Science Starts Here: MBL Sets Early-Career Scientists Up for Success
Science starts here. The Marine Biological Laboratory has a long track record of setting scientists up for success, and a recent cohort of NSF Graduate Research Fellows showcases the merits of pursuing research and education at the MBL.
Nine early-career scientists with ties to the MBL received prestigious NSF Graduate Research Fellowship awards that will fund their research going forward.
Of the nine honored with the awards, one was a former undergraduate researcher at the MBL, Abigail Trocinski, who received a fellowship award in the life sciences organismal biology field.
Three other NSF awardees were former alumni of the University of Chicago Quarter Course. Phoebe Hall received a fellowship award in the field of life sciences - evolutionary biology, Sarah Weber received a fellowship award in life sciences – neurosciences, and Charlotte Wallsten who received a fellowship award in the life science ecology field.
Wallsten said her time at the MBL made her a stronger applicant for the NSF Graduate Research Fellowship. When I “went to the MBL, I felt like a scientist,” Wallsten recalls, “Before that I felt like a student, and I was learning a ton, but I didn't know what it felt like to be a scientist. At the MBL, I learned how to ask questions, to adapt to new systems, and how to work with other scientists. We were given the tools to explore a system, and then we learned how to apply the tools to our own questions.”
When she starts graduate school next year Wallsten plans to “try to emulate the community that I saw at the MBL,” because “the MBL modeled what I want for my future.”
Two NSF Graduate Research Fellowship awardees were former Teaching Assistants at the MBL. Rose Faucher, a former TA in the MBL’s Molecular and Cell Biology of Symbiosis course received a fellowship award in the life sciences microbial biology field, and Katrina White, a former TA in the MBL’s Neurobiology: Mechanisms & Advanced Approaches course received a fellowship award in the life sciences cell biology field.
White, now a first year PhD student in Molecular and Cell Biology at UC Berkley says “the environment at the MBL is very contagious in terms of loving the science and putting everything into the science.”
The MBL “definitely played a role in in me continuing with science,” White said “I was inspired by everyone. And I think it's a big reason why I went to grad school, because I saw how fun it could be, and how cool the people were, and how close knit of a community science could be.”
Two other NSF awardees were former Education Associates at the MBL. Niranjan Joshi, a former Education Associate with the MBL’s Frontiers in Reproduction: Molecular and Cellular Concepts and Applications course received a fellowship award in the life science developmental biology field.
Elizabeth Oliver, another former Education Associate received a fellowship award in the geoscience marine ecology field. Of her time with the MBL’s REU Program, Oliver, who is now a first year Master's student at the Virginia Institute of Marine Science at William and Mary says that her time doing field work at the MBL helped curate her NSF application.
The work funded by her fellowship will have her returning to Woods Hole. Oliver looks forward to her return, saying “Everyone's just so pleasant and willing to learn about your research. They're there to make your project better. And that's the best feeling you can have.”
Another NSF awardee, Jessica Wilkins, who received a fellowship award in the life sciences developmental biology field will also be at the MBL this summer as a Whitman Center Graduate Student with Jake Warner, a Whitman Fellow.
Here at the MBL we are proud to have played a role in the careers of each of these bright young scientists, and we look forward to continuing the tradition of offering unique opportunities for early-career scientists for years to come.