Fellowship Experiences

The skies had opened and dumped a record-setting downpour in Washington, D.C. Wouldn’t you know that I was scheduled that day to participate as a volunteer scientist in an event called “Expert Is In” at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History.

I was never very interested in science. Outdoor activities like surfing and kayaking, sports, music – these activities captivated me as an adolescent and into early adulthood. School, and especially science, did little to hold my attention. My teachers told my parents, “Such great potential, if only he would fulfill it.”

I thought I knew Calvert County well. I had been a 2015 summer intern in Solomons, Maryland, at the Chesapeake Biological Laboratory (CBL) as part of Maryland Sea Grant’s Research Experience for Undergraduates program.  Read more...

It was a scorching hot day. The heat index was above 100 degrees at only 9:00 a.m. It was late July on the Eastern shore of Maryland. I met with Ken Paynter’s laboratory crew from the University of Maryland, College Park, at the Knapp’s Narrows Marina in Tilghman Island. We were going out together to collect oysters, the focus of my dissertation project.

A generation ago, the seagrasses we know as submerged aquatic vegetation (SAV) were unflatteringly referred to as “weeds,” usually in the same sentence as the words “nuisance” and “rid.” We’ve come a long way since then.  Read more...