2017 Summer Internship Program

Joey Bell

Mentor: Andy James

Restoring Shellfish Beds in the Puget Sound
We are collecting water samples at different creeks in King county and Pierce county that lead to the Puget Sound. Our goal is to identify creeks with high concentrations of fecal coliform so that those creeks can be treated and the shellfish in the Puget Sound can be harvested once again.

Shannon Black

Mentor: Julie Masura

Microplastics Sampling

For our research project, we are sampling microplastics in the Puyallup River Watershed. We are currently determining the best method to sample in freshwater, as the majority of plastics research is in the ocean. We will be sampling at the top of the watershed near the glaciers and sampling down through the Puyallup River Watershed to determine point sources of plastics and sampling approximately every 5 miles of the Puyallup River.

Jessica Kelsey

Mentor: Julie Masura

Microplastics Sampling

For our research project, we are sampling microplastics in the Puyallup River Watershed. We are currently determining the best method to sample in freshwater, as the majority of plastics research is in the ocean. We will be sampling at the top of the watershed near the glaciers and sampling down through the Puyallup River Watershed to determine point sources of plastics and sampling approximately every 5 miles of the Puyallup River.

Alyssa Kraft

Mentor: John Stark

Neonicotinoid Insecticide Effects on C. dubia

I’m working with Claire Duchet, a postdoctoral fellow from France. I am assisting her with her research project that examines the effects of a group of insecticides called neonicotinoids on an organism called Ceriodaphnia dubia. The specific neonicotinoids being used are Clothianidin, Imidacloprid, Thiamethoxam and a mix of all three. The experiment involves subjecting adult and neonate C. dubia to specific concentrations of the pesticides listed above and examine the survival/mortality rate using a population study. I am also assisting her and her colleague on examining the effects of stormwater runoff on C. dubia. In the future, I may also be assisting a few researchers in the fish lab, with their experiments on Coho salmon.

Marion LaRocque

Mentor: David Hirschberg

Modeling the Health Effects of Arsenic

My project is to model concentrations arsenic in the South Sound through groundwater and soil over the last two decades and the relationship with the number of cases of hospitalization for arsenic poisoning. Our goal is to ultimately determine the impact on healthcare and thus show how an arsenic detecting machine could be used as a tool in determining arsenic concentrations in high population areas.

Peter Lin

Mentor: Ed Kolodziej

Pre-spawn Mortality in Coho Salmon

The project that I am helping with is looking into the toxic compounds in stormwater runoff that leads to Pre-spawn Mortality of Coho Salmon. The goal is to identify specific compounds or mixtures in the stormwater that causes Pre-spawn Mortality and come up with solutions that can save Coho Salmon in urban streams. So far, we collected stormwater runoff from a DOT bioswale off WA-518 and currently running it through Q-TOF (high-resolution mass spectrometer) to identify the compounds in the runoff water.

Kimberly Oliva-Membreno

Mentor: Andy James

Restoring Shellfish Beds in the Puget Sound
We are collecting water samples at different creeks in King county and Pierce county that lead to the Puget Sound. Our goal is to identify creeks with high concentrations of fecal coliform so that those creeks can be treated and the shellfish in the Puget Sound can be harvested once again.

Michael Sears

Mentor: Robin Evans-Agnew

Air Monitoring System for the CUW

I am working with Dr. Robin Evans-Agnew to establish an air monitoring system on the roof of the CUW with the intent of conducting a long-term citizen science project. This would not only allow people in the Tacoma Tideflats to participate in air data sampling but it will also provide supplemental data concerning air pollution in the Tideflats.  The air monitoring system will not be just a fixed station of instruments. Instead, it will be the network by which the citizen science project will be conducted. This will include obtaining mobile air samplers, hosting community awareness events, and partnering with coalitions in Tacoma.

Melissa Stebbins

Mentor: David Hirschberg

Sara Stewart

Mentor: Tom Koontz

Utilization of Science Within Collaborative Partnerships

Our research is focused on how collaborative partnerships around the Puget Sound utilize science in their decision-making. We are contacting partnerships around the Sound, scheduling focus-group interviews with members, and attending their partnership meetings. This will allow us to have a holistic approach to understanding how environmental groups function and how they utilize science to drive their programs.

Claire Wiley

Mentor: Nick Georgiadis

Streamflow Variation

We are looking at streamflows and how they affect their surrounding areas. Some of this has involved reading journals and papers written by academics who have dealt with streamflow, but most of it has involved sifting through the data that exists already (provided by the USGS). We basically want to take this data and find simple ways to inform the public about how streamflow variation affect local characteristics. Recently, I have been trying to summarize the data annually to see if there is a trend among years. From here, I am working on taking these trends and compiling them with their mean streamflow over the entire time period along with the correlation coefficient. Having this data in a compact way will allow us to compare streams to each other as well as seeing the effect of individual streamflows over time.

Christopher Wu

Mentor: Ed Kolodziej

Pre-spawn Mortality in Coho Salmon

The research project I am working on involves the phenomenon of pre-spawn mortality among Coho salmon in urban streams. Studies have found that there is a correlation between the percentage of impermeable surface cover on a watershed and the mortality rate in spawning salmon populations. Strikingly, in some streams, the mortality rate is high enough that the Coho salmon are predicted to go extinct within a matter of decades, if not sooner. The question, then, that we are trying to answer is: what compound in urban stormwater runoff is killing Coho salmon prior to them spawning? Using the Quadrupole Time of Flight Liquid Chromatography/ Mass Spectrometer, we have been analyzing stormwater samples and fish tissue extractions in the hope of identifying the compound(s) that have been causing pre-spawn mortality in Coho salmon.