determine if eelgrass had returned to the monitoring site located there. My kayaking skills are still lacking, but I feel like I am starting to learn, thanks to Ali’s patience. After a rough beginning, paddling down the channel was peaceful once I got the hang of being in the kayak a little more, and the afternoon was gorgeous as we paddled back from Hidden Creek. On Tuesday, Lara came back down from Corvallis to continue working on her thesis project, and I was excited to work with her again throughout this week. Aside from Hidden Creek, we also visited Fossil Point, Clam Island, Collver Point, and Valino Island, so it was uplifting to explore some sites with more abundant eelgrass compared to the barrenness of Hidden Creek. Additionally, we collected some reproductive shoots for processing in the lab, which has taken up most of my time after fieldwork. However, I like being able to take my time examining each shoot without worrying about the incoming tide, especially since I have found some spadices containing mature seeds close to release (stage five of development) from the shoots we collected this week. This means that we will hopefully be able to record seed metric data soon, which is super exciting. On a side note, we just completed the mid-program survey for the REU this week. I still cannot fathom the fact that this is week four and that the program is almost halfway over. The time is flying by, but my gratitude for being chosen for this incredible opportunity continues to grow. If you have been keeping up with my blog, then you might know that this past weekend was Fourth of July weekend. Even though I did not partake in the typical holiday activity of watching fireworks, I did spend some time with some of the other REU students (specifically Sherlyn, Victoria, and Annika), and we just hung out and got to know each other better. Sherlyn had an awesome idea to do a movie night, so we came up with a list of potential movies to watch. Then, on Saturday, we watched A Cinderella Story in the group room in the library, which was super fun, and I sincerely hope that we can plan some more movie nights for the weeks ahead. On the day of the Fourth, the dining hall hosted a picnic where both the faculty and cafeteria staff worked laboriously to cook an abundance of delicious food for us, and the weather was perfect for a picnic. I also found out that day that OIMB has a tradition where an egg toss is hosted every year on the Fourth. I had never heard of an egg toss before, so in case you have not either, the goal of the activity is to toss a raw egg to your partner for him/her to catch it. If your partner fails to catch the egg and the egg busts, you lose the game. Overall, it was a very enjoyable and amusing experience to watch as eggs busted on OIMB students and other REUs. Finally, I got the chance to check out the Charleston Marine Life Center (CMLC) with Sherlyn and Victoria this weekend, and I was pleasantly surprised with the amount and diversity of organisms housed there.
In terms of project work, since the spring low tides occur next week, this week has been somewhat relaxed, especially in comparison to the intensity of fieldwork last week. Nevertheless, I am also eager to get back in the field next week to complete more eelgrass data collection for my project. Anyways, that means that this week has primarily consisted of me finalizing the research proposal for my project, which is due next week. I do not have any experience writing research proposals, so the process of writing one for the first time was certainly stressful. Luckily, Ali was kind enough to take the time to read through my rough draft and make some edits and suggestions, which was really helpful. Also, Ali has been great about inviting me to other fieldwork opportunities at South Slough, so on Wednesday, I went out with Jenni and a few other interns to participate in marsh biomonitoring at Valino Island. The biomonitoring involved recording an array of data measurements for various marsh species, including the presence and abundance of species such as sea lavender (Limonium californicum) and pickleweed (Sarcocornia perennis). Being able to go out to the marsh and examine the biodiversity there was definitely a nice, fun change of pace. Also, I am excited to survey an endangered angiosperm known as the Western lily (Lilium occidentale) near the end of this week. To begin, thank you for returning to my blog. As you know, I arrived at OIMB last week and am ecstatic to be researching the reproductive phenology of eelgrass (Zostera marina) during the course of this REU program. To give you a little background information, eelgrass is a marine angiosperm that commonly grows in shallow waters of areas such as bays and estuaries. The beds and meadows formed by this flowering plant create highly productive ecosystems that support a myriad of organisms. For instance, eelgrass beds act as nurseries and spawning areas for numerous commercially important species, such as salmon and Dungeness crabs; they also serve as shelter for many fish and invertebrates and as a source of food for a variety of waterfowl. Furthermore, eelgrass beds decrease coastal erosion and improve water quality.
