In June of 2011, I decided that I didn't want to surf away my summer, but instead needed to stimulate my mind and supplement my knowledge with an internship in the field of Marine Biology.
Marine Science was the obvious conclusion to my two main passions: the ocean and biology. In addition, I wanted to learn--not only learn, but be immersed in knowledge, flooded with information, and in a way that would challenge and edify my mindset and abilities. Biological research science was the answer to that desire, since it requires an understanding of previously discovered knowledge and a motivation to continue discovering the how and why of everything in the natural world. It is detective work that sometimes calls upon the more daring side of your intellect to think outside the boxes our brains have grown up in and move beyond what we currently know and understand into the realm of infinite possibilities and indefinite answers. Consequently, research necessitates the acknowledgement that we don't know all the answers and never will; for it is at the point we admit that that we can accept failure, think creatively, and be even more motivated to add to that fraction of collective knowledge that humanity possesses in the search for just a few of the answers that are much more intricate and complex than we can even conceive.
With this in mind, I now needed someplace to intern and someone to intern with. Unfortunately, I knew nobody in the field of Marine Biology and the only way I could think of securing an internship would be to take a chance and make a "cold call." I searched through the website of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, arguably the best Oceanographic Institute in the United States, for scientists that had interesting research areas. Initially, I emailed a marine biologist focus on the ecology of marine bioluminescence and the role of light and bioluminescence in marine ecotoxicology caught my eye.
A week later, he emailed me back with bad news. He had no summer projects at the time that I could assist with. However, he did refer me to Dr. Dimitri Deheyn. Their labs were on the same floor (some were joint labs) and their interests overlapped in many areas. After an interview with Dr. Deheyn, he told me he had summer projects and would be willing to take a high school intern!
Starting in June, I came in every weekday of summer for 6 or more hours and studied the effects of magnetism on the tubeworm Chaetopterus variopedatus, diligently sorted the ossicles of several bioluminescent brittle stars to analyze their role in the transmission and refraction of light, and helped in many other research studies involving Acropora yongei corals, iridescent fish scales, and fluorescent insect exoskeletons.
When the school year began in late August, I obtained permission from my Environmental Science teacher to come into the Deheyn lab on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons. I continue to work on my projects twice a week every week and help out with other things in the lab.
This blog is a journal of my time with Dr. Deheyn and all the great undergraduate interns who are in the lab. The posts are mostly synopses of the work and research I've done and there are numerous pictures to aid in understanding the processes of different experiments.
My experience has shown me the necessity of passion and initiative, and how ambition and determination has helped me in the pursuit of learning outside the classroom. I'm not afraid to get my hands dirty or to take intellectual risks in the search for knowledge and understanding about the natural world around us. In addition, I still got to surf and store my longboard next to my mentor's.
Most of all, I have come to love what I am doing at Scripps and that is why I made this blog—which is designed to be an interesting, informative, and inspiring guide on how to be a Research Scientist.
