"Science is a way of thinking much more than it is a body of knowledge." -Carl Sagan Our final weekend here in Charleston, OR. During prior weekends, us interns would plan adventures or outings to explore the area in some way. This weekend was different in that the final critiques of our poster drafts loomed on our minds and in some ways, was relieving to ease into the finality of this experience and have a more mellow weekend (other than revising posters that is). However, this satiated lethargy did not stop us from loading up in the OIMB van to go visit the hiking trails in South Slough one last time on Saturday afternoon. This time we did the entire hidden creek loop, with some small pit stops to snap pictures of some fungi for iNaturalist. Sunday was also largely a leisure time spent running through the forests behind campus and doing some last errands for our last week here. After receiving all the critiques for our posters, some of us got right to work on clarifying any confusing wording, syntax issues, or any last-minute formatting issues. Monday morning arrived and we focused our efforts on the absolute final revisions as our final deadline approached the next day. After re-reading my poster repeatedly, I finally felt ready to call it done. The result is something I feel incredibly proud of and could not wait to present the final product to a wider audience. Speaking of presenting to a wider audience, I spoke with my mentor Shon, Maya, and Richard about possibly submitting an abstract for my project to Oregon Sea Grant’s “State of the Coast” conference in November. It sounds like the perfect venue for the content of my research and felt that it would be challenging yet rewarding for my personal and professional development. More on that later. On Monday afternoon, I felt my eyes starting to glaze over with how much I had been staring at and working on my poster. I took a much-needed hike through the woods to the cave near the coast guard lookout tower and took one final hike along the ocean cliffs. Partially, I wanted to catch a breather but also wanted to expand my observations on iNaturalist. Our final evenings were spent watching movies (curated by Naia) at the boathouse. The energy has been feeling cozy as we approach the end of this internship and as we enter late summer. On Tuesday, Naia and I had to finish the remaining data entry from crab trapping from the week before. This was our final work done in the lab and felt celebratory after our last crab was input into the database. Prior to our data entry, Naia and I went to meet with Shon in his office to present the custom shirts that we created for the three of us to commemorate this summer experience. The “2023 Green Crab Killah Club” with our last names on the back. We wanted to get something made to show our appreciation for the great mentorship and the amazing summer that we had. I know that I learned what felt like a year’s worth of knowledge in a two-month timespan. I submitted my poster to be printed late Tuesday afternoon which felt simultaneously like a huge relief and the slightest bit nerve wracking. Ultimately, though, the relief was overpowering and with it, came a sense of accomplishment. Since I had finished my poster, I opted for a somewhat spontaneous trip with Ali, Shon, and Shreyaan to go do water quality sampling in South Slough. This entailed getting on the small ECOS boat and heading to different sampling sites in the estuary. My sole task was to collect water quality data using a YSI meter. Mostly though, I was just along for the ride and to enjoy a final bout of field work on the boat. On Wednesday afternoon, we had our final professional development session with Richard and Maya. This session’s topic was how to give good elevator talks as well as ethics in research. For this meeting, we all practiced giving a roughly two-minute talk regarding our research in anticipation of Friday’s poster session. This was challenging in that we did not have our posters there to reference as we spoke, so we had to improvise. I think it was ultimately a good thing in that it forced us to spontaneously speak on our research without any reference. That evening the interns gathered at Bastendorff Beach for a celebratory charcuterie board at sunset. Thursday was essentially a day off for most of us as our posters were done and printed and work at the labs were over. Many of us began packing our bags for the fast-approaching departure. I walked through the woods one final time. Friday morning was upon us and there was a flurry of anticipatory energy preceding our poster sessions that afternoon. Concurrently, I felt an immense sense of accomplishment and validation. Click here to editAll the interns set up our posters outside on wooden panels and situated them so that passersby could meander at their leisure. The poster session was both nerve wracking and excellent practice. I felt that my ability to speak eloquently about my project increased as people passed through. There were a few researchers who stopped by my poster who got a choppy version of my project as I stumbled over my words a little but overall, it was a good experience. It was so fulfilling to be able to speak on the research and the visual presentation thereof. After the poster session, we took a final picture in front of the OIMB sign and had a debriefing session with Richard and Maya. Then, we all gave a sigh of relief as that day was quite long and a sigh of relief because this internship was so fun and a lot of work. We all learned a lot and I can easily say that this experience is an invaluable one. . We made it. Thanks for reading and following this small snapshot of my time and experiences here at OIMB’s EMBOC REU program. I hope that you enjoyed reading and hoped that this was an informative and fun blog to follow. Thanks to Maya Watts, Richard Emlet, Shon Schooler, Naia Pulotu, NSF, OIMB, and all the other EMBOC REU interns! If you are reading this and are interested in hearing more about my REU experience or have further questions, feel free to reach out: [email protected]
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AuthorHello! My name is Devin Forest-Hines, and I am student at both Portland State University and Portland Community College where I am pursuing a BS in environmental science. I am working with Dr. Shon Schooler and his research on the invasive Green Crab (Carcinus maenas) at the South Slough Reserve. I have lived in the Portland area for a decade working in organic agriculture, but I am originally from Santa Cruz, California so marine systems are close to my heart. ArchivesCategories |
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