College-backed Scholars Unveil Their Perspectives in 2023
In the summer of 2021, NOAA provided college-funded internship opportunities for undergraduate and graduate students interested in marine science and related fields. The internships offered hands-on research and exploration experiences, as well as opportunities to work on projects related to ocean exploration, marine conservation, fisheries science, and oceanographic data collection.
One such intern was John Michael Jerrild, a Marine Biology major from Mitchell College. Jerrild's internship was with the Milford Lab's GoPro aquaculture project, where he assisted with a field study to compare the relative condition of fish found in oyster farm areas to fish living on natural rock reefs. Jerrild's project involved measuring percent cover and species richness of the marine organisms.
Another intern, Taylor Coleman, was a Master's student at Duke University in the Environmental Management program, specifically in Coastal Environmental Management. Coleman's internship mentors were Genevieve Davis and Julianne Wilder from NOAA Fisheries Northeast Fisheries Science Center. Coleman's project aimed to identify the acoustic daily presence of endangered North Atlantic right whales using the Low-frequency Detection Classification System developed by Mark Baumgartner.
Caroline Fleming, a doctoral student at Boston University in the Biology and Urban Biogeoscience & Environmental Health program, worked on a project involving using menhaden and water quality data to develop abundance prediction models in R, a statistical computing and graphics software, in collaboration with the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management.
Samm Newton, a doctoral student in the History of Science, Medicine, and Technology at the University of Wisconsin, worked on content management of NOAA's Voices Oral History Archive. Newton found Voices to be an amazing resource for data on the lived experiences of those who work and live in coastal communities. Newton ensured that the more than 2,000 online records were complete and had useful descriptive information for researchers.
These students, along with three others from three states and four different colleges and universities, participated in the internship at the science center. Since 2006, NOAA has provided college-funded summer internship opportunities for undergraduate students.
NOAA also collaborates with other universities to offer internship opportunities. For example, Newton's internship was funded through a partnership with the University of Wisconsin. Students enrolled in partner colleges apply through their respective institutions.
In addition to the internships, NOAA offers various programmes aimed at college students interested in marine science and related fields. In 2022, NOAA Ocean Exploration engaged interns in missions aboard research vessels like NOAA Ship Okeanos Explorer working on deep-sea exploration projects.
Though precise projects for the 2021 summer session are not publicly detailed in the provided search results, NOAA's internships typically involve assisting with oceanographic surveys and data collection, supporting marine ecosystem monitoring and conservation studies, contributing to educational outreach and communication efforts on marine science, and participating in exploration or fisheries management activities.
If you seek specific information on the 2021 internship cohort, including funded opportunities and project details, NOAA’s Ocean Exploration website or the NOAA Office of Education archives would be appropriate direct sources. Unfortunately, the search results do not contain explicit 2021 internship details or project summaries.
Jerrild, for instance, was reviewing underwater video footage collected on an oyster farm in 2019 and taking photo stills of colonizing marine organisms. Despite the lack of detailed information, it is clear that these internships provide valuable experiences and opportunities for the next generation of marine scientists.
[1] NOAA Ocean Exploration (2022). Internship Opportunities. Retrieved from https://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/explorations/2201/internship_opportunities.html
- The online education platform, NOAA Ocean Exploration, offers internship opportunities for college students interested in environmental-science, aquaculture, and science, providing learning experiences in deep-sea exploration, marine conservation, oceanographic data collection, and ocean exploration projects.
- John Michael Jerrild, a marine biology major, utilized his education-and-self-development opportunity at NOAA to assist in a field study comparing the relative condition of fish in oyster farm areas with fish living on natural rock reefs, which involved learning about species richness and percent cover of marine organisms.
- Taylor Coleman, a master's student in Coastal Environmental Management, worked on a project to identify the acoustic daily presence of endangered North Atlantic right whales using scientific technologies, contributing to the preservation of endangered species and advancing the knowledge in marine biology and environmental-science.
