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.)
1 Comment
7/1/2023 01:28:22 pm
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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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