Summer Interns Explore the Endless Possibilities of Algae

Summer Interns Explore the Endless Possibilities of Algae

Medicine. Law. Tech. Education. Finance. Algae?

Undergraduate students have a dizzying array of sectors in which to chart their career paths. These days, they can add algae innovation to the list. A summer internship program, hosted by Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences, is aiming to make that a viable path for as many students as possible.

The Maine Algal Research Infrastructure and Accelerator (MARIA) internship is an opportunity for undergraduate students from the University of New England, Southern Maine Community College, and Roger Williams University. Eight students studying marine science spent upwards of 10 weeks at Bigelow Laboratory this summer, exploring the myriad applications of algae, training in lab techniques, and getting their hands wet in applied ocean research.

"This internship has been a dream," said Jess Nordengren, who is graduating this fall from SMCC. "I've always known that my future was in the sciences, but this summer has been a glimpse into what that means in practice. I am so grateful to have had the chance to learn and grow here, and the connections I've made have only solidified my goals for the future."

"Like any internship, we're trying to help them make up their minds about the future - maybe they want to be a scientist, but maybe they want to start a company or something in between," added Mike Lomas, a senior research scientist at Bigelow Laboratory. "What we're really trying to do is get more people excited about algae and about working in this field in many different ways."

Lomas directs the Provasoli-Guillard National Center for Marine Algae and Microbiota (NCMA) and co-leads the MARIA project, which is funded by the National Science Foundation. Bringing together partners across Maine, the project aims to strengthen research infrastructure and establish the state as a hub of algae-based innovation.

Workforce development is central to those goals. The project team features multiple university partners and provides several educational opportunities in order to foster well-trained talent that is incentivized to stay in Maine.

"MARIA is trying to push algae-based ideas from the lab out into the real world, but that requires a workforce and people who know how to work with algae," said Senior Research Scientist Manoj Kamalanathan, the project's other co-lead. "We're helping create a pool of interns with the experience and expertise that companies can tap into."

The program began last year with three students from University of New England spending six weeks at the lab. It grew significantly this year with two new partners in SMCC and Roger Williams' Blue Fellows Program. New funding also enabled most students to stay 10 weeks so they could be fully integrated into the larger cohort of interns Bigelow Laboratory hosts each summer. They lived alongside each other in the residence hall, participated in social events, presented their research, and even joined for research cruises to develop field skills.

Also like the other interns, the core of the MARIA intern experience was an independent research project with a Bigelow Laboratory scientist. Through their work, they helped research groups across the lab identify useful compounds that algae produce; develop new techniques to increase algae growth; and think through how algae might be used in commercial products, biomedical research, bioenergy, environmental restoration, and more.

Each student came in with unique interests, different plans for the future, and varying levels of experience with algae.

Rising Roger Williams junior Haley Kirkpatrick, for example, had actually spent time at Bigelow Laboratory before through the Keller BLOOM program when she was in high school.

Keegan Denahey, a recent graduate from Roger Williams, had also worked with algae cultures from NCMA before.

"I knew that working with Bigelow Laboratory and NCMA would be a great opportunity to get more skills and figure out my career plans," they said. In fact, they now hope to move to Maine, saying that the new connections and exposure to industry gained through the program was invaluable.

All participants, though, say they gained valuable tangible skills - from maintaining cell cultures in the lab to coding - and a deeper appreciation for algae.

"I was really surprised at just how many opportunities there are to apply algae within so many fields," said Grace Kistner, a senior at University of New England. "This experience solidified my desire to be a scientist, but it also opened me up to the work of entrepreneurship and showed me just how much cross pollination there is between science and business."

The most valuable thing, though, Kistner says she got from the experience was confidence as a researcher. The opportunity for "low-stakes failure," she says, was incredibly empowering, an idea that many of the interns emphasized.

"I have learned to ask more questions and to be flexible and able to pivot when the science doesn't work as expected," said Judah Gradie from SMCC.

"Seeing first-hand how often obstacles and setbacks pop up in science, both in my own project and those of my fellow interns, gave me a better understanding of the field and an appreciation for the people working in it," added Lydia Jones, a recent graduate from University of New England.

It's "the beauty of science," said Kirkpatrick, who adds that her time in the Keller BLOOM program first inspired her love of the ocean, while the current internship deepened it.

"The biggest thing this internship gave me was scientific creativity and freedom, which comes with the important skill of learning to trust myself and my knowledge," she said.

These interns are just a handful of the undergraduate students being trained through the MARIA project. This summer, MARIA also ran a "microinternship" through Colby College where over 20 students across nine universities around Maine worked together virtually on small-scale, focused questions. All of these interaction points with students are helping build the human capital the state needs to move innovation forward, Lomas says.

"It's not about just training students here at Bigelow Laboratory," Kamalanathan added. "It's about creating a network and resource for companies, the state, and students all looking for the next big opportunity in algae."

Photo Captions

Photo 1: Judah Gradie and REU Opshory Choudhury visit Gloucester Marine Genomics Institute to pick up a sea urchin cell line for summer projects (Credit: José Fernández Robledo).

Photo 2: A group of MARIA and REU interns pose for a group photo.

Photo 3: Haley Kirkpatrick samples aboard the R/V Bowditch.

Photo 4: Grace Kistner participates in a research cruise (Credit: David Fields).