Martín Benavides is a PhD student in Marine Sciences at UNC Chapel Hill. His research focuses on the variability of coastal shark communities in both time and space. He is also interested in the movement ecology of sharks in estuarine systems. Martín is a proud father of two boys and provides a unique prospective to … Continue reading
Before writing this post, I did a quick search of UNdertheC looking for any hits related to ‘citizen science’, and surprisingly, nothing came up. I guess this means this will be the first post, tangentially related, to what is known as citizen science. So what is citizen science? The formal definition is: ‘the collection and … Continue reading
Here at UNC Marine Sciences, we have a really cool program that allows graduate students in the department to nominate and then select a seminar speaker to come to the university and give a talk. It’s a unique opportunity for students to select a speaker that not only conducts interesting, world-class research but that also … Continue reading
Every year scientists from around the world visit Antarctica to study a variety of aspects of the world’s southern sea. On President Obama’s inauguration day in 2009, scientists from the Palmer Long Term Ecological Research Station first visited their new sampling location on the West Antarctic Peninsula. In honor of the new president they named the station … Continue reading
Ever wonder what our most popular post of all time is here at UNdertheC? It’s this piece which is essentially a doom and gloom piece I wrote about what would happen to the world if the oceans “died.” In other words, this is what will happen if we do not change our ways, culture, decisions, … Continue reading
Funding. The single most dreaded word for any aspiring scientist and one that conjures up a nightmare of thoughts, tangents, and spontaneous sweating. But, it’s something we have to deal with, we have to talk about, and we have to find. Fellow UNdertheC writer, Justin, has complied a great post about Where to find funding … Continue reading
Hi UndertheC readers! My name is Olivia, I am a new grad student at UNC and will be contributing periodic posts. Anyone who has done field work knows that even simple projects can easily go awry (not familiar? Check out Marooned at “C”) . For my first post I want to share some knowledge and … Continue reading
If you’ve been reading UNdertheC for while, then you know that I study coral reefs (specifically those in the Caribbean). If this is your first time here, welcome! Tell your friends 🙂 As the 4th year of my PhD dawns here at UNC, the first chapter of my dissertation work has finally been published in … Continue reading
Does your blog seem a little sluggish? Wishing you could ditch the coal-burning furnace keeping the internet connection blinking? Worried that your blog’s carbon footprint is embarrassingly large considering it doesn’t even have feet? My fellow blogger, you need some renewable energy, which means it’s probably time to call on Megan Schutt. Megan has been … Continue reading
Science grad students are asked terrifying questions on the regular, but the very worst one comes from our moms. It’s usually tacked onto an otherwise innocent conversation, when Mom will casually pause and say, “Honey, your latest oxygen flux data are truly fascinating! By the way, have you met anyone lately?” It’s enough to make … Continue reading
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