{"id":22539,"date":"2018-08-09T10:04:28","date_gmt":"2018-08-09T14:04:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/rinsfepscor-draft\/?p=22539"},"modified":"2018-08-09T10:11:03","modified_gmt":"2018-08-09T14:11:03","slug":"surf-students-working-beneath-the-waves","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/rinsfepscor\/2018\/08\/09\/surf-students-working-beneath-the-waves\/","title":{"rendered":"SURF students working beneath the waves"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Spencer\"<\/a>
Evelyn Spencer<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

NARRAGANSETT, R.I.\u2014When Christopher Jenkins<\/strong> first arrived at the University of Rhode Island\u2019s Bay Campus from Shoreview, Minnesota, his goal was to do more work with zoo-keeping. Then he discovered Narragansett Bay through scuba diving.<\/p>\n

\u201cI came here and didn\u2019t do anything involved with a zoo at all,\u201d laughs Jenkins, a marine biology major working with Dr. Colleen Mouw<\/strong> at URI\u2019s Graduate School of Oceanography. \u201cI\u2019ve wanted to get a good work ethic and well-rounded experience, as this is something I have never really done before.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fellow marine biology major Evelyn Spencer<\/strong> shares the same passion for Narragansett Bay, having worked with Dr. Christopher Lane<\/strong> over the past few years collecting data on Apicomplexans, a parasitic group that infect arthropods and other hosts in the bay.<\/p>\n

\u201cOn a typical day in the field, I dive and take three collections, then go back into the lab to extract DNA from collected samples,\u201d she explains. \u201cFingers crossed, we will get [PCR] bands and send it for genomic sequencing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jenkins is gathering information about \u2018absorption\u2019 properties of phytoplankton, or the amount of light they absorb. This data allows scientists, explains Jenkins, to identify the occurrence and abundance of specific species in the bay.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you have a sample of water, or anything, you have light going through it,\u201d he says. \u201cThe floor, for example, has a very high absorption value because you can\u2019t see through it. The idea is we want to look at a water sample and find the absorption patterns that correlate to specific species.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"C<\/a>
Christopher Jenkins<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Both SURF students journey between the shore and lab frequently throughout the work week, collecting water and sediment samples and then navigating lab equipment to gather meaningful data about the bay\u2019s various organisms.<\/p>\n

\u201cEarly on, I was doing a lot of coding on the computer, which was something completely new to me,\u201d notes Spencer. \u201cIt\u2019s like a whole other language. To stare at a huge dataset is scary, but learning what to do with it is so satisfying.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMeasuring samples is a pretty tedious process,\u201d adds Jenkins. \u201cIn the lab, I put water samples in acetone and then \u2018sonicate\u2019 them, or blast them with sound waves, which breaks open the cells so the phytoplanktons\u2019 chlorophyll pigments are exposed and we can read them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Like Spencer, Jenkins has been most challenged by the various equipment and computer programs he has to use in order to reliably extract data from the water samples he has collected.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a steep learning curve,\u201d the marine biology major says. \u201cWhen you are in the lab, you have to be able to make sure you are organized and know which step to take and when.\u201d<\/p>\n

Although Spencer, a junior, doesn\u2019t know what her next step will be after graduating, she wants to stick with similar research. Jenkins, who is looking to finish his degree a year early with a view towards graduate school, has more humble ambitions for the summer.<\/p>\n

\u201cI really like being able to say I can take a good sample and take care of a machine and not have it break on me,\u201d he says with a smile.<\/p>\n

Written by Shaun Kirby, RI C-AIM Communications & Outreach Coordinator<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When Christopher Jenkins<\/strong> first arrived at the University of Rhode Island\u2019s Bay Campus from Shoreview, Minnesota, his goal was to do more work with zoo-keeping. Then he discovered Narragansett Bay through scuba diving.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1994,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[15,21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-22539","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-front-page-slider-post","category-news"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/rinsfepscor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22539","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\/1994"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/rinsfepscor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22539"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/rinsfepscor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22539\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22554,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/rinsfepscor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22539\/revisions\/22554"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/rinsfepscor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22539"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/rinsfepscor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22539"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/rinsfepscor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22539"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}