Adele Irwin '15

Hometown: Essex Fells, N.J.

Major: Biology

Extracurricular Involvement:

FeelGood
Kappa Kappa Gammy sorority
Campus-Community Coalition

Off-Campus Experiences:

2012 Nantucket Surf Rescue
2013-2014 W&L Summer Scholar Researcher

Why did you apply for the Johnson Opportunity Grant? I applied for the Johnson Opportunity Grant because I wanted to be able to return to Belize this summer with Professor Greer and I was in need of additional funds. We got really interesting results the prior summer, and I was eager to complete the genetic component of the research on the reefs.

How does your work under the grant apply to your studies at W&L? All of the research that I accomplished with the help of my Johnson Opportunity Grant will provide the basis for my Honor Thesis in Biology. The data collected this summer is crucial to the success of my thesis and would not have been attainable without the help of this grant.

What was the most unexpected aspect of your grant experience? The most unexpected aspect was definitely how close I became with the other researchers in Belize. I travelled there with a group of 11 Geology students and four professors (including Professor Greer) from various schools across the country, only knowing one of them before hand. We all had a great time together and were great co-workers in the field and in the lab.

Post-Graduation Plans: I currently plan on taking a year or two off and then applying to graduate school to continue my studies in marine biology and conservation.

Why did you choose W&L? I chose W&L because alums and students that I knew and was very close to were--and are--some of my greatest role models. I figured that if so many people that I admired and loved had such amazing experiences here, then it must be a great place.

Two years ago, during my sophomore year, I approached Professor Humston in the biology department about how to pursue my interest in marine biology. He asked me which area of marine biology I was most interested in, and when I told him that it was coral reef,s he smiled and said that his wife, Professor Greer in the geology department, studied coral reefs and was looking for a biology student to begin a project on the genetics of her study site. She took me on as a student researcher, and I couldn't have gotten any luckier.

This past summer I was fortunate enough to receive a Johnson Opportunity Grant, which allowed me to return to Belize for the second time to complete my portion of Professor Greer's ongoing project at a study site called Coral Gardens, where endangered coral species Acropora palmata and Acropora cervicornis are thriving despite their global decline. We travelled there with 11 geology students and three other professors from other schools around the country as part of a program called the Keck Geology Consortium.

We stayed at a marine lab called Trec, short for Tropical Research Education Center. This was our home base and where spent most of our time when not on the water. Each day of our three-week visit to Belize was completely different, which required a lot of planning the nights and mornings before we left. We all woke up at about 7:30 or 8:00 each morning and ate breakfast, drank coffee, and helped each other with preparations for the day's fieldwork. At around 8:45 we all walked down to the dock about ¼ mile from Trec, where we loaded up our boat with equipment and headed out to our field site for the day. Our primary research site, Coral Gardens, was our destination most days. After arriving at Coral Gardens we buddied up with dive partners, strapped on our scuba tanks and dispersed to collect samples and/or data until lunchtime. Each student focused on a different research question, so some days I helped others with their research and some days I had a small team helping me collect my samples. My sample collection consisted of small 1 cm3 snips of coral tips that I cut and stored in ethanol once arriving back on the boat. At lunchtime we ate on the boat and had a chance to take off our scuba gear to relax and regroup before entering the water again for the rest of the afternoon.

Once back at Trec, we all rinsed our gear and immediately jumped in the pool, where we socialized and had group discussions about how the day went and what tasks we had for that evening. Then everyone dispersed to either log their data on the computers, update field notebooks, organize samples, meet with peers or professors, read papers, shower, etc. Dinner was cooked and served every night by Trec's chef Maggie, who always made awesome chicken, rice, pasta, and vegetable dinners. No fish was ever served, because overfishing on the local reefs is a prevalent cause of declining fish populations and poor overall reef health. After dinner some nights we would meet in Trec's hammock garden, an area located underneath the upstairs porch with lots of hammocks and benches, where Professor Greer led discussions on assigned readings relevant to our projects. Other nights, usually those with days full of heavy data collection, were dedicated to data synthesis and sample organization.

After work we always made time for play, whether it be playing cards, pool games, or exploring town. Everyone on the trip got along very well, always helping each other with our respective projects and making our time on and off the water fun. With students and professors from Colgate, Macalester College, Beloit College, College of Wooster, Penn State, Trinity University, Oberlin College, Otterbein College, and of course W&L, everyone had new and different perspectives to bring to the table, and we made amazing peer and mentor connections in this field of research. We all still keep in close contact to continue work on our projects and to catch up. I can't wait until April, when we will all congregate in Schenectady, N.Y., at the Keck Symposium to share our results and reconnect.