Mentor(s)

Coleen Suckling, Fisheries, Animal and Veterinary Sciences, University of Rhode Island

Project Location

University of Rhode Island – Kingston

Project Description

This fellowship will work towards understanding how commercially and ecologically important marine species respond to near future climate change and help identify tools that could be used towards making seafood resilient. In this project the Fellow will assist with running research aquaria assessing how we can increase seafood resilience. This will include essential maintenance work such as monitoring animal health and survival, husbandry care, monitoring food intake and assisting in physiology assessments. The Fellow will also monitor and record seawater parameters, and along with other experimental data, will add this routinely to a shared database, thus building on data sharing and storage skills.

The fellow will also gain experience in experimental design and set up as well as assisting in running pilot trials to help prepare for experimental work – all are essential skills for those considering a future with some aspect of research and/or aquaculture industrial technology development. In addition there will likely be opportunities to assist with sea urchin field and/or sample processing in the lab as part of a large project assessing how climate change is influencing sea urchin reproduction and how sea urchins could be used to help alleviate aquaculture biofouling issues. This project presents an excellent opportunity for students to work towards understanding how we can work towards building resilience in ecosystems and food production in Narragansett Bay and New England.

Occasional weekend may be required to conduct quick basic routine checks on the animals and seawater systems, and this will be scheduled in agreement with the research team across the project time. The fellow would also be expected to assist as needed on other projects such microplastics aquarium and/or field sampling.

This is an exciting opportunity to gain hands on experience on topics important to EPSCOR, using their facilities, to become familiarized with complex research issues and research tools. The student will work within the EPSCOR’s project community and their active projects which fall into several of their foci which include: i) Assessing biological and ecosystem impacts; ii) predicting ecosystem response through integration, and iii) visualization and imaging.

This project involves field and lab work

Required/Preferred skills

Reliable, enthusiastic, driven, problem solving students are strongly encouraged to apply with time management skills. Depending on the student interests and the project needs, students will need to be flexible and adaptable to whichever priorities need to be met (e.g. aquarium work or laboratory tasks).

Any skills of microscope photography, image processing/analysis, aquarium and/or husbandry skills would be highly beneficial. Training will be provided where required to expand and exercise skill sets.

Will the project require transportation to field sites? Yes, must have own motorized vehicle to access the aquarium at URI Bay Campus and potentially field sites for sampling

Is this project open to Surf Flex? Yes

In which core facilities might student conduct research? Marine Science Research Facility @ URI-GSO

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