I am willing to bet most people have never heard of paleotempestology before. I hadn’t heard of it before I took a marine geology course. In a course I am taking this semester, we decided to reexamine the topic because a lot of individual studies are debatable. So, if the title of this post didn’t already give it …
Have you ever noticed a rip current at the beach? If you or someone you know was caught in a rip current, would you know what to do? If you’ve been paying attention to the coastal news along North Carolina recently, you may have noticed recent stories about rip currents and rip current safety. Dr. …
Having no publications to my name and only nebulous drafts of several (hopefully) publishable papers, I am not an expert on how to get published. This is why I attended a student workshop on this very topic at the 2018 ASLO summer meeting in Victoria, BC. In this workshop a panel of editors in chief …
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 …
Applications have been submitted. Recruitment weekends are near (or have already come and gone). Funding source notification dates are coming up. And most exciting of all–graduate school acceptances are around the corner. It is an exciting time to see your hard work pay off. But wait. Hold your horses. Here are some things you should …
The ocean is home to some strange and mysterious critters – including some that could give the Justice League a run for their money. From immortal invertebrates to flying fish, here are four super powered ocean animals. The one that can walk on land While there are a number of amphibious fish out there, …
The National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship (NSF GRFP) application season is here. I was fortunate enough to receive a fellowship for my application is 2017 after an unsuccessful one in 2016. From one rejected and one accepted, here is a list of resources that helped get me through it, a bit of my personal …
Most productivity gurus say that when you hit a wall, you should switch tasks. This is how I ended up reading a paper about beavers who managed to hijack a wetland restoration for their benefit. So congratulations! You’re in the right place to learn some fancy philosophy terms and think about wetlands from a whooole …
As modern marine scientists, we spend a lot of time learning to effectively communicate science to various audiences. That’s mostly so we can make friends at parties, but has some nice side benefits like educating the general public, whatever. Sometimes though, and I’m probably admitting to a cardinal sin of outreach here, there’s a certain …
This past weekend, Morehead City, home to UNC Institute of Marine Sciences, hosted the 30th Annual North Carolina Seafood Festival. It was an adventure in itself. There were rides, carnival games, locally-caught seafood, concerts and activities such as the ‘Flounder Fling.’ (Literally they toss giant flounder and not a stuffed replica of Flounder from The … Continue reading
Looking for another great platform to get your ocean science fix? Every Tuesday you can catch a brand new episode of my Ocean Allison Podcast, where I interview individuals working to better understand and protect our watery planet. Much like the creators of this blog site, I am passionate about ocean science communication. I … 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
This summer UnderTheC alum, Kelsey Ellis, and I joined the Cassar Lab from Duke University for a research cruise out of Bermuda. This was our cruise track which has striking resemblance to the Bermuda Triangle so naturally we were a little concerned about returning: The ship was the R/V Atlantic Explorer owned by the Bermuda … 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
Graduating from college can be a daunting adventure. Your friends may be getting jobs, joining the Peace Corps, or living with their parents. But maybe you’ve decided to go to grad school! Hopefully you have some clear motivations and experience for doing so. Now, how do you start? Luckily, your friends at UNdertheC have all … 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
This week officially marks one whole year here at UNC working on my master’s degree so I decided to take some time to reflect on a few broad things I learned. Hopefully this post will provide you with some perspective on graduate school and advice if you are starting soon. 1. Word soup is better … Continue reading
Today, the White House Office of Science and Technology in collaboration with other Federal agencies and private companies announced a new National Microbiome Initiative (NMI) aiming to accelerate studies on microbiome research including the ocean microbiome. Their aims are summarized in three points: Support interdisciplinary research Develop platform tecnologies Expanding the microbiome workforce This essentially … Continue reading
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