Summer Research Internships

Faculty: Will Berelson

Location: University Park Campus

We are interested in testing how ocean waters, mixed with various sorts of ocean alkalization/CO2 mitigation effluent products impact ocean chemistry, ocean particles and ocean life. If you’re interested in research involving incubation experiments of various sizes, working in and around the dock and on small boats, and are interested in participating in research to “save the world,” we have the summer REU for you.

Faculty: Suzanne Edmands

Location: Wrigley Marine Science Center

In this project we will investigate the dynamics of natural Tigriopus californicus populations and their responses to abiotic conditions, specifically sex ratio and heat tolerance. It will involve daily field sampling of three local tidepool populations of copepods which will then be analyzed in the lab for thermal tolerance and sex ratio. Additionally, general upkeep of field sensors will need to be performed periodically. Finally, data will be combined and analyzed to help uncover what abiotic factors drive changes in these populations. Results will help to understand plasticity and population dynamics of an organism living in an extremely dynamic environment. Field work will involve mildly strenuous hikes to the study site.

Faculty: Feixue Fue and David Hutchins

Location: University Park Campus

Topic 1: Can key phytoplankton groups recover from transient heat wave events? Devastating heat waves are increasing throughout the world ocean. This student will compare and contrast the ability of important groups of phytoplankton to survive and recover from simulated heat wave events, by making quantitative measurements of their viability following varying durations and intensities of stressful heat exposure. Results will help inform oceanographers, modelers, stakeholders and policy makers about the relative ability of key functional groups of marine primary producers to grow in a an increasingly stressful dynamic ocean temperature environment.

Topic 2: Impacts of warming on elemental use efficiencies of California phytoplankton assemblages. Preliminary data from laboratory cultures show that the efficiency with which phytoplankton use the scarce supplies of limiting nutrient elements (nitrogen, phosphorus, silicon and iron) that are available to them to fix carbon can either increase or decrease as temperatures change. However, little is known about possible analogous thermal responses of Nutrient Use Efficiencies (NUE, carbon fixed per mol of limiting nutrient per hour) of mixed natural phytoplankton communities in the ocean. The student will use natural phytoplankton assemblages collected from the San Pedro Ocean Time Series station to make the first NUE measurements in the California Current ecosystem, helping us to predict potential changes in primary productivity in the future arising from interactions between nutrient limitation, NUEs and ocean warming.

Faculty: Jed Fuhrman

Locations: University park Campus and Wrigley Marine Science Center

Marine RNA viruses – join us in investigating how marine RNA viruses affect micro algal blooms and influence carbon sequestration in the world’s ocean systems. Marine RNA viruses predominantly infect micro algae and remain largely understudied in the field of marine microbial ecology. This project will involve daily sampling of several large mesocosms at Catalina, as well as techniques to extract DNA and RNA from seawater and count marine RNA viruses by fluorescence microscopy. You would also learn how to prepare RNA and DNA for sequencing and to process the sequencing information (bioinformatics) to discover new algal viruses and study their ecological impacts. Your work would contribute to better understanding the role marine RNA viruses play in driving phytoplankton mortality, regulating bloom events, and contributing to the sequestration of carbon in the world’s oceans.

Faculty: Melissa Guzman

Location: University Park Campus or Hybrid/Remote

Explore the world of ecological discovery and data-driven solutions through this research opportunity in ecological data science. You will use detailed datasets from the National Ecological Observatory Network (NEON) to investigate the complexities of biodiversity and ecosystem dynamics, making substantial contributions to understanding intricate food webs. Your role will encompass computational analysis of soil food webs across U.S. continents, involving data compilation, wrangling, and spatiotemporal analysis and visualization. This hands-on data analysis experience will allow you to work extensively with biodiversity data, unraveling the connections of food webs across space and time. Proficiency in R is preferred, emphasizing a passion for ecological data science. (Please note that this research topic is outside of ocean sciences, but the methods employed are broadly applicable. Students will still receive exposure to ocean science topics via seminars and other program activities.)

