Hometown: Wilton, Connecticut
Intended Major: Double major in geology and environmental analysis
Peak Pomona Experience: Participating in a one-month oceanographic research cruise from San Diego to Hawaii to study the role of nutrients in the ocean.
How it happened: I took an Intro to Geology class taught by Professor Maria Prokopenko, with a focus on oceanography. One day she mentioned she would be at sea for a month doing research this summer in the North Pacific. I went up to her after class and asked if she was looking to take any students. She was!
Onboard: There were scientists and grad students from the University of New Hampshire, University of Minnesota, Texas A&M, USC and Scripps Institute of Oceanography at UC Diego. Charlotte Renner PZ ’27 and I were the only undergrads.
A typical day: We would start sampling water around 7 a.m. and wrap up close to 8 p.m. When we were traveling to another station, it was more relaxed, and our only responsibility was to collect samples of surface water every four hours. On those days, we got to do recreational activities like fishing. One of the crew members was from Hawaii and she gave us lessons in hula and Hawaiian culture.
Takeaway #1: There were a couple of times where people would notice something interesting in the water and say, ‘OK, let’s go run an experiment.’ I thought that excitement and willingness to explore things they didn’t understand was really cool.
Takeaway #2: At the beginning I felt nervous and didn’t ask too many questions. As I became more comfortable, when something confused me, I would talk to people, and sometimes it turned out they didn’t understand it either. Asking questions benefited everyone because then we had more things to explore and discuss.
Takeaway #3: I learned just how much we don’t know about the ocean. I was reminded how vast and important it is.
By the numbers: Charlotte and I did a tally of how many liters of water we filtered to see how much we had accomplished. We estimated around 2,600 liters.
Post-Pomona: This experience has solidified my interest in geology and made me consider going to grad school for oceanography. A lot of the time I was there, I was thinking I could totally see myself doing this as a career, so that’s a great insight to have.