Diving into marine research

By Janette Neuwahl Tannen[email protected]08-28-2024

Toward the end of high school, John Yudt got a chance to leave the frigid temperatures of his hometown near Chicago and learn how to scuba dive on the coral reefs of the Florida Keys.

He has been hooked on conserving coral reefs and marine life ever since.

Now Yudt, a junior majoring in marine biology and ecology, is excited to propel his career in marine sciences further. He is one of five University of Miami students from the Rosenstiel School of Marine, Atmospheric, and Earth Science who were selected for the Ernest F. Hollings Undergraduate Scholarship, an esteemed award granted by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to just 130 rising juniors across the United States this year. The scholarship gives recipients up to $9,500 in tuition support for their final two years in college as well as a guaranteed 10-week paid internship at a NOAA facility the summer before their senior year.

"NOAA is huge in terms of marine and atmospheric policies and care for the environment, so the opportunity to work in one of their labs for the summer really motivated me to apply," said Yudt, an aspiring coral scientist who has done research in associate professor Diego Lirman's Benthic Ecology and Coral Restoration Lab. "The connections I will make and the networking I will be able to do with scientists at NOAA next summer, and with people interested in coral science will be huge, and the internship will give me more practice using important skills for the future."

Hollings scholars also receive priority when applying for NOAA jobs in the future, which all the recipients are thrilled about.

This year marks a trend of at least three years in which a handful of Rosenstiel School students were selected for the scholarship, said Larry Peterson, associate dean of undergraduate programs at the Rosenstiel School. In 2023, eight students were named Hollings scholars. Peterson offers an information session on the Hollings Scholarship each fall, and then forms a faculty committee to help review student applications.

"The five that were awarded this year are all outstanding students," said Peterson, who is also a professor of marine geosciences. "We have competed pretty well recently, and each year we are trying to be a little more proactive and give a little more guidance because it's such a prestigious program-NOAA looks at Hollings scholars as young scientists who may work for them one day."

The University's other 2024 Hollings recipients are Ali Donnelly, a marine biology and ecology major; Ariella Duvel, a marine affairs and geological sciences major; Miles Lubas, a marine biology and ecology major; and Kylie Marozsan, who is studying marine biology and ecology, along with microbiology and immunology. They all received the news via email late last spring, and shortly after, spent a few days at the NOAA headquarters in Silver Springs, Maryland.

"When I got the email about the scholarship, I was in pure and utter shock," said Marozsan, who is interested in large marine vertebrates like sharks, dolphins, manatees, and whales, and in using her research on the ocean's resources to develop pharmaceutical therapies. "Everyone who applied from UM was so qualified to get it that I don't know why they picked me, but I'm happy they did."

This October, the five students can apply for their top internship choices, including outposts across the globe. While Yudt hopes to find an internship close to large coral reef tracts, such as in Hawaii or the U.S. Virgin Islands, Lubas, who volunteers in the University's Shark Research and Conservation Program, wants to do shark or whale research to understand how these populations communicate within their species and across different species as well. Therefore, he hopes to intern either on the Pacific Coast or in the northeast, where whales and large sharks are more prevalent.

Ryan McMullen, a senior who earned the Hollings Scholarship last year, spent the summer learning about deep sea invertebrates that live on seamounts hundreds of feet under the ocean's surface. McMullen did this by examining the presence of invertebrate DNA that exists in the water column and was collected from the Pacific Ocean near Hawaii by his mentor Timothy Shank, an expert in deep sea ecology at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Massachusetts.

McMullen will present his research at several conferences this year and hopes to publish the findings from his internship. Without the Hollings Scholarship, McMullen said it would have been difficult to access such hands-on research about the deep sea, which was always a curiosity of his. He said anyone considering a career in marine science should apply.

"Tim really piqued my curiosity about ocean genetics, and I know that I learned so many other lab techniques and skills this summer that I'll be using later in life," McMullen added. "The Hollings is the best opportunity I've found to connect you to as many people as possible in the marine and ocean sciences field, so students should really keep this on their radar."