Christian Stuit, SEAS ’27, Lochiel Lake, Nova Scotia, Canada
Since coming to Penn, I knew I wanted to start undergraduate research the summer after my freshman year. However, even after presentations and videos and scrolling through CURF’s research directory, I still had no idea what to expect. After seeing that even the small portion of projects I’d seen was saturated with interesting descriptions, I forced myself to pick a handful of groups I found most appealing and apply. This is how I came to spend my summer working in oceanography research, alongside Dr. John Spiesberger and six other undergraduates.
The first time I read his project’s description, I was doubly captivated. Firstly, because a younger version of myself knew he wanted to work in marine science. Finding out that his project focused on the location of whales via their calls brought back a fascination that had faded from his ever-shifting future goals. Secondly, because the work promised to have a heavy focus on computer programming. Not only do I find programming extremely interesting, but I know that having a strong foundation in coding will go a long way when applying to future opportunities. What the experience was actually like exceeded any of my then-held expectations.
Despite the work being software-centered, it was strongly tied to marine science from the very beginning. This summer, we focused on two endangered species of whales: fin whales and right whales. The ability to accurately locate whales is highly valuable in conservation efforts. By better understanding how they behave and where they travel, we can more effectively protect them and reduce negative influences from various human interactions. A notable example is found in off-shore wind farm companies, who can use this data to reduce harm to the ecosystem in the generation of renewable energy.
We did have a number of days near the beginning of summer where we were performing pen-and-paper derivations of physics formulae to understand the basic ideas behind Dr. Spiesberger’s work, but most days were spent writing “lego blocks” of code in MATLAB and Python. I learned how to work in parallel with the others to build a software repository, where each of us would write programs to fill a piece of the current puzzle. Sometimes the programs we wrote were fundamentally connected to each other, and we would spend hours with blackboards and Google Docs bouncing around ideas, collaboratively planning out how our contributions would work in tandem to achieve the current goal. Other times, one of us might work on a completely separate set of programs, accomplishing successive goals along a path that may be completed before ever rejoining the others.
Beyond the day-to-day work, Dr. Spiesberger invited a number of experts in related fields to share their work with us and answer questions via Zoom. We listened to presentations on the assessment of coastal vulnerabilities in Caribbean islands, acoustic modeling of the ocean, research on the Arctic ice caps, and available funding for general research in oceanography. Despite our hybrid work environment, Dr. Spiesberger made sure to keep us connected. Though this often took the form of us going as a group somewhere for a longer lunch break, one time we even took an afternoon to watch a movie!
All in all, the summer was thoroughly enjoyable. The overall difficulty wasn’t excessively overwhelming, but definitely pushed both my coding and non-coding problem-solving skills into a state of growth. I had the chance to learn fascinating things about ocean acoustics and how it can be applied to locating whales, as well as the bonus material from the guest speakers. It was inspiring to see how our mentor cared about his work, and I definitely appreciated his constant efforts to ensure the group dynamic was of teammates working together, not simply following the directions of a supervisor. I hope to continue working with him this school year, and am excited to see what comes next.
This is part of a series of posts by recipients of the 2024 Career Services Summer Funding Grant. We’ve asked funding recipients to reflect on their summer experiences and talk about the industries in which they spent their summer. You can read the entire series here
