2007 NSF's Research Experiences for Undergraduates at CMOP INTERNSHIP PROGRAM

THE PROGRAM
The 2007 National Science Foundation's Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) at CMOP program ran 10 weeks, from June 11 through August 17. Daily work in the lab and with mentors was supplemented by a Writing Seminar, participation in two research cruises, a Brown Bag Seminar Series, cohort activities, and weekly presentations of interns’ research and findings.

THE INTERNS AND THEIR WORK
Four interns were selected to participate in the program this year. Below are links to their final presentations, mentors, and advisors.

Nick Hagerty, Brown University, "Incorporating Scientific Judgment into Workflows at an Ocean Observatory"
Frontline Mentor: Bill Howe
Senior Advisors: David Maier, Antonio Baptista

Pete Kahn, Willamette University, "18S rRNA Clone Library of Phytoplankton in the Columbia River and its Coastal Margin"
Frontline Mentor: Lydie Herfort
Senior Advisor: Peter Zuber

Kira Kranzler, The Evergreen State College, "Microbial Manganese Oxidizers and Reducers in the Columbia River"
Frontline Mentor: Suzanna Brauer
Senior Advisor: Brad Tebo

Solomon Reisberg, Reed College, "Physical Study of Estuarine Turbidity Maxima in Columbia River Estuary using Models"
Frontline Mentor: Joseph Zhang
Senior Advisor: Antonio Baptista

WRITING SEMINAR
Sandra Oster, a discourse linguist with a specialty in scientific and technical writing, offered four seminars to REU interns on how to write scientific and technical grant proposals and research papers. These seminars were designed to give the interns an understanding of the kinds of documents that researchers in science and technology are expected to write and the style of English used in them. Interns wrote a 2-page grant proposal on their summer research project and passages of a research paper that gives results from their summer projects.

RESEARCH CRUISES
The interns participated in two research cruises aboard the M/V Forerunner, in the Columbia River in Astoria, Oregon.

June 14The cruise of June 14, 2007 went very well. The main goal was to find and sample water in the Estuary Turbidity Maximum (ETM). Despite some unexpected last-minute changes to the cruise plans, nearly everything went according to expectations. The REU interns got firsthand experience in fieldwork and a better picture of how our work fits into the larger world.

July 17The goals of the July 17 cruise were to refine and test the protocol for chasing the ETM and salinity intrusion and to collect more samples for REU student research projects.

BROWN BAG SEMINAR SERIES
Each Friday at noon, interns participated in a Brown Bag Seminar, allowing them to explore a variety of topics related to the life of a scientist.

Margo Haygood: A Woman in Science: Two Decades of Perspective

Paul Tratnyek: From the Environment to the Laboratory and Back: A Career Path to Environmental Chemistry

Fred Prahl: A Cliffnote History of a Professor of Chemical Oceanography

Francis Chang: Exploring virtual worlds in Second Life

Presentations of summer research work by Environmental and Biomolecular Systems Interns Sophia Cai, Ann-Chee Cheng and Taryn Pestalozzi

Byron Crump: Chasing the ETM: How do you find it?

Priti Mody: Intern Focus Group

David Martin: Science and Research Careers Outside of Academia

COHORT ACTIVITIES
A number of group meals were a part of the internship program, as was a trip to OMSI’s BodyWorlds.