Hello! It was my first week as an intern here at the Oregon Institute of Marine Biology (OIMB). I was born in Louisiana, raised in Colorado, and am living in Oregon. I have just finished my first year of college at Southwestern Oregon Community College. Some of my hobbies include reading, playing video games, crafting, and enjoying the beach. If I had to describe myself, I would say that I am quiet, exploratory, and observant; my friends would say I am driven and understanding. Most importantly, I'm excited to be here! When I heard about this REU program, I was amazed that an opportunity like this exists, so I immediately applied; being a first-year student with absolutely no experience, I had no expectation that I would make it in. Now that I am here, I hope to learn how to design and conduct my own experiment while getting experience in the field of marine biology.
My mentor is Julie Schram and we have a variety of projects we want to complete. Our main experiment is testing the effects of ocean acidification on juvenile crabs' fatty acid composition. We further hope to use those crabs and test their responses to chemical stimuli. As a side project, we are testing isopods' visual preference for seaweed; we want to know if green isopods will choose to spend more time in green seaweed and likewise for brown isopods and brown seaweed. Working with Julie in the Galloway Lab has proven to be largely unstructured and a lot of fun. I was worried that this program was going to be extremely intense, but I am confident that I will be able to complete the program while enjoying it. I'm super excited to be able to hang out with the rest of the interns this summer; everyone is incredibly nice and interesting. This week we have been working on final construction in our crab lab. I have helped fix the leaks in the mixing tanks and painted the lab bench. Our ocean acidification/crab lab should be up and running next week, and I'm ready to throw some crabs in our tanks!
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About MeMy name is Natalie Thompson and I am from Colorado but live in Oregon. I'm interested in marine invertebrates and am always down for experiencing and learning new things. Archives
August 2018
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