[Ed: Dr. Peterson and I are happy to have Brad’s former Ph.D. student, Dr. Amber Stubler who is an alumni of this course when she was an undergrad and is now a faculty member at Occidental College here at Discovery Bay with one of her undergraduate students, Corrie.]

Today Dr. Amber Stubler and I continued work on my independent research project by deploying the algae and seagrass units that we built yesterday. I’ve been working with Thalassia testudinium, Sargassum spp., and Chaetomorpha spp..

Me (Corrie) holding a Thalassia testudinium (turtlegrass) and Sargassum spp. deployment unit.

We set out the containment apparatuses that would corral the sea water altered by my treatments yesterday and made some alterations to increase their stability.

Final result of the completed deployments.

The majority of my time here has been extremely busy. We’ve been having lectures three times a day, so the information has been on overload, but everything we’ve been taught thus far has been so interesting! And to be able to see and apply our learning to the marine environment right outside the research lab only makes this experience even better. I have definitely been valuing my sleep more than usual in my short time here. With the lectures, dives, snorkeling, and work being conducted on my research project, I’ve been exhausted by the end of the day. Very excited for all of the fun/new experiences that we are going to have between now and the 17th!

Curry Corrie