Science Internship Program
Science Internship Blog
Students in the sciences at CSUMB are participating in exciting and fulfilling internships and research experiences throughout the year. Find out about their projects here!
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Elizabeth Schaefer
Year: Senior
Major: Marine Science (MSCI)
Contact: eschaefer@csumb.edu
Title: Water Quality Protection Program Intern
Organization: Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary
Location: Monterey Bay, CA
Goal of Project: The goal of this project is to monitor and improve water quality in rivers and streams that flow into the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary. Through long-term community science efforts like Snapshot Day and First Flush, volunteers collect data on temperature, dissolved oxygen, pH, nutrients, and bacteria. My role focuses on analyzing five years of this data to identify streams that repeatedly exceed water quality objectives, highlighting areas of concern for management. By creating reports, maps, and infographics, the project not only tracks trends but also communicates results to local agencies and the public. This work addresses the broader problem of polluted runoff and watershed health, which directly impacts the resilience of coastal ecosystems and the communities that depend on them.
Project Description: In my role, I focus on the data analysis and communication side of the project. I conduct a five-year trend analysis of Snapshot Day water quality results to see which sites most often exceed environmental standards. To share these findings, I create graphs, maps, and infographics using tools like ArcGIS, Tableau, and Excel. I also help organize the data into a clear database format for long-term use. Beyond analysis, I participate in field sampling, outreach, and volunteer recruitment for Snapshot Day and First Flush, gaining hands-on experience with both science and community engagement.
Discovered this Opportunity: From both a teacher and The Currents (weekly school newsletter)
Melina Chan
Year: Senior
Major: Marine Science (MSCI)
Contact: mechan@csumb.edu
Title: Curation Intern
Organization: CSUMB: Biological Teaching Collection
Location: Seaside, CA
Goal of Project: The main goal of this project is to identify and catalog different organisms to create an overall catalog that can be used in educational settings. This includes preparing wet and dry samples for a classroom setting. There is also a digital logging aspect to this project which allows for a visual library of the specimens available.
Project Description: I have mainly worked on two tasks for this project. I have identified many shells and also photographed hundreds of shells. These tasks both contribute to the overall goal of this project.
Discovered this Opportunity: From a Friend/ Personal Connection
Emiliano Ortega
Year: Senior
Major: Environmental Studies (ENSTU)
Contact: eortegamorales@csumb.edu
Title: Education Intern
Organization: Ventana Wildlife Society
Location: Monterey, CA
Goal of Project: To provide equitable environmental education
Project Description: I teach lessons on wide ranges of environmental topics, and bring awareness to environmental issues of today.
Discovered this Opportunity: From a Friend/ Personal Connection
Liam Likens
Year: Junior
Major: Marine Science (MSCI)
Title: Undergraduate Researcher
Organization: California State University, Monterey Bay
Location: Monterey, CA
Goal of Project: Understanding gull foraging behavior and gull species demographics in Monterey bay.
Project Description: To record and catalogue accurate data of gull species demographics of several sites in the Monterey bay area, gull feeding behaviors, and gull species to species interactions at specific field sites.
Discovered this Opportunity: Gerick Bergsma was a guest speaker in the "Adventures in Marine Science" class at CSUMB and talked a little bit about his gull project.
Mickey Baker
Year: Senior
Major: Environmental Science, Technology, & Policy (ESTP)
Title: Education and Outreach Intern
Organization: Hopkins Marine Station of Stanford University
Location: Pacific Grove, CA
Goal of Project: Ocean Education Station (OES) aims to bring scientific knowledge and research to the public. Research is often inaccessible to the public and difficult for the general population to understand. Our goal at OES is to meet people where they're at in terms of scientific understanding and educate them about some of the species that are contributing to ground breaking research.
Project Description: I along with my fellow intern, Deirdre, and service learners help our supervisor, Jenny set up and run an education pop up at Hopkins every Friday. We recruit people in and tell them all about some of the amazing creatures we have. We set up a microscope, display tank, touch tank, and art station. Deirdre and I, as interns, also assist Jenny at local schools by planning the lesson and activities with her and helping her run them. We also take on a more leadership role with the service learners by helping Jenny plan their trainning day, keeping them on task, and answering any questions they have.
