{"id":8117,"date":"2015-07-20T09:29:08","date_gmt":"2015-07-20T13:29:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/rinsfepscor\/?p=8117"},"modified":"2015-07-20T09:29:08","modified_gmt":"2015-07-20T13:29:08","slug":"surfs-up-rhode-island-undergrads-in-research-15","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/rinsfepscor\/2015\/07\/20\/surfs-up-rhode-island-undergrads-in-research-15\/","title":{"rendered":"SURF’s up 2015: Rhode Island undergrads in research"},"content":{"rendered":"

“I think that the best part about this program is how it opens your eyes to what research is really like. It is one thing to work in a lab after classes for a few hours, but something completely different to spend your whole day there and to have your research as your main focus.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"Jillian<\/strong>
\nResearch fellow: <\/strong>Jillian O’Melia
\nHometown: <\/strong>Bourne, MA
\nMajors: <\/strong>Biology and Health Policy Management
\nSchool:<\/strong> Providence College<\/a>
\nMentors: <\/strong>Jack Costello (PC) & Sean Colin (RWU<\/a>)
\nProject:<\/strong> Population growth of the ctneophore Mnemiopsis leidyi<\/em> in relation to temperature and prey availability.<\/p>\n

Jillian O\u2019Melia grew up visiting Woods Hole, first the science aquarium<\/a> as a toddler, with her mother, and then as a high school student on Marine Biological Laboratory<\/a> field trips.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery since I was little, I wanted to work here at some point and the SURF program has given me that opportunity,\u201d said O\u2019Melia, a rising junior, who was raised in the next town over. \u201cI love being a part of the community that I previously just admired on my occasional visits.\u201d<\/p>\n

As a Summer Undergraduate Research Fellow<\/a> with Rhode Island NSF EPSCoR<\/a>, O\u2019Melia wrapped up\u00a0her research on insects that she began in the spring semester, analyzing different insects to see what each of their wings did as they turned during flight. Upon completion, she transitioned to jellyfish, specifically Sarsia<\/em>, determining velocity by calculating the volume of the jellyfish at different points during its contraction.<\/p>\n

Conducting the research at Woods Hole through the SURF progam has been an amazing experience, O\u2019Melia said, exposing her to new research taking place at other institutions throughout the Ocean State. She\u00a0is working under the guidance of\u00a0PC Professor Jack Costello, marine biology, and Roger Williams University Associate Professor Sean Colin, environmental science.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think that the best part about this program is how it opens your eyes to what research is really like,\u201d O\u2019Melia said. \u201cIt is one thing to work in a lab after classes for a few hours, but something completely different to spend your whole day there and to have your research as your main focus.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor anybody considering a career in any area of science, being able to receive this opportunity is incredibly valuable and should be embraced.\u201d<\/p>\n

O’Melia will be among the estimated\u00a0130 undergraduates presenting their summer research findings at the 8th Annual RI SURF Conference<\/a>, held at University of Rhode Island<\/a>, on Friday, July 31, 2015. She\u00a0plans to graduate in May 2017 and head onto school in the health profession field.<\/p>\n

Story by Amy Dunkle | Photo by Emma Lederer<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“I think that the best part about this program is how it opens your eyes to what research is really like. It is one thing to work in a lab after classes for a few hours, but something completely different to spend your whole day there and to have your research as your main focus.” […]<\/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":[21,51,1],"tags":[540,582,699,729,735,777],"class_list":["post-8117","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","category-surfsup","category-uncategorized","tag-providence-college","tag-ri-nsf-epscor","tag-surfri2015","tag-undergraduate-education","tag-undergraduate-research","tag-women-in-science"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/rinsfepscor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8117","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=8117"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/rinsfepscor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8117\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/rinsfepscor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8117"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/rinsfepscor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8117"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/rinsfepscor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8117"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}