{"id":1418,"date":"2017-08-02T02:24:51","date_gmt":"2017-08-02T02:24:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/gemmlab\/?p=1418"},"modified":"2017-08-02T02:24:51","modified_gmt":"2017-08-02T02:24:51","slug":"little-slice-heaven","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/gemmlab\/2017\/08\/02\/little-slice-heaven\/","title":{"rendered":"A Little Slice of Heaven"},"content":{"rendered":"

Guest writer: Maggie O\u2019Rourke-Liggett, GEMM Lab summer intern, Oregon State University,<\/p>\n

One of the biggest obstacles an undergraduate can face is fulfilling the degree requirement of completing an internship or research opportunity. With almost every university and degree program requiring it for graduation and many employers requiring prior experience, the amount of pressure and competition is intense.<\/p>\n

After being rejected from the internships I applied for earlier in the year, I heard about Dr. Leigh Torres\u2019s research with the Geospatial Ecology of Marine Megafauna (GEMM) Lab <\/a>. I decided to email her and ask if she had any open positions. Fast-forward a few weeks and I am collaborating with Florence Sullivan, a recent masters graduate from OSU, on the logistics of my Gray Whale Foraging Behavior internship with the GEMM Lab.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
My workstation while I conduct photo identification analysis in the field station classroom. The photos are displayed and organized in Adobe Bridge. Source: Maggie O\u2019Rourke-Liggett<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

During my time with the GEMM Lab team, I have been assisting with photo identification analysis of gray whales (Eschrichtius robustus<\/em>), using a theodolite<\/a> and Pythagoras computer program to track their movements, collecting samples of the zooplankton they eat<\/a>, and recording other oceanographic data with our time-depth recorder. This project is hoping to identify the drivers of gray whale fine-scale foraging behavior.\u00a0 For instance: Why do gray whales spend more time in some areas than others?\u00a0 Does the type or density of prey affect their behavior? Do the whales use static features like kelp beds to help find their food? As a senior currently studying oceanography, who desires to study whale behavior in the future, this internship is like finding a gold mine.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Nathan Malamud, our other high school intern, and I working together to set up the theodolite in backyard during a practice run. Source: Florence Sullivan<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Ever since day one at Hatfield Marine Science Center, I\u2019ve been working with people who share the same passions<\/a> for marine mammals as me. Spending hours upon hours sorting thousands of pictures may seem like a painful, tedious job, but knowing my work helps others to update existing identification catalogs makes it worthwhile. Plus, who wouldn\u2019t want to look at whales all day?! After a while, you start to recognize specific individuals based on their various pigment configurations and scars. Once you can recognize individuals, it makes the sorting go by faster and helps with recognizing individual whales in the wild faster. It\u2019s always exciting to sort through the photos and observe from the cliff or kayak and recognize a whale from the photo identification work.<\/p>\n

After Florence taught me how to set up and operate the theodolite, a survey tool used to track a whale\u2019s movements, we taught a class to undergrads on how to use it. I\u2019ll never get over how people\u2019s faces lit up when we discussed how the instrument works and its role in the overall mission.<\/p>\n

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Quince Nye, one of our high school interns, using side strokes to stabilize the kayak while I deploy our zooplankton net over the side with a down rigger. Source: Florence Sullivan<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

These past two weeks at OSU\u2019s Port Orford Field Station<\/a> have been like living on a little slice of heaven. My days are filled with clear views of the coast and the sound of waves crashing serve as a backdrop on my home for the month, the bed-and-breakfast turned field station. Each morning, the sun fills my room as I gather my gear for the day and help my teammates load the truck. We spend long days on the water collecting zooplankton samples and GoPro video or on the cliff recording whale behavior through the theodolite. To anyone searching for an internship and feeling burnt out from completing application after application, don\u2019t give up. You\u2019ll find your slice of heaven too.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Guest writer: Maggie O\u2019Rourke-Liggett, GEMM Lab summer intern, Oregon State University, One of the biggest obstacles an undergraduate can face is fulfilling the degree requirement of completing an internship or research opportunity. With almost every university and degree program requiring it for graduation and many employers requiring prior experience, the amount of pressure and competition … Continue reading A Little Slice of Heaven<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6597,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[636310],"tags":[1834,635061,140586,195384,712846,677522,635445,634945,835,513,1398,148762,712845,5,712862],"class_list":["post-1418","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-gray-whale-foraging-ecology-and-vessel-disturbance","tag-behavior","tag-cetaceans","tag-conservation","tag-field-work","tag-florence-sullivan","tag-foraging-ecology","tag-gemm-lab","tag-gray-whales","tag-internship","tag-marine-mammals","tag-oregon","tag-oregon-coast","tag-photo-identification","tag-science","tag-science-kayak"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p5Mfqy-mS","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/gemmlab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1418","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/gemmlab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/gemmlab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/gemmlab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6597"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/gemmlab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1418"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/gemmlab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1418\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1422,"href":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/gemmlab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1418\/revisions\/1422"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/gemmlab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1418"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/gemmlab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1418"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/gemmlab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1418"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}