Marine Science Field Site students: I have mentored three undergraduates at IMS helping who have headed their own horseshoe crab-centric projects. I give them weekly papers and lectures on: nursery ecology, landscape/seascape ecology, horseshoe crab biology and life history, movement ecology, tagging methodologies in marine science, as well as benthic and intertidal ecology. I also help them with scientific writing and presentation skills.
Sophia Palmieri
Movement ecology of juvenile horseshoe crabs across nursery-types
August 2022-May 2023
Sophia actually won first prize for her presentation of this work at UNC’s Annual Perkin-Elmer’s Symposium.
Noelle Keister
Effectiveness of different tagging methods on juvenile horseshoe crabs
August 2022-August 2023
Noelle presented her work at the annual UNC Perkin-Elmer’s Symposium as well and came back to work with me and the rest of the Fodrie lab as a summer technician.
Katrina Borgen
Differences in relative predation on juvenile horseshoe crabs in presence/absence of reefs
August 2023-Present
Katrina presented her work in front of all the faculty, graduate students, and undergraduate field site students at the Institute of Marine Sciences at the end of the fall 2023 semester. She is back at IMS summer 2024 to conduct more research for her Honors Thesis.
Independent Undergraduate Research Mentor: Currently, I am working with Cole Castillo, an undergrad at UNC, who received their own funding from the school to spend a summer with me at the coast helping out with landscape work. Using their GIS minor, we’re looking at characterizing terrestrial landscapes alongside my nursery sites.
Marine Science “expert” for Duke Schools: Last year, I spoke to some 8th graders at Duke Schools here in NC as a marine science expert. I answered their questions on marine habitats, animal adaptations, climate change in our oceans, and even on my graduate research. The students then worked on their own marine biology presentations to teach to their classmates.
Teaching Assistant at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill: I teach multiple lab sections and a weekly recitation period for intro to environmental sciences. The lab has a combination of laboratory and field experiments. Some of the topics include: water hydrology, species and genetics diversity, primary production, laws of thermodynamics, and population regulation. I have also stepped in to lecture on quantifying diversity and the importance of biodiversity for the professor.
Pre-Graduate Education Advisor with UNC-CH Career Services: While on main campus, I had weekly appointments available to current and recent graduates at UNC-CH to help students learn about graduate school, how to research programs, and how to prepare their applications. I started in January 2022 and continued until I moved to the coast full-time for research.