Hej min vänner!
Seems sort of odd that I start off my blog about Panama with a Swedish greeting, I know. My second attempt at blogging, however, wouldn't be what it is without my first attempt at blogging, which happened during my study abroad trip to Uppsala, Sweden. I learned a lot in Sweden; northern European history, neuroscience, self-reliance, Roman history, packing lightly, Swedish, and how to bake yeast breads. I'll warn you right now that I never finished documenting my travels through Helsinki and St. Petersburg, but if you want to read more about that six-month adventure, you can find it here.
So now that I've been home from one of the more northern bits of the world, I've taken it into my head to go south and HOT. In ten days I'm getting on a plane that will ultimately land me in Bocas Del Toro, Panama, a tiny town on Isla Colón just south of the Costa Rican border. I'll be there for two and a half months, assisting with a project on the boring sponge and its interactions with corals in changing ocean temperatures and acidities. I'll explain a lot more of the science behind what I'm doing in future posts, I'm sure. I'll be working under Amber Stubler, a PhD candidate from the School of Oceanic and Marine Sciences in Stonybrook, New York, and I'm thrilled that we'll be partnering with the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, or STRI. (Now if only I could get good at saying Smithsonian.)
But...I'm a molecular and cellular biologist, and this project sounds way more like an ecology project. Well, it is. Marine biology, officially. My only experience with marine biology is three days snorkling with Dr. Michael Grant at the Great Barrier Reef, and various other ocean adventures with my family. Here's the thing though; your mommy is always right! My mom has degrees in evolution and ecology, in alpine botany, and in environmental sciences, and she's always made fun of me (in the most loving of ways) for choosing the "small bio" end of things. After four years of proteins, I've finally been able to admit that ecology is fun too. I took the introductory ecology lecture and lab this last semester at CU, and I had a blast. So there you go, Mom. While my love for proteins is forever undiminished, ecology can have a bit of my heart as well!
The more professional-sounding and rational reasoning for this project is that I plan to be a high school biology teacher (yes, my mother and I are the same person, I know) and I want to get a broader background in biology to help support that goal. I've participated in lab-based research, but field-based research is an entirely different game. This will also give me an opportunity to apply some of the ecological principles I stuffed into my head during the last semester.
And the other reason: it's an incredible opportunity that the universe dropped in my lap. When the universe drops things in your lap, you don't say no! I love telling the story of how I found out about this trip: turns out Amber rented the house in Bocas Del Toro from a family who I used to ski race with. The mom, Katie, remembered that I was a sciency-person and passed the information for the assistant position along to me. I applied and, lucky me, ended up with the job!
Like any good adventure, I only have a sketchy outline of what it's going to be like when I get there, besides brutally hot. (The snow here in Steamboat yesterday morning is not helping my cause!) But I can pass along what I do know: the month of June we'll mostly be building the tanks and hooking them into the STRI's water system and then collecting the sponges and corals to be our samples. Most of the sponges only live about ten feet underwater, so we'll be free diving for them. In July we'll be taking observations and letting the sponges settle in, and then in August we'll start manipulating the water temperature and acidity.
I'll fly home on August 16th, exactly one week before the orientation for the School of Education at CU. Luckily I'm living in the same house as I lived in last year, so it should be a relatively simple matter to unpack my boxes and be ready to go.
As for right now? I'm lazing about a bit in Steamboat, setting up roommates and Internet for next year and drooling over long-sleeved rash shirts for when I'm spending long days in the ocean. It's going to be a good adventure that's for sure! I'll post again before I head out, and give you a little more background on Pamana in general and Bocas in particular.
But until then,
Adiós mis amigos!
Seems sort of odd that I start off my blog about Panama with a Swedish greeting, I know. My second attempt at blogging, however, wouldn't be what it is without my first attempt at blogging, which happened during my study abroad trip to Uppsala, Sweden. I learned a lot in Sweden; northern European history, neuroscience, self-reliance, Roman history, packing lightly, Swedish, and how to bake yeast breads. I'll warn you right now that I never finished documenting my travels through Helsinki and St. Petersburg, but if you want to read more about that six-month adventure, you can find it here.
So now that I've been home from one of the more northern bits of the world, I've taken it into my head to go south and HOT. In ten days I'm getting on a plane that will ultimately land me in Bocas Del Toro, Panama, a tiny town on Isla Colón just south of the Costa Rican border. I'll be there for two and a half months, assisting with a project on the boring sponge and its interactions with corals in changing ocean temperatures and acidities. I'll explain a lot more of the science behind what I'm doing in future posts, I'm sure. I'll be working under Amber Stubler, a PhD candidate from the School of Oceanic and Marine Sciences in Stonybrook, New York, and I'm thrilled that we'll be partnering with the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, or STRI. (Now if only I could get good at saying Smithsonian.)
But...I'm a molecular and cellular biologist, and this project sounds way more like an ecology project. Well, it is. Marine biology, officially. My only experience with marine biology is three days snorkling with Dr. Michael Grant at the Great Barrier Reef, and various other ocean adventures with my family. Here's the thing though; your mommy is always right! My mom has degrees in evolution and ecology, in alpine botany, and in environmental sciences, and she's always made fun of me (in the most loving of ways) for choosing the "small bio" end of things. After four years of proteins, I've finally been able to admit that ecology is fun too. I took the introductory ecology lecture and lab this last semester at CU, and I had a blast. So there you go, Mom. While my love for proteins is forever undiminished, ecology can have a bit of my heart as well!
The more professional-sounding and rational reasoning for this project is that I plan to be a high school biology teacher (yes, my mother and I are the same person, I know) and I want to get a broader background in biology to help support that goal. I've participated in lab-based research, but field-based research is an entirely different game. This will also give me an opportunity to apply some of the ecological principles I stuffed into my head during the last semester.
And the other reason: it's an incredible opportunity that the universe dropped in my lap. When the universe drops things in your lap, you don't say no! I love telling the story of how I found out about this trip: turns out Amber rented the house in Bocas Del Toro from a family who I used to ski race with. The mom, Katie, remembered that I was a sciency-person and passed the information for the assistant position along to me. I applied and, lucky me, ended up with the job!
Like any good adventure, I only have a sketchy outline of what it's going to be like when I get there, besides brutally hot. (The snow here in Steamboat yesterday morning is not helping my cause!) But I can pass along what I do know: the month of June we'll mostly be building the tanks and hooking them into the STRI's water system and then collecting the sponges and corals to be our samples. Most of the sponges only live about ten feet underwater, so we'll be free diving for them. In July we'll be taking observations and letting the sponges settle in, and then in August we'll start manipulating the water temperature and acidity.
I'll fly home on August 16th, exactly one week before the orientation for the School of Education at CU. Luckily I'm living in the same house as I lived in last year, so it should be a relatively simple matter to unpack my boxes and be ready to go.
As for right now? I'm lazing about a bit in Steamboat, setting up roommates and Internet for next year and drooling over long-sleeved rash shirts for when I'm spending long days in the ocean. It's going to be a good adventure that's for sure! I'll post again before I head out, and give you a little more background on Pamana in general and Bocas in particular.
But until then,
Adiós mis amigos!
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