REU

National Science Foundation Award #OCE-2349136

Since 1990, The Shannon Point Marine Center has received funding from the National Science Foundation for the Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) program to support undergraduate students to conduct supervised research with a faculty advisor.

Each summer, eight selected students spent nine weeks at the Shannon Point Marine Center conducting original research with a faculty adviser. At the end of the session, students produced a written and an oral report based on the results of their work. Student research projects have addressed productivity and nutrient cycling in local watershed systems; ocean acidification; marine microbial ecology; marine chemical ecology; physiology of symbiosis; ecology and physiology of seaweeds; invertebrate larval development, physiology, ecology; and environmental toxicology.

Funding from the U.S. National Science Foundation provides participant financial support including:

• A $6300 stipend for the summer
• A $675 food allowance. Participants are responsible for purchasing and preparing their own food. There is a well-equipped kitchen facility for that purpose.
• Housing in the SPMC dormitory
• A travel allowance up to $875

2023 Program Participants, their Research and Advisors

• Jamie Berg, Northwestern University. Arctica islandica, paleoclimate trends and implications for fishery ecology (Nina Whitney, advisor)
• Liam Carvajal Janke, Bowdoin College. Embryology of surf smelt forage fish under heatwave conditions (Brady Olson, advisor) 
• Cortez Catalano, Pennsylvania State University - Brandywine. Pathology of seagrass wasting disease in green seaweeds (Morgan Eisenlord, advisor)
• Olivia Faris, Wake Forest University. The impacts of Sea Star Wasting Disease nine years after a major outbreak (Derek Smith & Nate Schwarck, advisors)
• Asher Marvy, Reed College. Productivity by light regime of cryptophyte and Synechoccocus phytoplankton in the Northern Gulf of Alaska (Suzanne Strom, advisor)
• Holden Maxfield, Colorado College, Understanding the spread of Bivalve Transmissible Neoplasia (BTN) (Jay Dimond, advisor)
• Mary Schneider, University of Florida. Meta-survey: inherent biases in SCUBA surveying techniques (Derek Smith & Nate Schwarck, advisors)
• Samantha Surks, Middlebury College. Pathology of seagrass wasting disease in green seaweeds (Kathy Van Alstyne, advisor)

Apply for the Program

Summer 2025 Program Dates: June 16 - August 15

Applicants must be U.S. citizens, U.S. nationals, or or permanent residents of the U.S. and must be enrolled in a 2- or 4- year institution of higher education. Students who have received a bachelor’s degree before the start date of the program are ineligible.

Continuing SPMC’s long-standing tradition of working with diverse students, we strongly encourage applications from underserved, underrepresented, and under-resourced groups. Applications are welcome from students at any stage of their undergraduate degree program. Questions can be addressed to spmc@wwu.edu.

Application portal will open December 15, 2024 with an application deadline of February 10, 2025.