By Anna Mayor, College of Arts and Sciences
For USF College of Arts and Sciences undergraduates Coen E. E. McGarrah, Bradley Boyadjiev and Anna Soltys, receiving the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration鈥檚 (NOAA) prestigious Ernest F. Hollings Undergraduate Scholarship meant putting classroom learning into practice.
Coen E.E. McGarrah is majoring in both marine biology and English with a concentration in creative writing and hopes to pursue a career in estuarine ecology with a specialization in invertebrates. (Photo courtesy of Coen E.E. McGarrah)
McGarrah鈥檚 sediment samples set for overnight drying. (Photo courtesy of Coen E.E. McGarrah)
The program provided the undergraduates with a paid internship at a NOAA facility this summer to work on research and policy projects alongside NOAA scientists and professionals.
McGarrah, majoring in both marine biology and English with a concentration in creative writing, spent their internship at the Grand Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve (NERR) on the Gulf Coast of Mississippi.
There, McGarrah surveyed the distribution of southern oyster drill snails, investigating their sediment preferences and designing and implementing field studies and controlled experiments.
鈥淭he oyster drills were more present in high-salinity regions and appeared to prefer sites adjacent to oyster reefs,鈥� McGarrah explained. 鈥淭his was my first chance at extensive field work and taught me how others in the field do their work.鈥�
Soltoys, a marine biology student, echoed the same sentiment.
She interned in Bodega Bay, Calif., studying the health of sea urchins to gain better insight into kelp restoration.
鈥淚 gained a lot of hands-on experience working in the field via collection and drone flights. It was cool to gain real world experience of what data collection is like and how to go with the flow when things go wrong,鈥� Soltys explained. 鈥淚 also got to learn how to use the programming language R to do all my data analysis, which was a skill I was lacking prior to this internship.鈥濃��
Marine biology undergraduate student Anna Soltys studying the health of sea urchins in Bodega Bay, California as part of the NOAA Holling Scholar program. (Photo courtesy of Anna Soltys)
Soltys collected sea urchin alongside commercial divers and the Sonoma State University dive team from the subtidal zone at the restoration sites. (Photo courtesy of Anna Soltys)
Learn more about majors in the Department of Integrative Biology and the .