2025 cohort

This experiment was the highlight of the course for me, as it was a research topic I have never once considered pursuing.

We lived a true island life: barefoot, sandy, and disconnected. It was so refreshing to work on something completely different from my day-to-day molecular biology research.

I said this trip was different, and it truly was. For the first time in my scientific training, I didn’t feel like an outsider. I didn’t feel like a guest—I felt like I was returning to an old friend.

By far, the best part of the trip for me was the independent research projects. I had the freedom
to think of my own scientific question, design a sampling plan, and handle all of the fieldwork
logistics. Not only was it a ton of fun, but it was often a good challenge as well.

This whole experience showed me just how fun science can be. Ana and I were certainly on a roller coaster– planning, getting super excited about one idea… analyzing some data and realizing we were totally wrong… going back to the drawing board and coming up with another idea to get super excited about, encourage each other… then realizing, “Uh-oh—wrong again!”

Outside the classroom was where we spent most of our time. We explored the reefs framing the island and practiced skills we learned in lecture such as collecting data on coral size demography. We boated to the mangroves and snorkeled among them – I spotted blue spotted stingrays and the goby-pistol shrimp duo, which pair up to share a burrow for mutual benefit. I practiced my captaining skills nearly every day in the dinghy, including in some rough weather!

I had the privilege to experience all of this with ten other marine science students that are incredibly curious, kind, intelligent, and silly. If I had to offer advice based on what I have learned from this course - be persistent, collaborate, fall in love with your research, and have fun.

To call it just a research trip feels like an understatement—it was a full-on immersion into barefoot living, community, and coral science.

Our two weeks on Lizard Island flew by in days filled with feet bare in the sand, the winter Australian sun on our faces, and our minds poised in anticipation of what we would be taught next by the world beneath the waves.

Being told, “Take a boat and any equipment—you have six days to do any reef project you want,” is the kind of thing that makes any coral nerd’s mouth water.