Past Experiences
Port Orford Field Station has hosted many marine-related internship opportunities over the years. Below are some of the students' past experiences.
Meet our 2022 Summer Cohort! We hosted students through Oregon Sea Grant's Summer Scholars and Oregon Applied Sustainability internship programs, Hatfield Marine Science Center's REU program, OSU's College of Science SURE program, and the Marine Studies Initiative internship program. Our students researched gray whale foraging ecology, kelp forest ecology, urchin aquaculture, and juvenile fish recruitment.
OSU's GEMM (Geospatial Ecology of Marine Megafauna) Lab has completed work in Port Orford since 2015. The lab runs a project called TOPAZ- Theodolite Overlooking Predators and Zooplankton- where they monitor populations of zooplankton and track gray whale foraging behavior. To complete this work, the lab offers internships to high school and undergraduate students, a project they call JASPER- Journey for Aspiring Students Pursuing Ecological Research.
2021 Marine Studies Intern
Maddie English
Marine Reserve Interpretation
Maddie did a combination of volunteer coordinator and interpretive ranger work. She had the opportunity to experience the Redfish Rocks Marine Reserve and Marine Protected Area (MPA), working to communicate the ecological and cultural aspects of the Marine Reserve and MPA to the public and visitors to Port Orford.
Internship Presentation: Maddie English - Marine Reserve Interpretation: Redfish Rocks Marine Reserve
Internship Poster: State of the Urchins: Reproductive Analysis Through Gonadal Index and Color
2020 Marine Studies Intern
Tom McCambridge
Marine Reserve Interpretation
Based at Port Orford Research Station, Tom created a video and social media products for nonscientific audiences to increase awareness of the scientific research in the Red Rocks Marine Reserve. He experienced the research first-hand by assisting the grey whale, intertidal and sustainable seafood teams at POFS. Did this internship change this marine biology and chemistry student’s career plans? “Absolutely. I love the idea of doing research for a living, but the day-to-day activity and impact of science communication sounds more fulfilling than research. As research becomes more and more of a collaborative undertaking, I could see myself being in a role of communicator on a research team.”
Internship Poster: Redfish Rocks Marine Reserve- Experience the Reserve to Interpret the Reserve
Internship Presentation: Redfish Rocks Marine Reserve Interpretation
Redfish Rocks Marine Reserve Video: What makes Redfish Rocks Marine Reserve special?