Discovered this Opportunity: I started as a service learner and was asked to stay as an Intern by Jenny.
Esmeralda Vazquez Gomez
Year: Senior
Major: Marine Science (MSCI)
Contact: evazquezgomez@csumb.edu
Title: Gull Foraging Ecology Project Research Assistant
Organization: Gull Foraging Ecology Project- CSU Monterey Bay
Location: Monterey, CA
Goal of Project: The main goal of the project is to further gather gull data information being able to identify different gull species, age, foraging behaviors and performing scan surveys.
Project Description: I focused on being a research assistant collecting gull data observations, including focal surveys, foraging behaviors and scan surveys. Properly identifying gulls, conducting the surveys to standard protocols and entering data correctly.
Discovered this Opportunity: From a Friend/ Personal Connection
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Deirdre Doyle
Year: Sophomore
Major: Marine Science (MSCI)
Title: Ocean Education Station Intern
Organization: Stanford Hopkins Marine Station
Location: Pacific Grove, CA
Goal of Project: The Ocean Education Station is a free outreach tent located at Stanford Hopkins Marine Station next to the Monterey Bay Aquarium. It seeks to educate the public about our ocean environments, from intertidal creatures to overall ecology. At the Station, you will find an arts station, a touch tank, a display tank, a multitude of shells and tests, and a microscope station. On occasion, we also have researchers from the labs at Hopkins come and present about their work. We aim to educate people on the research being done on our oceans and broaden their intellectual horizons, while making it fun and engaging.
Project Description: As an intern, I was tasked with helping mentor the Service Learners who worked with us, as well as performing similar tasks as they did. Every Friday morning, we would set up the tents and tables and then go to grab animals, protists, and plants from the aquarium room. Each week, we very often brought new creatures out, including nudibranchs, a kelp crab, a decorator crab, and a six-rayed sea star. Once everything was set up, one of us would go out on the bike path to encourage people to come visit the station while the rest of us would rotate around the different stations and talk to people. At the end of the day, we would clean everything up and go home.
Discovered this Opportunity: Service Learning Site.
Blake Holloway
Year: Senior
Major: Marine Science (MSCI)
Contact: bholloway@csumb.edu
Title: Yolo Bypass Fish Monitoring Program Intern
Organization: California Department of Water Resources
Location: West Sacramento, CA
Goal of Project: Long term monitoring program aimed at observing the ecological functions of the Yolo bypass for fish of the San Francisco Bay Estuary.
Project Description: I predominantly conduct fieldwork taking water quality data, chlorophyll sampling, zooplankton tows, fyke trapping, screw trapping, and beach seining. I also collect fin clippings for special interest species and CESA listed species.
Discovered this Opportunity: From a Friend/ Personal Connection
Gianni Juarez
Year: Junior
Major: Environmental Studies (ENSTU)
Contact: gjuarez@csumb.edu
Title: Reserve Stewardship and Research Support
Organization: UC Santa Cruz Fort Ord Natural Reserve
Location: Marina, CA
Goal of Project: Restoration is important work; by the end of the semester, I hope to gain some invaluable knowledge regarding practical skills, proper use of equipment, and a better understanding of the native gilia. I would also like to build connections among peers as well as my superiors.
Project Description: I help with habitat management by planting native species, in particular Gilia tenuiflora, in specific plots of the reserve. On occasion, I also help with the building fences for the next potential plots.
Discovered this Opportunity From my previous biology professor.
Johnali Westmoreland
Year: Junior
Major: Marine Science (MSCI)
Contact: jwestmoreland@csumb.edu
Title: Intern
Organization: CSUMB Natural History/Biological Collections
Location: Marina, CA
Goal of Project: The goal of my project was to reorganize specimens in the Chapman building that have been donated to the school and to display them in cases with appropriate biographies to interpret the specimens.
Project Description: I reorganized specimens in the cases in room E127 in Chapman and wrote biographies for them to be displayed.
Discovered this Opportunity: From a Friend/ Personal Connection