WWU Marine Geochemistry Lab Intern

The purpose of my internship was assisting in the research project of one of his graduate students, Jessica Scotten. Jessica acted as my main advisor and mentor throughout the internship, with occasional check-ins with Dr. Shull. The focus of the project was to quantify the amount of nitrogen sequestered in the sediment surrounding major agricultural areas. In fact, Jessica's project is partially funded by the Padilla Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve with the main goal of finding out how much nitrogen gets into the surrounding sediment from agricultural runoff. The larger theme of this project is tackling Puget Sound's nitrogen problem. Waste water from agricultural runoff and wastewater treatment plants have dissolved nutrients (nitrogen being the main focus of our project) which in excess can cause eutrophication, leading to bottom-water hypoxia. Through this research we hope to collect data to put on paper the amount of nutrients escaping through these routes, the potential damage it is causing, and in the future contribute to a solution for this problem. I assisted Jessica and Dr. Shull by conducting and assisting in lab work and field work throughout the summer. This was a very enriching experience and was a great way to gain experience working in a professional research environment.