RI NSF EPSCoR undergrad research program develops talent and trains young scientists

The numbers alone are impressive: Since 2007, Rhode Island NSF EPSCoR has supported 252 Summer Undergraduate Research Fellows (SURFs) under the mentorship of 87 different faculty members at nine partner institutions.

But, the real story — and the impact — lies with the individual students who earn the fellowships through a competitive application process. For 10 weeks, they conduct science hands-on and full time, part of a large, ongoing research project and free from the responsibilities of the academic year.

The opportunity typically turns into a journey as much about the self as it is about the science.

“SURF gave me an experience like no other,” says Katie Jones, a Salve Regina University biology major. “These are skills that I wasn’t able to gain sitting in a classroom.”

Jones will graduate in the spring with a BS in biology, with a concentration in environmental science and a minor in chemistry. She plans to continue her studies in marine biology and ecosystem ecology at graduate school and then pursue a career in field-based research or environmental studies.

Jones worked with Salve Associate Professor Jameson Chace and David Borkman, a marine research associate at the University of Rhode Island Graduate School of Oceanography and adjunct professor at Salve, since her freshman year. Chace has been her class professor and advisor and Bork, her lab professor. They mentored her as a SURF student in 2014 and 2015.

Jones reels off a long list of skills and accomplishments she mastered, from near shore trapping of invertebrates and fish, determining age and sex of benthic and intertidal species, and presenting her research at the Annual RI SURF Conference.

Through the RI boating safety program, she earned her license to drive a 16-foot boat (and under) in the state of Rhode Island, has used two different types of hard and soft bottom rafts as well as a Whaler, and gone out in varied conditions — below 40 degrees, stormy and sunny.

“This might sound cliché, but I honestly don’t know where I would be without Dr. Chace and Dr. Borkman,” says Jones. “This experience with them has made me become a better scientist and more open thinker.”

Describing the value of their mentoring, Jones adds, “Dr. Chace will tell you what to do and stand back and let you figure out your own mistakes then guide you to the ‘right’ way. Dr. Borkman does the same and then goes a little further with telling a story of how he was in college and so forth.

“I can’t count how many times I’ve said to them, I don’t know what I want to do with my life and they’re like calm down, let’s do this step-by-step.”

Senior environmental science major Jennifer Kane echoes Jones on the many benefits she gained from her EPSCoR research experience with Chace and Borkman, first through the 2014 SURF program and then with the Track-2 NEWRnet watershed project during summer 2015.

Chace encouraged her to apply for both positions, she says: “Dr. Chace has been a great mentor to me since my freshman year. He sees what interests his students have and provides them with many opportunities to get involved and participate.”

During the 2014 SURF program, Kane learned boating skills as she hauled lobster traps along Newport Neck and how to handle crabs, lobster, eels, toadfish, silversides, scup, and flounder. She developed the ability to measure and determine the gender of the marine organisms and conducted shoreline and subtidal surveys to assess the different environments — all skills necessary to predict what the organisms would have to adapt to as sea levels rise.

Kane’s Track-2 watershed research experience included water quality testing, using state-of-the-art sensor equipment to gauge such readings as pH, temperature and dissolved oxygen. She sampled water for nitrates and phosphates, investigated invertebrate populations, and mapped land use.

Kane says her research with Chace and Borkman has figured prominently in her educational journey and helped guide her direction: “They both have a passion for what they do and for preserving the environment. They let you learn from experience, providing you with the tools and opportunities to do the work and then letting you take the ropes while providing encouragement and guidance throughout the research.”

Senior biology major Tim “Slater” Roosa, also a 2015 SURF student, says he found working with Chace and Borkman invaluable and reinforced his aspirations to pursue a career in environmental research. He, too, participated in the near shore surveys and learned the steps of carrying out a research project.

Of his mentors, Roosa says: “They have a contagious passion for their research.”

Story and photos by Amy Dunkle