Nina Santos is a Ph.D. student at the Chesapeake Biological Laboratory at the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science. For her dissertation, she is focused on small shrimp-like crustaceans called mysids – an understudied yet important part of many estuarine and coastal food webs.
Fellowship Experiences
A blog by and about students supported by Maryland Sea Grant
Photo, Debbie Hinkle
Letting Stable Isotopes Tell the Environmental Story
Grace O'Hara •
Stable isotope research set me on a path for graduate school. Now, I’m using stable isotopes to study the effectiveness of stormwater best management practices on nitrogen dynamics. Read more...
From abstract concepts to real-world practice: How a legal scholar learned about on-the-ground climate change adaptation
Ju-Ching Huang •
Many scientists have predicted that this summer may be the hottest in the past century. Temperature is not the only concern; as the Earth gets hotter, it has caused sea water expansion, sea ice melt, and sea level rise. Under a warmer atmosphere, the intensity and frequency of precipitation has also increased. Read more...
Schmutz in the Susquehanna: Researching Lyngbya cyanobacteria
Shayna Keller •
You may have heard the word “schmutz” used when cleaning up something unappealing, but you probably haven’t heard the word used to describe an organism. But that is what Lyngbya is: schmutz! This stringy type of cyanobacteria can be toxic and irritating, and it gets everywhere. Read more...
Send the Email: Good things come to those who reach out
Erika Koontz •
Although I started graduate school in August 2022, my unofficial journey to graduate school began about a year before, with an email. At the time, I was working as a wetland research technician at the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center (SERC) in Edgewater, Maryland. I had a year left of my full-time, but temporary, contract. Read more...
Managing Phragmites: Why should I care about a common wetland grass?
Sylvia Jacobson •
Phragmites australis is a non-native grass that has become a dominant wetland plant in Maryland’s Chesapeake Bay region in just a few decades. It is pervasive in wetlands across the United States. Phragmites is a powerful ecosystem engineer that absorbs contamination and stores carbon, but it is also a major threat to native plants. Read more...