Interestingly, eelgrass can reproduce both asexually, which involves the creation of new vegetative shoots via elongation of the plant’s rhizome, and sexually, which entails the production of flowers and seeds. I will largely be focusing on aspects of eelgrass sexual reproduction this summer, especially since there is limited information available about eelgrass flowering shoots in the South Slough estuary. Unfortunately, eelgrass populations at many sites throughout South Slough have been experiencing significant declines since 2015 and 2016; thus, the data collected from my project will hopefully be applied to future seeding restoration projects with the goal of increasing eelgrass abundance in the estuary. The low tide series this week afforded me the remarkable opportunity to gain some experience in the field, so every day this week has mainly consisted of exciting fieldwork and, in turn, data collection for my project. In many ways, being able to see my research organism in person for the first time and having the chance to actually examine everything that I have been reading about was awe-inspiring. Ali is very knowledgeable, and she has been really patient as I have been learning many new things this week. Additionally, I finally met Lara Breitkreutz in person this week, who is a graduate research fellow that I will be working closely with this summer since she is also interested in eelgrass reproductive ecology. Both her and her advisor Fiona have been great resources for learning more information about eelgrass and for advice on my project. To give a quick summary of the specifics of my week, all of the REU students went camping at Sunset Bay State Park this past weekend. During the trip, we all went hiking, and we hung out on the beach for a few hours enjoying some unusually warm weather by Oregon standards. This was actually my first time going camping, so sharing this unique experience with my fellow REUs was pretty fun. During the week, I visited Valino Island, Danger Point, Clam Island, and Fossil Point for some data sampling. For reference, Danger Point derives its name from the fact that you can sink almost waist deep in the mudflats there, so I quickly learned that I am not adept at walking through the mud. I ended up having to army crawl across the mudflat because I kept getting stuck, which was probably pretty comical to watch, and I ended up being absolutely covered in the unpleasant smelling muck. Finally, near the end of the week, Lara and I completed some initial eelgrass flowering shoot processing, which took a while, but it was fun working with her and looking at the different parts of the shoot. Hi there! I am Chloe Cummins, and as previously mentioned in my bio, I am from Loretto, Tennessee. I am currently attending the University of Tennessee Southern (UTS), where I am a rising senior in pursuit of a B.S. degree in biology and a minor in sustainability. Just to let you know a little bit more about myself, I enjoy reading, coloring, and putting together jigsaw puzzles in my free time. Additionally, I am really close to my family, so I love spending time with them, whether that involves playing with my adorable niece and nephew, competing against my brother in board games, or snuggling with my dog Duke. I am an officer of the sustainability club on the UTS campus; this position enables me to organize and participate in fun activities, such as recycling competitions, gardening demonstrations, creek cleanups, and tree plantings. Furthermore, my involvement on campus includes research concerning zoantharian genetics, which is a type of coral.
In terms of my interests, my primary passions lie with anything concerning conservation, sustainability, ecology, and/or zoology. Since I was a young girl, I have always been fascinated by wildlife and the environment, which has inspired me to aim for occupations that will immerse myself in the natural world around me; learning about pressing environmental issues along the way has only strengthened this aspiration. Specifically, this REU program will assist this dream because I am interested in research as a career path, and this REU opportunity will permit me a small glimpse into the vast world of scientific research. Thus, being able to build critical research skills now will not only be instrumental throughout my graduate school journey but also prepare me for future job opportunities. Additionally, this amazing REU will provide me with the chance to gain fieldwork experience. Though I have participated in research prior to this REU, my zoantharian research mainly consists of lab work, so this program will allow me to bridge the gap between the field and the lab. For the duration of the program, I will be working at the South Slough National Estuarine Research Reserve (SSNERR) under the guidance of my mentor, Ali Helms. Ali is the Estuarine Monitoring Coordinator for the reserve, and with her help, the broad theme of my project will encompass eelgrass reproductive ecology. Specifically, I will be researching the flowering and seed dynamics of eelgrass, so I will be characterizing seeds produced by flowering shoots. Also, I am excited to collect data comparing the flowering shoot density and timing of the developmental sequence of flowering shoots across various sites along the salinity gradient of the estuary. My first week here at OIMB has been somewhat hectic, but it has been fun and interesting to meet the other REU students. I am looking forward to delving deeper into my research and seeing everyone’s personal growth as we go through this program. All in all, I am beyond thrilled, humbled, and grateful to be here participating in such an incredible opportunity. |
AuthorHi everyone! My name is Chloe Cummins, and I am from Loretto, Tennessee. I am a rising senior at the University of Tennessee Southern where I am pursuing a B.S. degree in Biology (with a concentration in Wildlife Biology and Ecology) and a minor in Sustainability. I’m super excited to be researching the reproductive ecology of eelgrass with my mentor Ali Helms at the South Slough National Estuarine Research Reserve during my time here at OIMB! Archives
August 2022
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