![]() Rachel was quick to remind me that all experiences are valuable experiences, and that I was still gaining new skills I could use in graduate school or my career.Īs my undergraduate degree progressed, I continued supporting Rachel in her graduate research, spending some time during the summer processing krill samples by sorting, sexing, and drying them to crush them into pellets. After months of roadblocks, I eventually started feeling defeated and regretted applying for the program. There was evidence to potentially support my hypothesis, but I ended up encountering numerous data gaps in the region I was studying. Determined to incorporate krill into this research, I started looking through the literature trying to develop my hypothesis that HABs affected zooplankton in some way. Initially I found that there were no mentors within the program that studied krill, so I found myself becoming immersed in a new topic: harmful algal blooms (HABs). This two-year research program focuses on studying the Arctic using publicly available data, and with the support of my mentors, I applied and was accepted. ![]() Soon, another opportunity arose to apply for a brand-new program called ARC-Learn. Enjoying the point of view from the crow’s nest on the R/V Pacific Storm, but also very cold. We decided to go on the cruise anyway, and I was able to instead learn how to survey for marine mammals (it’s not as easy as it may seem, but still very fun!). I was initially brought on to learn how to use the echosounder to collect krill data but unfortunately, the device had technical difficulties and Rachel and I were no longer needed. While continuing to work with Rachel, I was given the opportunity to join the GEMM Lab’s Project HALO for a daylong cruise conducting a whale survey along the Newport Hydrographic Line. After I completed the URSA program, I remained a member of Kim’s zooplankton ecology lab. After learning all I could from the literature about krill and how important they were to the ocean, I knew that there was so much more to learn and that this was the topic I wanted to continue to pursue. ![]() As an undergraduate researcher in the URSA Engage program working with Kim and one of her graduate students, Rachel, I conducted a literature review on the ecosystem services provided by two species of krill off the coast of Oregon, including their value to baleen whales. I started looking through the Oregon State website and I eventually found an outdated flier from 2018 that advertised a lab that studied plankton in Antarctica, and that was when I first reached out to Dr. I knew that as part of my oceanography degree I would need to become involved in some form of research, but I had no idea where to start. I learned soon after I left that career and began my journey at OSU in 2020 that I wasn’t even remotely aware of the process. Back then, I was a customer service representative for a hazardous waste company, and I believed that going to university and participating in research was a straightforward experience. ![]() If you asked me five years ago where I’d thought I’d be today, the answer I would give would not reflect where I am now.
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