SES Students & Projects
The structured laboratory experiences and techniques of the core courses and electives set the stage for what many students consider to be the most rewarding part of the SES program, the independent research projects. During the last five weeks of the course, students are able to devote full time to a project of their choosing. The project gives students a chance to work independently, although they are supported by a main advisor, a Principal Investigator (PI) at the MBL Ecosystems Center or MBL Josephine Bay Paul Center. Many students collaborate with their peers on their projects and may have the opportunity to work with a PI at other Woods Hole research institutions such as Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) or Woodwell Climate Research Center. Students have access to Ecosystems Center facilities and equipment as well as access to MBL field sites such as the Harvard Forest LTER or Plum Island Ecosystems LTER.
Depending on their interests and background, students may have the opportunity to work jointly with local conservation organizations and government agencies on environmental studies that effect our local land, water and coastal ecosystems on Cape Cod. Some projects, like Wheaton College student Kristy Sullivan’s 2016 project on toxic algae in Falmouth waters make the local headlines.
In December, SES students present their research projects in a formal videotaped symposium before their classmates, mentors and guests, and the Ecosystems Center’s and MBL’s scientific staff.
This event is open to the general public as well as local project collaborators and represents the culmination of the students last five weeks of independent field and laboratory research, observations and data analysis. For many it is the first time they have ever given a formal public presentation and a great introduction into communicating and defending scientific study and discoveries in front of a local friendly scientific community.
SES Class of 2022
Video: 2022 Semester in Environmental Science Presentations
2022 SES Student | College | Project |
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Jake Ackerman | Rhodes College | Bioaccumulation of Microplastics Along a Gradient Of Urbanization And Potential Effects on Ribbed Mussel Respiration And Feeding Rates |
Mackenzie Allinson | Grinnell College | Tracing Groundwater Contamination in Little Sippewissett Marsh Using Nutrient Analysis of Groundwater and Stable N-isotope Analysis in Biomass |
Kristen Beach | Dickinson College | Effects of Environmental Stressors on Sargassum |
Olivia Grobmyer | University of Chicago | The Effect of Wetland Restoration on Nitrogen Removal |
Danya Hammoudeh | Xavier University of Louisiana | Desiccation Tolerance and Reactive Oxygen Species in Nostoc Cyanobacteria |
Catherine Updegraff | Northwestern University | Toxicological Effects of Oxybenzone on Two species of Stony Corals and Their Endosymbionts |
Eleanor Meng | Lawrence University | Variability of Zostera marina Traits Across a Wastewater Pollution Nutrient Gradient |
Ellie Sangree | Hamilton College | Modeling Nitrogen Transformation and Oxygen Dynamics in an Intermittently Drained Floating Treatment Wetland in a Mesocosm Saltwater Experiment |
A Jordan | Colorado College | Little Pond Sediment Cores: A Primary Productivity Peer through Time |
Yuyang Wang | Mount Holyoke College | Understanding the Outcome of Competition Between Spartina alterniflora and Phragmites australis using a Model and Field Collected Data |
Grady Welsh | Middlebury College | Simulating Salt Marsh Drought Conditions: Effects of Salinity on Sporobolus alterniflorus in a Greenhouse Environment |
Keiona Williams | Colgate University | Geomorphological Responses to Sea Level Rise and the Impacts on Carbon Burial in Cape Cod Salt Marsh |
SES Class of 2021
Video: 2021 Semester in Environmental Science Presentations
2021 SES Student | College | Project |
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Lily Agnacian | University of Chicago | Effects of Temperature on Bioreactor Denitrification Technology for Effluent Wastewater and Algal Growth Response |
Dena Ahmed | Amherst College | Little Pond Project: Assessing Municipal Sewering Impacts on a Coastal Estuary |
Meg Alberding | Wesleyan University | Life Cycle Responses of Brachionus Rotifers to Nitrogen Loading Scenarios |
Alice Ball | Connecticut College | Investigating Feeding Rates of the Northern Star Coral, Astrangia poculata, on Microplastics |
Nick Beltramini | Oberlin College | The Role of Alosa pseudoharengus in Methylmercury Bioaccumulation within Cape Cod Kettle Pond |
Lilja Carden | University of Chicago | Historical Effects of Nitrogen Eutrophication on Mollusk Communities |
Gwyneth Crossman | Oberlin College | Nitrogen Up the Food Chain: Examining the Effects of Nitrogen Loading on Dietary Nitrogen of Branta canadensis bogs |
Dianna Gagnon | Wheaton College | Determining Whether or Not Property Value is Indicative of Nitrogen Runoff from Fertilizer Application |
Elizabeth Greebon | Rhodes College | Potential Dietary overlap between Native Blue Crabs and Invasive Green Crabs |
Alex Hochroth | University of Chicago | Sediment Limitation for Seagrasses and Possible Solutions for Restoration |
James Hu | University of Chicago | Petrol, Pellets, Paint: Sourcing Anthropogenic Lead Pollution in Plum Island Sediments via Stable-Isotope Analysis |
Ella Lemley-Fry | Lawrence University | Investigating Dynamic Association of Soil Minerals with Organic Matter: Implications for Carbon Storage and Nutrient Cycling |
Courtney Leung | University of Chicago | The Effect of Land Use on Soil Respiration |
Marcus Mekhail | Colgate University | How does the Biogeochemical Cycling of Mercury in Aquatic Sediment dictate the Bioaccumulation of Methylmercury in the Lower Trophic Levels of Cape Cod Kettle Ponds? |
Nora O’Keefe | Trinity College | Abundance and Composition of Plastics Found in and nearby Coral Ecosystems on Cape Cod |
Leah Pendl-Robinson | Mount Holyoke College | Assessing Methane Concentrations and Methanogenic Microorganisms in a Wetland Ecosystem |
Sydney Russo | Clarkson University | Physiological impacts on Astrangia poculata: Stresses of microplastics on the Northern Star Coral |
Sunniva Sheffield | Oberlin College | The Interaction of Pharmaceutical & Personal Care Products (PPCPs) with Plastics & Associated Aquatic Biofilms Grown in Different Environments of Sider’s Pond |
Brianna Stevens | Connecticut College | Biofilm Formation on 5 Different Plastic Types in Contrasted Environments of Siders Pond Water Column |
Khanh Ton | Rhodes College | Cape Cod Heathland Community Response to Disturbances and Atmospheric Nitrogen Deposition |
Anna Warsaw | University of Chicago | Assessing Methane Concentrations and Methanotrophic Bacteria in Beaver Ponds |
Tiantian Zhu | Colorado College | The Roles of DNRA and Denitrification in Nitrogen Reduction Pathways in Coastal Sediment with the Presence/Absence of Eel Grass in Falmouth, MA |
SES Class of 2019
Video: 2019 Semester in Environmental Science Presentations
2019 SES Student
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SES Class of 2018
2018 SES Student
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SES Class of 2017
2017 SES Student
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