Mentor & Lab: Iris Flores – Kroeker Lab
Positions: 2 interns
Tentative dates: Summer 2023, exact dates TBD
Project Location: Coastal Campus, UCSC
Project Background: If you want to work with purple sea urchins and an incredible experimental system that manipulates seawater chemistry, then come join the Kroeker lab this summer! We’ll be running a mesocosm experiment where we will simulate upwelling and or heatwave events to try and understand how sea urchin grazing behaviors change under these stressful conditions.
Intern duties: Tasks will include collecting urchins in the field via SCUBA diving (if AAUS certified), collecting kelp blades via paddle board, taking water samples for chemistry analyses, experimental design and construction, measuring and weighing sea urchins, feeding sea urchins, cleaning urchin tanks and bait jars, recording and analyzing data, and scientific communication.
Intern qualifications:We are looking for students who are detail oriented, enthusiastic, highly motivated to be out on the water(though not necessary) and in the corner of a dark lab, excellent communicators, comfortable asking for clarification, able to identify and discuss mistakes, willing to share their ideas, innovative, problem solvers, and students who can work well with others.
Do you recommend the intern(s) volunteer in your lab during Spring quarter?
Volunteering early is always great to get familiar with the experimental system or for helping with the experimental set up.