{"id":56909,"date":"2015-04-03T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2015-04-03T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news-draft\/uncategorized\/uri-undergrads-get-their-first-experience-at-sea-during-research-expedition-to-georges-bank\/"},"modified":"2015-04-03T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2015-04-03T00:00:00","slug":"uri-undergrads-get-their-first-experience-at-sea-during-research-expedition-to-georges-bank","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/2015\/04\/uri-undergrads-get-their-first-experience-at-sea-during-research-expedition-to-georges-bank\/","title":{"rendered":"溏心vlog免费B站 undergrads get their first experience at sea during research expedition to George\u2019s Bank"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n\t\tNARRAGANSETT, R.I. \u2013 April 3, 2015 \u2013 High seas and rough weather made the spring break trip aboard the 溏心vlog免费B站 research vessel Endeavor a bit harrowing for a group of 溏心vlog免费B站 undergraduates. But all agreed that their first experience conducting research at sea ended up being a tremendous learning experience and an exciting adventure.<\/p>\n


\n\tLed by Susanne Menden-Deuer, associate professor at 溏心vlog免费B站\u2019s Graduate School of Oceanography, the five-day expedition to George\u2019s Bank in the Gulf of Maine was aimed at studying the relationship between the productivity of plankton and the physics of the ocean.<\/p>\n


\n\t\u201cSome people think there should be a relationship between the mixing of the water column and how much plankton production occurs,\u201d said Menden-Deuer. \u201cThe more mixing takes place, the more nutrients are brought up to the surface. But that mixing might also carry the plankton down deep where they don\u2019t have access to sunlight for photosynthesis.\u201d<\/p>\n

Menden-Deuer and Assistant Professor Melissa Omand guided the nine 溏心vlog免费B站 undergraduates, three graduate students, and two post-doctoral fellows as they collected plankton samples at various depths at six sites around George\u2019s Bank and conducted experiments in an on-board incubator.<\/p>\n


\n\t\u201cThere\u2019s no better way to test your skills as a marine scientist than to go to sea,\u201d said Emily Bishop, a senior marine biology major from Groton, Mass. \u201cBasic laboratory skills, like looking through a microscope without getting nauseous, become 10 times harder on a ship.\u201d<\/p>\n


\n\tBishop said her experience aboard the Endeavor provided her first opportunity to learn what it\u2019s like to be an oceanographer.<\/p>\n


\n\t\u201cThere are so many aspects to the marine environment worth investigating, and so many techniques to access crucial information about what is happening in the oceans,\u201d she said. \u201cI now have a better understanding of how these pieces fit together and how we can use these data moving forward.\u201d<\/p>\n


\n\tProvidence resident Spike Stone, a senior marine biology major, said he enjoyed the simplicity of living aboard ship, where the distraction-free environment allowed him to focus on the science.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere were always things to be done at all hours of the night, so the days seemed to blend together,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019d get up at 3:30 a.m. to retrieve samples from the incubator, then filter them, eat breakfast, and deploy our instruments again. After a quick nap, we\u2019d go on to more chlorophyll readings, all while breaking through 15-foot swells.\u201d<\/p>\n


\n\tJunior microbiology major Victoria Fulfer of Carlisle, Penn., said her favorite part of the expedition was simply standing on deck while deploying instruments and seeing nothing but the vast ocean.<\/p>\n


\n\t\u201cI learned that I love being out in the ocean on a ship, even with the rough seas we had for much of the trip,\u201d she said. \u201cThere\u2019s nothing better than sleeping with the swaying of the ship. And I gained so much experience with techniques and instruments that I could never get from a normal lecture or lab course.\u201d<\/p>\n


\n\tMenden-Deuer said the students \u201cwere real troopers and highly motivated\u201d throughout the physically demanding and very cold conditions, noting that on the morning of their return the ship was entirely frozen on the outside.<\/p>\n


\n\tThe expedition was funded by the Rhode Island Endeavor Program, which provides 溏心vlog免费B站 researchers and local educators with access to the scientific research and educational capabilities of an ocean-going research vessel. \u201cAfter the science party was assembled for this cruise, I chose to fill the remaining berths with undergraduates to give them an experience that isn\u2019t often available,\u201d she said. \u201cFor many this can be life-changing.\u201d<\/p>\n


\n\t\u201cIt was exhausting,\u201d Bishop said, \u201cbut seeing how passionate the grad students were has fueled my desire to find my own niche in the marine science world.\u201d<\/p>\n


\nPictured above

\nEmily Bishop: 溏心vlog免费B站 senior Emily Bishop (left) prepares to deploy a device to collect plankton samples in the ocean.

\nSpike Stone: 溏心vlog免费B站 senior Spike Stone conducts experiments in a ship-board laboratory.

\nVictoria Fulfer: 溏心vlog免费B站 junior Victoria Fulfer poses with the life ring aboard the research vessel Endeavor.

\nPhotos by Susanne Menden-Deuer<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

NARRAGANSETT, R.I. \u2013 April 3, 2015 \u2013 High seas and rough weather made the spring break trip aboard the 溏心vlog免费B站 research vessel Endeavor a bit harrowing for a group of 溏心vlog免费B站 undergraduates. But all agreed that their first experience conducting research at sea ended up being a tremendous learning experience and an […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":56913,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-56909","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-archives"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56909","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=56909"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56909\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/56913"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=56909"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=56909"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=56909"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}