Summer program gives students first research experience
Photo: Bing Huey
Tre Landry, foreground, a sophomore from Georgia State University and KeChaunte Johnson, a graduate student at SF State, prepare a plankton tow sample for microscopic examination at the Romberg Tiburon Center for Environmental Studies (RTC) as part of the Center's annual Summer Biological Research in Ecological and Evolutionary Developmental Biology (BREED) program. The program is funded though the National Science Foundation's Research Experience for Undergraduates initiative and aims to provide students from diverse backgrounds with their first research experience. During the 10-week program, interns participate in research projects with SF State faculty mentors and, at its conclusion, formally present their work. Students admitted to this highly competitive program are supported by NSF stipends and participate in an initial orientation to local environments and research approaches from field to lab.
Photo: Sarah Cohen
Below, Emily King, a summer intern from California State University, Monterey Bay, participates in an intertidal sea star survey along the coast of the Pacific Ocean just minutes from the SF State campus. The survey is part of a broader project to track intertidal sea star population changes following an epidemic that killed off most local sea stars.
To learn more about the BREED program at RTC, visit http://rtc.sfsu.edu/grad_studies/rtc_reu.htm