Looking at a jellyfish is like looking into the ancient past. Survivors from the late Precambrian Era, these organisms lived in an environment completely alien to the wide swath of modern Earth. They thrived during a time when the waters of our planet were largely anoxic, the lack of oxygen making them inhospitable to most animals existing today.
Natalie Kozlowsk, a third-year Santa Rosa Junior College student, spent last summer working with Keira Monuki, a 5th-year PhD candidate looking at how various populations of the marine snail Acanthinucella spirata that were captured have grown under controlled conditions as well as separate hot and cold treatments.
Carolyn Lundquist, Ph.D. ’00, prompted by a high school career test, studied communication at UCLA, until an elective completely changed her path, leading her to eventually settle thousands of miles from her native California.
Jack Dalton participated in a summer internship at the Bodega Marine Lab and learned many new skills and gained experience working on a project measuring how much oxygen urchins from different tidal zones consume.
Alina Santamaria, an SRJC student transferring to UC Berkeley in Fall 2024 and majoring in Molecular and Cell Biology is interested in cell biology and hopes to one day pursue a career as a medical doctor. During the Summer of 2024, Alina interned in the White Abalone Captive Breeding Lab.
Elijah Lewin, a Santa Rosa Junior College student majoring in biology and planning on transferring to CSU Monterey Bay in 2025, worked with mentors Robin Roettger and Nicholas Trautman in the Coastal Oceanography Group last summer.
Last summer, Cabrilla Wiecek gained hands-on experience in conservation and land stewardship at the Bodega Marine Laboratory under the guidance of Luis Morales, a reserve steward on the Bodega Marine Reserve.
Parker Stagnoli is a 2nd year student at SRJC majoring in molecular biology. He spent last summer working with mentor Molly Engelbrecht, BML's librarian, as part of the SRJC-BML Internship Program.
Jackson Hargreaves is a 23-year-old biology student at SRJC, aspiring to transfer to UC Davis to pursue a bachelor’s degree in environmental toxicology. As a student, Jackson is passionate about self-sustaining systems and applied sciences.
Scientists at the UC Davis Coastal and Marine Sciences Institute discuss how their research informs and is influenced by policy, illustrating the complex relationship between science, management, and decision-making.