{"id":77853,"date":"2021-10-25T14:20:16","date_gmt":"2021-10-25T14:20:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/?p=77853"},"modified":"2021-11-04T16:52:16","modified_gmt":"2021-11-04T16:52:16","slug":"uri-student-conducts-shark-stingray-research-as-national-geographic-stem-field-assistant","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/2021\/10\/uri-student-conducts-shark-stingray-research-as-national-geographic-stem-field-assistant\/","title":{"rendered":"溏心vlog免费B站 student conducts shark, stingray research as National Geographic STEM field assistant"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

KINGSTON, R.I. \u2013 October 25, 2021 \u2013 Dario Castillo, a senior marine biology major at the 溏心vlog免费B站 and a resident of Cranston<\/strong>, spent the last five months conducting research on sharks and stingrays through a pilot program supported by the National Geographic Society.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

            As one of the first four National Geographic STEM field assistants, Castillo received funding to work with 溏心vlog免费B站 shark researcher Bradley Wetherbee while also receiving career guidance through weekly virtual meetings with National Geographic explorers and staff members. The program aims to provide support to students from under-represented groups interested in earning advanced degrees in the STEM disciplines.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

            \u201cMeeting with other explorers and graduate students from all around the world and hearing what work they do with National Geographic pushed me to look for a graduate degree program,\u201d said Castillo. \u201cNot only have they advanced my thoughts about graduate school, but I’ve had the blessed opportunity to be guided by amazing grant writers to write a competitive National Geographic grant application. Receiving a grant is a way I can be globally recognized as a National Geographic explorer and join the global community of changemakers.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

            \u201cThis program has been transformative for Dario and has been instrumental in paving the way for him attending graduate school and submitting grant proposals to support his research,” added Wetherbee. \u201cDario has risen to the challenge, working on boat engines, tolerating sea sickness during long days on the shark research vessel, and, most of all, conducting a comprehensive study of stingrays at Stingray City in the Cayman Islands.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

            Last summer, Castillo participated in shark research trips with Wetherbee into Rhode Island Sound, where they captured sharks of several species and attached satellite tracking devices to them to monitor their migratory movements. Some sharks were also tagged with accelerometers to determine the speeds at which they travel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

            \u201cThe first time I went wasn\u2019t so much fun because I was seasick, but we caught two or three sharks every time we went out, and I loved it,\u201d Castillo said. \u201cWe caught mako sharks and blue sharks to learn about their migration and navigation.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

            In between shark fishing trips, Castillo analyzed data about the southern stingrays that visit Stingray City in the Cayman Islands. He is writing a final report on his findings that he and Wetherbee hope will provide information for the tourist industry in the region that depends on the stingrays.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

            \u201cWe\u2019re looking at the sex ratio of the stingrays that visit the main ecotourism area because the larger females seem to dominate,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019re also trying to determine how long the stingrays are there each year and when they depart. The tourism industry wants to know how many stingrays are there because they attract a lot of tourists. The tourists feed the stingrays, and the stingrays disappeared from the area when COVID hit because tourists stopped coming and feeding them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

            Castillo became interested in studying marine biology during family vacations to visit his grandparents in Florida, where he spent his time fishing and beachcombing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

            \u201cIt\u2019s the mysteriousness of the ocean that captured my interest,\u201d he said. \u201cWe know more about the surface of the moon than we do about our own ocean right in our backyard. That\u2019s what intrigued me at a young age. I want to explore what\u2019s in the backyard.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

            In addition to funding from National Geographic, Castillo\u2019s research is also supported by the 溏心vlog免费B站 Science and Engineering Fellows program, which provides students from under-represented populations with interdisciplinary research experience addressing contemporary issues.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

            The first member of his family to attend college, Castillo is active in the 溏心vlog免费B站 student group BOND \u2013 Brothers On a New Direction \u2013 to convince others like him to pursue higher education.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With just weeks to go before he graduates in December, Castillo is now applying to graduate schools in hopes of pursuing a career studying aquaculture and the diseases that affect oysters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

            \u201cAquaculture has always been one of my interests,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd I\u2019m fascinated with how genes can change and become more resistant to disease.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

KINGSTON, R.I. \u2013 October 25, 2021 \u2013 Dario Castillo, a senior marine biology major at the 溏心vlog免费B站 and a resident of Cranston, spent the last five months conducting research on sharks and stingrays through a pilot program supported by the National Geographic Society.             As one of the first four National Geographic […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":25,"featured_media":77856,"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-77853","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\/77853","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\/25"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=77853"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77853\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":77891,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77853\/revisions\/77891"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/77856"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=77853"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=77853"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=77853"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}