{"id":8155,"date":"2015-07-22T08:12:20","date_gmt":"2015-07-22T12:12:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/rinsfepscor\/?p=8155"},"modified":"2015-07-22T08:12:20","modified_gmt":"2015-07-22T12:12:20","slug":"surfs-up-rhode-island-undergrads-in-research-18","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/rinsfepscor\/2015\/07\/22\/surfs-up-rhode-island-undergrads-in-research-18\/","title":{"rendered":"SURF’s up 2015: Rhode Island undergrads in research"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Research fellow: <\/strong>Ryan Quinn
\nHometown: <\/strong>Coventry, RI
\nMajor: <\/strong>Biological Sciences
\nSchool: <\/strong>University of Rhode Island<\/a>
\nMentors: <\/strong>Serena Moseman-Valtierra & Rose Martin
\nProject: <\/strong>How does invasive species introduction affect carbon cycling in coastal marshes<\/p>\n

The summer before her last undergraduate semester in college, Ryan Quinn is researching how ribbed mussels influence the soil biogeochemistry \u2014 processes and reactions that govern the composition of the natural environment \u2014\u00a0and greenhouse gases in coastal marshes.<\/p>\n

Deftly explaining the filter-feeding capacity of mussels, the role of nitrogen, and carbon emission and uptake, Quinn hardly seems like the science hater she said she was in high school, when poor grades drove her disinterest.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wanted to be a nurse,\u201d she said, referring to her original undergraduate plan. \u201cI took a nursing chemistry class and it made me so excited that I switched to biology.\u201d<\/p>\n

Earlier in her undergraduate experience, Quinn received a Coastal Fellowship<\/a>, which piqued her interest in ecology. She earned a Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship<\/a> (SURF) with Rhode Island NSF EPSCoR<\/a>\u00a0last summer and again in 2015.<\/p>\n

This time around, Quinn is working in the lab of URI Assistant Professor Serena Moseman-Valtierra, Department of Biological Sciences, under the guidance of Ph.D. student and former EPSCoR graduate fellow Rose Martin.\u00a0Among her findings, Quinn said, mussels don\u2019t seem to be playing a big part in the greenhouse gas fluxes, although research does show that ribbed mussels grow larger when there is more nitrogen.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe mussels don\u2019t seem to be doing anything special with nitrogen,\u201d Quinn said. \u201cThe fluxes tend to trend more with the soil variables. We\u2019re seeing some trends, but we\u2019re not sure why.\u201d<\/p>\n

The questions point to the need for more research into what is taking place and why, she noted. Her poster presentation at the Friday, July 31, 8th<\/sup> Annual RI SURF Conference<\/a> will look at how ribbed mussels did not influence or drive greenhouse gas emission in mud flats.<\/p>\n

Although she is not new to research, Quinn said was gaining new lab and field techniques this summer along with continuing to reap\u00a0the benefits of being mentored.<\/p>\n

\u201cI really enjoyed being able to spend time, going through something that I aspire to do,\u201d said Quinn. \u201cI\u2019m realizing how much fun science can be.\u201d<\/p>\n

Quinn will graduate in December and intends to pursue graduate school, but still is\u00a0contemplating her direction: \u201cI really like the fields I\u2019ve been in, but I\u2019m also interested in toxicology and pathogens in ocean water.\u201d<\/p>\n

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

Research fellow: Ryan Quinn Hometown: Coventry, RI Major: Biological Sciences School: University of Rhode Island Mentors: Serena Moseman-Valtierra & Rose Martin Project: How does invasive species introduction affect carbon cycling in coastal marshes The summer before her last undergraduate semester in college, Ryan Quinn is researching how ribbed mussels influence the soil biogeochemistry \u2014 processes […]<\/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":[570,699,729,735,741,777],"class_list":["post-8155","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","category-surfsup","tag-rhode-island-nsf-epscor","tag-surfri2015","tag-undergraduate-education","tag-undergraduate-research","tag-university-of-rhode-island","tag-women-in-science"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/rinsfepscor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8155","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=8155"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/rinsfepscor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8155\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/rinsfepscor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8155"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/rinsfepscor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8155"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/rinsfepscor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8155"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}