After several months of looking forward to it, I just finished my first week of the Oregon Sea Grant Summer Scholars Program!

The Hatfield Marine Science Center is primarily a research center for Oregon State University, but there are also several other buildings on the campus with various agencies. One of these buildings belongs to the EPA Office of Research and Development, and this is where I’m interning this summer.

Working for the EPA is an interesting mix of science and regulation. Since the EPA is primarily a regulatory agency, this research facility is not the standard EPA workplace. Even so, a lot of federal regulations carry over. All new employees are required to complete an extensive online training, which took two of my days this week. There are also in-person safety trainings, work meetings, and paperwork. After that, I spent my time reading research articles and getting caught up on some of the background knowledge related to my project. It was a slower start than I was expecting, but I enjoyed having time to educate myself about the topic before jumping into research. In addition, the researchers have been extremely friendly and welcoming, and it is exciting to see the many labs, research boats, and scientific equipment.

I was also able to see some of my first sights of the Oregon coast this week, including South Beach, Nye Beach, and Yaquina Head. In Bellingham, WA, where I go to school, the beaches are almost all rocky, so it is a treat to get to enjoy long sandy beaches! I’m so excited to have a whole summer to enjoy here, and my list of places to visit grows every day.

At the end of the day on Friday, my mentor, Cheryl Brown, returned from travelling for a conference and we were able to start planning out research plans for the summer. We have an exciting and complicated project sampling water quality in Tillamook Bay and rivers that enter into this bay. We will be taking samples from the streams and the bay itself to try and get a better idea of how humans and agriculture may be contributing to ocean acidification in the bay. Stay tuned for more updates throughout the summer!