Mentor(s) and lab:  Dr. Stace Beaulieu 

Institution/Department:  Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Biology Department 

Research Interests:  Data science, ocean biogeochemistry, autonomous underwater vehicles, Northeast U.S. Shelf Long-Term Ecological Research (NES-LTER), Ocean Observatories Initiative (OOI)

Potential 2023 project(s): We seek a student to join our multi-institution NES-LTER team to explore what we can learn from data collected by mobile assets including autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) deployed at the OOI Coastal Pioneer NES Array. We will co-develop a data science project to explore patterns in ocean biogeochemistry important for understanding the productivity of the Northeast U.S. Shelf ecosystem. This will be an opportunity to enhance coding skills.

 

Mentors and Lab: Dr. Andrew Gillis

Department: Marine Biological Laboratory, Bay Paul Center for Comparative Molecular Biology and Evolution

Research Interests: Development, growth and repair of the skeleton and sensory nervous system of cartilaginous fishes (sharks, skates and rays). 

Potential 2023 Projects:

1. Development, growth and repair of cartilage: In mammals, cartilage is mainly an embryonic tissue, forming a model of the future bony skeleton. Cartilage persists permanently in relatively few places within the adult mammalian skeleton (e.g. in the joints, as articular cartilage), and has a very poor capacity for repair following injury. Sharks and skates, on the other hand, possess a skeleton that is composed entirely of cartilage, and that remains cartilaginous throughout life. We recently found that skates have the capacity to grow new cartilage throughout adulthood, and to spontaneously repair cartilage injury. Ongoing research in the lab aims to discover the cellular and molecular basis of adult cartilage growth and repair in the skate.
2. Neuroendocrine cell type diversity: Neuroendocrine cells are a diffuse class of cells that release hormonal signals in response to environmental stress, and thus play a pivotal role at the interface of an organism’s physiology and behavior. Vertebrates animals possess ~40 different neuroendocrine cell types that are dispersed across several organ systems, and in humans, many of these neuroendocrine cell types may give rise to aggressive cancers. We are taking a comparative approach to resolve the embryonic tissue origin of and molecular signature of neuroendocrine cell types in a range of vertebrate and invertebrate model systems. This will allow us to reconstruct whether/how neuroendocrine cell type diversification relates to major transitions in animal evolution, and may also generate new biomarkers of neuroendocrine cancers in humans.

Projects in both of these areas will involve training in a range of widely applicable laboratory skills, including dissection and histology, gene expression analysis by mRNA in situ hybridization and immunofluorescence, microscopy, molecular biology and embryology.

 

Mentor(s) and lab:  Jesús Pineda

Institution/Department:  Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Benthic Ecology and Nearshore Oceanography Lab

Potential 2023 project(s): Research in the Benthic Ecology and Nearshore Oceanography lab addresses the factors that determine the distribution and abundance of bottom dwelling organisms. We conduct our research in temperate and tropical environments, and our research interests include investigating the consequences of environmental heterogeneity, particularly hydrodynamic phenomena, on larval behavior, larval transport, larval dispersal, settlement, recruitment, and population dynamics. Our lab is also interested in using fundamental knowledge to address societally relevant problems such as the processes most relevant to biofouling in aquaculture.

This summer, students in the lab will have the opportunity to research fundamental questions in larval behavior and ocean ecology and relate their findings and understanding to problems faced by oyster farms in New England. Depending on the student's interests, specific research questions may focus on topics such as latitudinal differences in larval settlement and biofouling, native versus invasive barnacles as biofoulers, and the relationships between biofouling intensity and local environmental conditions. Depending on the question, the student may participate in weekly and monthly visits to field sites, and analysis of metadata, including survey data of oyster farmers in New England. 

 

Mentor(s) and lab:  Loretta Roberson

Institution/Department:  Marine Biological Laboratory

Research Interests:  Coral and seaweed physiology and biology, impacts of climate change

Potential 2023 project(s): A list of potential projects students could work on include the impact of contaminants like microplastics or oxybenzone on coral behavior and growth; the use of seaweed extracts or antioxidants to improve coral growth and repair; real-time imaging of calcification in corals; and co-cultivation of seaweeds and shellfish to mitigate ocean acidification and enhance growth rates.

 

Mentor(s) and lab:  Dr. Heather Goldstone

Institution/Department:  Woodwell Climate Research Center Communications Team

Research Interests:  Science communication, data visualization, storytelling, multimedia design

Potential 2023 project(s): The Woodwell Communications team is offering a Multimedia Climate Science Communication Intensive project. The student will work collaboratively with multiple members of Woodwell’s Communications Team to convey research findings and climate science through multimedia storytelling. They will create a series of photo essays or multimedia-heavy stories using new and archival content, and create multimedia materials to promote those stories via social media, email, and web. Mediums of focus can be shaped by the student’s interest; there are opportunities in mapmaking and StoryMaps, infographic/graphic design, video editing and production, photo stories, and social media content generation.

 

Mentors and Lab: Dr. David McElroy, Giovanni Gianesin, and Lindsey Nelson

Institution: NOAA Northeast Fisheries Science Center, Cooperative Research Branch

Research Interests: Fisheries biology, marine ecology, habitat ecology

Potential 2023 Project(s): The NEFSC Bottom Longline Survey conducts a biannual industry-based survey that is designed to collect increased data in structured habitats in the Gulf of Maine. These complex structured habitats can be challenging to sample with mobile fishing gears. At each randomly selected fishing location, a short video of the bottom habitat is collected to help verify the substrate and the presence of important benthic macrofauna. These data can then be paired with the other data at each station to improve our understanding of habitat and fish abundance. This work supports the NEFSC’s mission to manage and understand the fishery resources and habitat in the Gulf of Maine. The student will help in the annotation of these videos and conduct some preliminary analyses. An interest in fisheries biology or marine ecology is recommended but not required.

 

Mentors and Lab: Dr. Adam Subhas

Institution/Department: Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Marine Chemistry and Geochemistry

Research Interests: The Subhas Lab is generally interested in organisms that grow calcium carbonate shells in the ocean, and their role in the global carbon cycle.  We are interested in this cycle because it controls how much carbon the ocean can take up and sequester away from the atmosphere.  We may be able to use this cycle to store anthropogenic carbon dioxide, helping to solve global warming and ocean acidification. This process is known as ocean alkalinity enhancement. There are many practical challenges and unknowns on the topic of ocean alkalinity enhancement, both from the engineering side and from the ocean impacts side. Some of the lab’s work can be viewed here http://www.adamsubhas.com

Potential 2023 Project(s): There are several summer projects available in the lab involving ocean alkalinity enhancement in the Subhas Lab. The first is a set of experiments to measure calcification rates in seawater using a carbon isotope spike – this would be really useful to understand how fast organisms grow their shells in the first place – and further more it will help measure the impacts of ocean acidification – and alkalinization -- on these organisms. I also have a project looking at how fast some different types of silicate rocks (like serpentine) dissolve in seawater and produce alkalinity.  These reaction rates are crucial to understanding how fast these rocks can neutralize carbon dioxide, and will help us understand if we can use these rocks to sequester anthropogenic carbon dioxide in the ocean.