Internships

The Center for Applied Aquatic Ecology offers internships in aquatic research for high school, college undergrads, foreign exchange students, and graduate students.

The NCSU chapter of IAESTE (International Association for the Exchange of Students for Technical Expertise) has sponsored 23 students over the past three years. The Center for Applied Aquatic Ecology has had the privilege of working with two IASTE interns over the last several years. Examples:

• David Tómas Davidsson joined us from Iceland as an IASTE intern to assist with the identification and quantification of microalgae in water samples collected from the Neuse River Estuary. His efforts contributed to a recent publication which documented the dynamics of a winter dinoflagellate bloom in this system. In addition, David gained valuable experience dealing with the collection and processing of samples, analytical “wet” chemistry, and advanced microscopic techniques.

• Freydís Vigfussdöttir was the second sponsored intern from Iceland. Her research project examined burrowing activities of northern quahogs, Mercenaria mercenaria, when exposed to several species of toxigenic algae. This research was presented as a poster at the XI International Conference on Harmful Algae convened in Cape Town, South Africa).