Faculty: John Heidelberg

Primary mentor: Ryan Guillemette

Location: Wrigley Marine Science Center

Join us in characterizing eDNA within the Marine Protected Area off Catalina Island, where cutting-edge techniques allow us to detect the presence of organisms through the sequencing of shed DNA in seawater. This approach enables us to identify organisms even in cases where direct observation is challenging. Methods may include field sampling, molecular techniques, and microscopy.

Faculty: Carly Kenkel

Location: University Park Campus

Topic 1: Investigating reproductive biology of the aggregating anemones Anthopleura elegantissima – these charismatic anemones can be found all along the California coastline but we know almost nothing about how/when they reproduce! Help us uncover their basic reproductive biology, and hopefully produce anemone larvae for experiments. Additional opportunities include learning molecular biology through DNA extractions from parent anemones.

Topic 2: Coral restoration – learn molecular biology methods to help us obtain genetic information for coral used in restoration. Additional opportunities include learning methods in coral ecophysiology to help us measure changes in key performance traits for understanding trade-offs in response to climate stressors

Faculty: Rita Mehta (University of California Santa Cruz)

Location: Wrigley Marine Science Center

Topic 1: Join us in investigating the diet and growth rates of the California moray eel. This project is a long term trapping effort aimed at understanding the functional ecology of the California moray in the kelp forest ecosystem. You will learn how to extract and identify prey, measure, and PIT tag morays adding on to a long term data set. Through this endeavor, you will gain familiarity with using spreadsheets and conducting statistical analyses in R-studio.

Topic 2: Many fishes rely on chemosensory cues to identify and apprehend prey. For this project, we will be examining the morphology of the olfactory cavity for a diversity of benthic fish species which are found in the kelp forest ecosystem. You will learn how to conduct behavioral assays and measure and quantify olfactory morphology for a variety of fish species. Through this research, you will gain familiarity with using R-studio for basic statistical analyses.

Faculty: Julia Schwartzman

Location: University Park Campus

Topic 1:  Kelp Microbiota. This project is focused on creating a collection of bacterial isolates found on the embryonic stages of giant kelp and other brown algae. Your work will contribute to efforts in the lab to understand how microbes colonize brown algae, and how associations with microbes shape the early development of kelps.

Topic 2: Vibrio Hunters. This project is focused on building a collection of one particular bacterial genus: vibrio. Vibrio is a genus of bacteria that decompose organic matter and can form beneficial or harmful associations with animals and other multicellular life. The goal of the project is to build a collection of Vibrio isolates from diverse marine habitats in southern California. Your work will contribute to ongoing efforts in the lab to understand how the ecological functions performed by Vibrios are genetically encoded.

Faculty: Eric Webb

Location: University Park Campus

The diversity, genomics, and physiology of the important open ocean N2 fixing cyanobacteria Trichodesmium spp. This work will leverage the large collection of uncharacterized isolates in USC Trichodesmium Culture Collection (USCTCC). You will learn not only how to grow these organisms, but also modern molecular and computer techniques to characterize them.  Depending on interests and time, your data can be integrated with our growing omics datasets from waters around Bermuda and elsewhere.

• Applicants must be U.S. citizens, U.S. nationals, or permanent residents of the U.S.
• Applicants must have completed at least one year of undergraduate study by the summer of their participation and must plan to be enrolled in an undergraduate degree program during the following fall semester/quarter. Applicants must not already hold a bachelor’s degree.
• Previous research experience is NOT required.
• Special consideration will be given to students who attend a university or college in Southern California and/or institutions with limited research training opportunities, but we invite applications from all students nationwide who meet the NSF REU program’s requirements for eligibility. We especially encourage applications from students in groups that are underrepresented in geoscience fields.

Note: Because the REU program is open to applicants nationwide, USC students are strongly encouraged to apply for the Zinsmeyer program.

