The Marine Biological Laboratory's Semester in Environmental Science held the 25th annual Student Independent Research Symposium in Clapp Auditorium on Friday, December 16, 2022.

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Students who participated in the semester-long study abroad course presented the culmination of their independent research projects in 15-minute talks over the course of the day. Please join us in celebrating the hard work of these diligent students in this annual education event.

The scheduled presentations for the day are as follows:

8:30 – 8:40 am: Linda Hyman, Director of Education at MBL, Welcome and Introductory Remarks

8:45 – 9:00 am:  Jake Ackerman, Rhodes College
“Bioaccumulation of Microplastics Along a Gradient Of Urbanization And Potential Effects on Ribbed Mussel Respiration And Feeding Rates”

9:00 – 9:15 am:  Mackenzie Allinson, Grinnell College
“Tracing Groundwater Contamination in Little Sippewissett Marsh Using Nutrient Analysis of Groundwater and Stable N-isotope Analysis in Biomass”

9:15 – 9:30 am:  Eleanor Meng, Lawrence University
“Variability of Zostera marina Traits Across a Wastewater Pollution Nutrient Gradient”

9:30 – 9:45 am:  Kristen Beach, Dickinson College
"Effects of Environmental Stressors on Sargassum"

9:45 – 10:00 am:  Danya Hammoudeh, Xavier University of Louisiana
"Desiccation Tolerance and Reactive Oxygen Species in Nostoc Cyanobacteria"

10:00 – 10:15 am:  Catherine Updegraff, Northwestern University
“Toxicological Effects of Oxybenzone on Two species of Stony Corals and Their Endosymbionts”

10:15 – 10:45 am: COFFEE BREAK

10:45 – 11:00 am:  Olivia Grobmyer, University of Chicago
"The Effect of Wetland Restoration on Nitrogen Removal"

11:00 – 11:15 am: Ellie Sangree, Hamilton College
“Modeling Nitrogen Transformation and Oxygen Dynamics in an Intermittently Drained Floating Treatment Wetland in a Mesocosm Saltwater Experiment”

11:15 – 11:30 am: A Jordan, Colorado College
“Little Pond Sediment Cores: A Primary Productivity Peer through Time"

11:30 – 11:45 am: Yuyang Wang, Mount Holyoke College
“Understanding the Outcome of Competition Between Spartina alterniflora and Phragmites australis using a Model and Field Collected Data”

11:45 – 12:00 pm: Grady Welsh, Middlebury College
“Simulating Salt Marsh Drought Conditions: Effects of Salinity on Sporobolus alterniflorus in a Greenhouse Environment”

12:00 – 12:15 pm: Keiona Williams, Colgate University
“Geomorphological Responses to Sea Level Rise and the Impacts on Carbon Burial in Cape Cod Salt Marsh”

12:30 – 2:00 pm:  Luncheon – Meigs Room, Swope Center*

Closing: Semester Retrospective – Mirta Teichberg, SES Program Director

There will be a celebratory awards ceremony in the SWOPE Meigs Room after the symposium*.