Presentations Galore

This week has been all about presentations and encouraging involvement in marine sciences. I was lucky enough to have two great undergraduate research assistants in the lab for the year and they had the opportunity to present their research at the university's Undergraduate Research Symposium. There they gave formal poster presentations to encourage engagement with the sciences (and other disciplines represented) and they also had the opportunity to network with professionals and other researchers. I am encouraged by the amount of first and second year students who presented research and took active involvement in the opportunities so early on in their undergraduate career. Not only does such an opportunity bolster a student's resume, it also allows the student to explore potential career pathways or research fields before they need to make important decisions about their future.

I also had the opportunity this week to give a less formal presentation to the undergraduate marine biology course. The professor and teaching assistant spend a few class periods on adventures in marine biology where they ask graduate students to talk about how they got into marine research and what they are currently doing in the field. This opportunity allows students to see the diverse ways in which students get involved in research and the talks can also provide insight into parts of the field that are not covered explicitly in the course material (read: marine ecotoxicology). I was able to talk with students about the winding pathway that took me from undergraduate to where I am now, show some pictures of the work that I do, explain the importance of studying marine pollution and marine sediments since many marine scientists forego sediment studies, and encourage participation in future research. The students had a lot of interesting questions about microplastics pollution and meiofauna that I got to answer, and I even got to reconnect with students I taught when I first got to FSU, nearly three years ago.

In two weeks I will again give an informal research presentation that the FSU Coastal and Marine Lab's Open House. I have been really excited to get involved in this event because we open the lab to the public and provide opportunities for people to get hands-on experience with our research across all of the fields of study at the marine lab. From sharks and fishes to marine plants and sediment, visitors can actively interact with many exhibits and learn about our local marine research at the same time. I will, of course, be talking about microplastics pollution and presenting some of the research that I did in St. Andrews Bay, and I have microplastics samples for people to look at with the microscope. If you happen to be in the Tallahassee area or even the Panhandle, the open house is on Saturday, April 30th from 10-3 and I'd love to see you there and to show you my research in person. I've included the banner at the top of the blog if you need more information.

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