• Applicants must be continuing USC Dornsife undergraduate students (not graduating in May of their internship year).
• Zinsmeyer research projects take place at WMSC, so applicants must be willing to spend the summer on Catalina Island.
• All Dornsife undergraduates are eligible to apply, but priority will be given to majors and minors from the Environmental Studies Program.

Note: Because the REU program is open to applicants nationwide, USC students are strongly encouraged to apply for the Zinsmeyer program.

You will need the following information and materials to complete your application:

• Biographical and educational information
• Research interests:  You will be asked to select two research interests on the application for matching purposes.
• Academic transcript(s): Unofficial copies are acceptable.
• One reference: The reference you list on your application will receive an e-mail request to upload a letter of recommendation on your behalf. Please be sure to contact your reference prior to listing them on your application. You will receive a notification when we receive your letter of reference.

Please write at least 200 words and no more than 400 words to answer the following questions. 

• Please tell us why you are interested in the USC Wrigley Institute’s REU program in Coastal Ocean Processes. Please include how participating in this REU program will help you meet your career goals.
• Review the list of available research projects. Describe the areas of research in ocean sciences that interest you the most. What previous academic, work, research, volunteer and/or other experiences have helped prepared you for the REU program?
• Is there anything else you would like us to know?

Zinsmeyer applicants only:

Under the essay question, “Is there anything else you would like us to know about you?” please indicate that you are a USC student and would like to be considered for a Zinsmeyer internship. USC students who indicate that they would like to be considered for the Zinsmeyer program will be considered for both the REU and Zinsmeyer programs.

See the following external resource for tips on crafting a strong application for your research internship.

How to obtain a strong letter of recommendation >>

How to write a strong essay or personal statement >>

Ria Agrawal (REU)

School: University of Miami

Mentors: Dr. Will Berelson, Rucha Wani

Project: Ocean alkalization/CO2 migration

Varshini Balaji

School: University of California, Riverside

Mentor: Dr. Julia Schwartzman

Project: Vibrio hunter/kelp microbiome

Ashley Conde

School: Northeastern University

Mentors: Dr. Carly Kenkel, Daniel Olivares-Zambrano, Jenna Dilworth, Maya Gomez

Project: Coral restoration/coral reproductive biology

Gabriella Corneille

School: University of California, Santa Cruz

Mentors: Dr. Rita Mehta, Maya McElfish

Project: Chemosensory in fish/ecology of moray eels

Makena Gichuru

School: University of San Francisco

Mentors: Dr. Jed Fuhrman, Daria Di Blasi, Jelani Williams

Project: Marine RNA viruses

Kiana Hernandez

School: Concordia University Irvine

Mentors: Dr. Carly Kenkel, Daniel Olivares-Zambrano, Jenna Dilworth, Maya Gomez

Project: Coral restoration/coral reproductive biology

Maxwell Pacatte

School: University of California, Santa Barbara

Mentors: Dr. Feixue Fu, Dr. David Hutchines

Project: Phytoplankton/heat stress

Abbey Schedler

School: University of North Texas

Mentors: Dr. Laura Melissa Guzman, Yan Yin Jenny Cheung

Project: Soil food webs

Monica Wheeler

School: Williams College

Mentor: Dr. Julia Schwartzman

Project: Vibrio hunters/kelp microbiome

Riley Darrough

School: USC

Mentors: Dr. John Heidelberg, Dr. Ryan Guillemette

Project: eDNA decay rates

Daniella Leon

School: USC

Mentors: Dr. Rita Mehta, Maya McElfish

Project: Chemosensory in fish/ecology of moray eels

Tatianna Velicer

School: USC

Mentors: Dr. Carly Kenkel, Daniel Olivares-Zambrano, Jenna Dilworth, Maya Gomez

Project: Coral restoration/coral reproductive biology

Kathrina Welborn

School: USC

Mentors: Dr. Suzanne Edmands, Dr. Scott Applebaum, Jacob Denova

Project: Copepod response to stress