LCSG Sea Grant Scholars Program Supports Internships Within and Outside of Lake Champlain Basin

LCSG’s fourth cohort of Sea Grant Scholars at the University of Vermont spent their summers as interns with LCSG and partners across the country. These experiences varied from working with LCSG staff to carry out the BLUE stormwater property site assessment program to working in California on a Long-Term Ecological Research project to assessing water quality with researchers in Missouri to leading student education programs with Boston Harbor Now & The Stone Living Lab.

“I think one of the most meaningful components of our Sea Grant Scholars program is the opportunity for these students to engage in summer internships that align with their interest areas,” said Kris Stepenuck. “Hearing the experiences the students have had and how those experiences have influenced their career pathways at summer’s end is a highlight of this program for me.”

Noelle Hasan, one of the 2024-25 Sea Grant Scholars is a University of Vermont senior studying environmental science with a water resources concentration and a geospatial technologies minor. She spent her summer internship on the coasts of California.

“This summer, I had the incredible opportunity to join the California Current Ecosystem Long-Term Ecological Research (CCE-LTER) REU program at Scripps Institution of Oceanography,” shared Noelle. “During my time in the marine trace element lab, I studied iron, a limiting nutrient in the ocean and key driver of phytoplankton growth and the global carbon cycle. I measured trace iron concentrations in total dissolvable iron samples that were collected from a diverse range of sites, such as the Santa Barbara Basin, twelve benthic boundary layer stations, and multi-day cycle experiments tracking particular water parcels. My analyses explored how potentially bioavailable iron varies across different environments, offering fascinating insight into how such a tiny and limited nutrient drives major processes like primary production and climate regulation.”

Not only did Noelle learn technical lab skills, but the experience provided critical professional development as she moves forward in her career. “Beyond the research, this summer was truly transformative for both my personal and professional development,” she said. “The joy I had grew each day as I developed a rhythm and immersed myself in the importance of the work. The connections I made with my mentor and fellow interns continue to shape how I envision my future career, one that prioritizes community, collaboration, and curiosity. I left the program with a newfound passion for marine science, deeper confidence as a researcher, and inspiration to continue my journey in this field.”

Another Sea Grant Scholar, Jasmine Perez, a senior environmental studies major, shares her experience working with the Stone Living Lab in the Boston Harbor.

“I have a greater desire to work in environmental education professionally post-grad,” said Jasmine. “I really enjoy that I get to engage with a wide array of people across local, state, and federal agencies. Looking back, the highlights of my internship have to be the various field trips I went on. From MIMIC surveys in Beverly, to eelgrass monitoring in Salem, I have truly enjoyed how this internship has allowed me to explore so much of Boston and the greater Boston area.”

Jasmine was able to create and develop science communications tools through the internship that were meaningful to her and her colleagues. “The Stone Living Lab Climate Collages project was inspired by my thinking about the various barriers to access when it comes to critical scientific information surrounding the environment and natural world,” she shared. “Whether that is language and the ways that this information is riddled with hard-to-understand jargon, to the financial barriers of accessing this information in the first place, I sought to bridge that gap through this creative activity.”

View a digital collection of the collages that Jasmine and her colleagues made for this project.

After their internships, each Scholar presented their experience to the LCSG team and shared how it shaped their future plans. The LCSG Sea Grant Scholars program is taking a break this academic year, but we hope to provide this opportunity in future years to University of Vermont undergraduate students. Learn more about the scholarship and other LCSG undergraduate opportunities.