{"id":8069,"date":"2015-07-13T09:24:38","date_gmt":"2015-07-13T13:24:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/rinsfepscor\/?p=8069"},"modified":"2015-07-13T09:24:38","modified_gmt":"2015-07-13T13:24:38","slug":"surfs-up-rhode-island-undergrads-in-research-9","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/rinsfepscor\/2015\/07\/13\/surfs-up-rhode-island-undergrads-in-research-9\/","title":{"rendered":"SURF’s up 2015: Rhode Island undergrads in research"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"AlisonResearch fellow: <\/strong>Alison Fisher
\nHometown: <\/strong>Pinckney, MI
\nMajor: <\/strong>Biology; Writing and Rhetoric
\nSchool: <\/strong>University of Rhode Island<\/a>
\nFaculty mentor: <\/strong>Caroline Gottschalk Druschke
\nProject: <\/strong>Science communication outreach about coastal storm impacts in national parks<\/p>\n

For Alison Fisher, the Rhode Island NSF EPSCoR Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) program has worked exactly as intended.<\/p>\n

Set to graduate in May 2016, Fisher is spending her 10-week SURF experience in the SEAcomm lab<\/a> of SURF mentor Caroline Gottschalk Druschke, assistant professor, writing and rhetoric, helping develop National Park Service<\/a> (NPS) social media content and outreach materials.<\/p>\n

\u201cMostly, I\u2019ve learned that this is what I want to do for a living,\u201d said Fisher, who will earn a BS in biology and a BA in writing and rhetoric. \u201cScience communication is a growing field, and there are a lot of opportunities. I\u2019ve been trying to figure out what I want to do. It\u2019s nice to find my niche.\u201d<\/p>\n

The SURF program<\/a> offers Rhode Island undergraduates an opportunity for intensified summer research under the guidance of faculty mentors, providing deeper involvement in the science and advancing technical and cognitive skills. The experience has given Fisher the chance to delve into her area of interest and define a clearer picture of her career path.<\/p>\n

Some of her efforts have focused on writing briefs about the progress of Hurricane Sandy restoration projects at three national parks \u2014 Fire Island National Seashore, NY; Gateway National Recreation Area, NJ; and Assateague Island National Seashore, MD.\u00a0Once approved, the briefs (similar to earlier posts<\/a>\u00a0by other writers) will be posted on the NPS web page.The intention is to inform the public about the projects and how restoration funds have been spent.<\/p>\n

A class Fisher took last fall on writing for community service with Druschke led to the SURF communication project, with her biology major creating a natural fit. Fisher said she has found her science background especially helpful in conveying the impact of Sandy, considered the deadliest and most destructive hurricane of the 2012 season, and explaining the monitoring and mapping of salt marsh areas.<\/p>\n

Fisher also served as an intern last spring with the Metcalf Institute for Marine & Environmental Reporting<\/a>, which is part of the URI Office of Marine Programs<\/a> and is based at the URI Graduate School of Oceanography<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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

Research fellow: Alison Fisher Hometown: Pinckney, MI Major: Biology; Writing and Rhetoric School: University of Rhode Island Faculty mentor: Caroline Gottschalk Druschke Project: Science communication outreach about coastal storm impacts in national parks For Alison Fisher, the Rhode Island NSF EPSCoR Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) program has worked exactly as intended. Set to graduate […]<\/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":[621,699,729,735,741],"class_list":["post-8069","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","category-surfsup","tag-science-communication","tag-surfri2015","tag-undergraduate-education","tag-undergraduate-research","tag-university-of-rhode-island"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/rinsfepscor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8069","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=8069"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/rinsfepscor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8069\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/rinsfepscor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8069"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/rinsfepscor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8069"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/rinsfepscor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8069"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}