Last summer, Danielle Jordan was manning the tanks at the URI Graduate School of Oceanography’s Blount Aquaculture Lab, examining how farm-grown oysters developed defenses to disease.

Now, the former SURF (Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship) student is continuing her work as a research assistant at the Marine Biological Lab (MBL) in Woods Hole, Massachusetts.

Like the hundreds of SURF students before her, Jordan benefited from a hands-on research experience where she could apply the theories and data she picked up in class. Erin Frates, a 2018 SURF participant and incoming junior at URI, is ready for the same training with mentor and RI C-AIM researcher Dr. Roxanne Beinart.

“This past year was really when I started my major classes,” explains Frates, who hails from Acushnet, Mass. “I learned a lot about the theories, but the SURF program allows me to expand on those a lot more than in the academic labs.”

Frates and Beinart will be collecting microbe samples from coastal areas along Narragansett Bay, examining them in the lab for identification purposes. The work will get Frates familiarized with lab procedures and molecular analysis techniques like PCR (Polymerase Chain Reaction) testing.

“My lab is new, so I am excited to get it up and running and have someone working in it,” notes Beinart. “We are actually going to explore the microbiology of Narragansett Bay, using a lot of the same techniques you would for the deep sea. Even with the microbiology in our backyard, you can see some organisms you think are extreme but are out there in the bay.”

Beinart was hired this past September as an assistant professor at URI GSO this past September, specializing in deep-sea microbiology. Arriving from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, she is also experiencing the SURF program as a mentor for the first time.

“To me, what seems unique about the SURF program is it brings in local students,” she says. “That allows Erin and me to have a platform for future research together as she should be able to continue at my lab because she’s staying at URI. That sets you up for a more long-term relationship on a research project.”

For many former SURF students, the training with which Frates is engaging now gives more clarity about their career goals. It did for 2017 participant Samuel Costa, who now wants to pursue a PhD in the field of natural products research.

“SURF gave me some valuable perspective in planning my career,” explains the Coventry, RI native. “I intend to go to graduate school in the next few years, though I may spend a year or two in research assistant positions to gain the money and experience I need.”

At an orientation session earlier this month, coordinator and RI C-AIM researcher Jim Lemire said that this year’s applicant pool was the most competitive he has experienced. He stressed to the 2018 SURF class, however, that learning about their own career desires is just as important as the training in scientific inquiry.

“Everyone has their own story,” he says. “I have a colleague who dropped out of college and lived in his car before finding out that science was for him. It is good for students to see there is no one clear path to take.”

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The SURF program is jointly organized by Rhode Island NSF EPSCoR and RI INBRE. For more information, visit https://web.uri.edu/rinsfepscor/2018/01/20/2018-surf-student-info/.

Be sure to learn up close about the 2018 SURF classes experiences by following the RI NSF EPSCoR/RI C-AIM Twitter (@riepscor) and Facebook (@RhodeIsland EPSCoR) pages!

Written by Shaun Kirby, RI C-AIM Communications & Outreach Coordinator