Fellowship Experiences

In graduate school, I found it easy to find the impact and context of my fisheries research.  The data I was generating about Atlantic mackerel migration patterns were called for by managers and scientists looking to better understand the decline of the fishery.  While, studying at the Chesapeake Biological Laboratory on the lower Patuxent River in Solomons, Maryland, the Chesapeake B  Read more...

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.