{"id":12240,"date":"2016-07-20T15:03:42","date_gmt":"2016-07-20T19:03:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/rinsfepscor\/?p=12240"},"modified":"2016-07-20T15:03:42","modified_gmt":"2016-07-20T19:03:42","slug":"surfs-up-2016-rhode-island-undergrads-in-research-12","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/rinsfepscor\/2016\/07\/20\/surfs-up-2016-rhode-island-undergrads-in-research-12\/","title":{"rendered":"SURF’s up 2016: Rhode Island undergrads in research"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cI wouldn\u2019t be speaking at a conference without this experience. I wouldn\u2019t be able to draft my senior thesis. I\u2019m not only getting the results, but I\u2019m also able to communicate those results. So many students don\u2019t get these kinds of opportunities.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"Fehon_Molly\"<\/a>Research fellow:<\/strong> Molly Fehon
\nHometown:<\/strong> Durham, CT
\nSchool:<\/strong> Roger Williams University<\/a>
\nMajor:<\/strong> Marine Biology
\nMentor:<\/strong> David Taylor
\nProject:<\/strong> Foraging ecology of blue crabs (Callinectes sapidus<\/em>) and their potential impact on Rhode Island benthic communities<\/p>\n

RWU senior Molly Fehon, a two-time Summer Undergraduate Research Fellow<\/a> (SURF), knows her way around the blue crab stomach \u2014 she\u2019s been studying what the species eats, where and when, in the upper reaches of Narragansett Bay since her freshman year.<\/p>\n

Regularly working out in the field with Associate Professor David Taylor, Fehon collects samples of blue crabs and then, using a microscope back in the lab, conducts visual analysis of stomach contents. She also carries out tests on the crabs\u2019 muscle tissue to develop a detailed snapshot of their eating habits.<\/p>\n

The point, Fehon explains, is to gain a better understanding of the species impact on the Bay\u2019s ecosystem as climate change brings warmer water temperatures and an increasing abundance of the more southerly species expanding its northern range. The shift begs such questions as, will the winter flounder, typical crab prey, suffer the effects and in what habitats and seasons are the blue crabs foraging for food?<\/p>\n

In addition to building her data set and gaining experience, Fehon\u2019s efforts gave her the chance to present her research at the 2016\u00a0Southern New England Chapter of the American Fisheries Society<\/a> (SNEC AFS) summer meeting. The opportunity \u2014\u00a0her first lecture style presentation \u2014\u00a0marked one of the highlights of her work to date, she says:<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople were really interested. A couple people were thinking about doing stomach content analysis and I was able to sit down and talk with them about my methods.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fehon also plans to pull together the work from her undergraduate experience and write it up for a senior thesis. Although she hasn\u2019t arrived at any final conclusions, she says tying all of the data together is rewarding. And, she adds, it wouldn\u2019t be possible without the Rhode Island NSF EPSCoR SURF program.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wouldn\u2019t be speaking at a conference without this experience,\u201d says Fehon. \u201cI wouldn\u2019t be able to draft my senior thesis. I\u2019m not only getting the results, but I\u2019m also able to communicate those results. So many students don\u2019t get these kinds of opportunities.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fehon says her post graduation plans involve going to graduate school: \u201cI\u2019ve been thinking, ideally, I want to be a college professor. I want to teach and be able to do research \u2014 that would be the perfect balance.\u201d<\/p>\n

Story and photo by Amy Dunkle<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cI wouldn\u2019t be speaking at a conference without this experience. I wouldn\u2019t be able to draft my senior thesis. I\u2019m not only getting the results, but I\u2019m also able to communicate those results. So many students don\u2019t get these kinds of opportunities.\u201d Research fellow: Molly Fehon Hometown: Durham, CT School: Roger Williams University Major: Marine […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[21,51],"tags":[123,423,570,597],"class_list":["post-12240","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","category-surfsup","tag-blue-crabs","tag-narragansett-bay","tag-rhode-island-nsf-epscor","tag-roger-williams-university"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/rinsfepscor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12240","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/rinsfepscor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/rinsfepscor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/rinsfepscor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/rinsfepscor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12240"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/rinsfepscor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12240\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/rinsfepscor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12240"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/rinsfepscor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12240"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/rinsfepscor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12240"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}