By Emma Fass, Summer Science Writing Intern
This summer Virginia Sea Grant is pleased to welcome four Virginia student interns from The College of William & Mary, Old Dominion University, and University of Virginia.
Rachel Boles
Rachel Boles, a native of Mathews, Virginia, joined Virginia Sea Grant this summer as a communications research intern. Rachel will be working with The Bridge, a website that provides marine and ocean science classroom resources to teachers. She will conduct research on how best to update the site to increase ease of use for educators and other users.
“I’m really excited to be working on the Bridge this summer because it focuses on science education,” Rachel says. “I want to learn more about web design and how to produce a site that will benefit educators and students looking to gain a more in depth view of a variety of science topics.”
Rachel will graduate from William & Mary in 2016 and is majoring in psychology and environmental science. She hopes to have a career in conservation in the future.
Patrick Christian
Virginia Sea Grant is excited to have Patrick Christian as an office aide this summer. Patrick will help with a variety of tasks, including working with the Virginia Coastal Policy Center (VCPC), a part of William & Mary Law School that provides science-based legal and policy analysis of ecological issues affecting the state’s coastal resources. He will help the VCPC better reach their audience and optimize their goals.
“Delivering a clear and easily digestible message to the people who care about the work the Virginia Coastal Center is the main goal of this project,” says Patrick. “We have to get people excited about the work being done by the Center to expand our audience.”
Patrick hails from Richmond and will graduate from William & Mary in 2017 with degrees in biology and business. After, he plans to work in the pharmaceutical industry.
Emma Fass
As a life-long resident of the lower peninsula of Virginia, Emma Fass understands the importance of not just researching how to make the Chesapeake Bay more sustainable but also translating results to local citizens.
“I grew up taking field trips to the Bay and learning about efforts to restore it. Now I would like to do my part in educating citizens,” says Emma.
Emma will serve as a Summer Science Writing Intern with Virginia Sea Grant and learn just how to keep locals and decision makers in the know. She will write articles about current and past research efforts as well as write bios about the folks that make it all happen. She says, “I really cherish this opportunity as a way to help people better understand their environment and as a chance for me to learn how to translate such academic work into an article that can excite non-scientists and policymakers.”
Emma is a student in the School of Engineering and Applied Science at the University of Virginia. She plans on graduating with an undergraduate degree in computer science and a minor in business in 2018. She hopes to apply the communication skills she learns this summer to engineering fields in the future.
Jugal Patel
Jugal Patel began working on the issue of sea-level rise at the Social Science Research Center of Old Dominion University by interviewing residents of Portsmouth, Virginia about flooding and how sea-level rise affects them. Now, as a Student Correspondent with Virginia Sea Grant, he can see the issue from a new perspective: that of the professionals addressing adaptation.
“The most interesting thing about my work is being able to watch people that are really talented in their own fields apply their knowledge and skills to something completely new,” he says. “These scientists, engineers, economists, and landscape architects, people that don’t always work together, have to address adaptation and try make this a more resilient community.”
Jugal has been covering events such as Hampton Roads Adaptation Forums, Dutch Dialogues, and the development of an adaptation plan for Norfolk’s Chesterfield Heights community. All of these brought diverse professionals together. Jugal says everyone from ecologists to city-planners convene and talk about the current state of the science and adaptation and the pros and cons of different adaptation options.
“I’m someone that is generally interested in learning so this is a good way to do that; I get to learn about a whole variety of fields in doing this,” he says.
Jugal will graduate from ODU in 2016 with a double major in political science and philosophy. He hopes to continue working with sea-level rise in the future, though he is still determining in what capacity that will be.
