| UC Toxics News: Fall 2005
On a foggy September night, four graduate students lowered themselves into kayaks and paddled out to the end of Spud Point Marina in Bodega Bay holding a hollow plastic square dotted with red fingernail polish. Their goal was to measure the height of the intertidal zone on pilings by counting barnacles and limpets. This was one of many field and lab experiments exploring the toxicity of creosote pilings and their effect on marine organisms during a course organized by the Coastal Toxicology Lead Campus. For the past 7 years, a diverse array of graduate students have attended this week-long multidisciplinary course at the Bodega Marine Laboratory where they apply toxicology, chemistry and ecology to a real-world problem. This fall marked the final course, as the funding for the Coastal Toxicology program ends in June. The ten graduate students participating in this year’s course presented the results of their work in a mini-symposium during a weekend retreat following the course. Everyone associated with the lead campus was invited to attend the retreat and this year proved a good turnout with students and faculty from each campus involved, the TSR&TP Director’s Office, the UC Office of the President and current and former trainees. Faculty applauded the student efforts and urged them to think critically about the conclusions they had drawn. There were questions and discussions of where this study fits into the bigger picture. Russ Flegal, the lead investigator from UC Santa Cruz reminded the students that it’s important for scientists to learn to communicate results to researchers in other disciplines, but also to the public, beyond the journal articles and out into general relevance. Russ Schmitt, director of the Coastal Toxicology Lead Campus stressed that these classes are meant to get students thinking on a very different level and to help them get outside chosen disciplines to talk with other scientists.
Following the student presentations, Russ Schmitt talked about the legacy the Coastal Toxicology program will leave behind. Seven UC campuses, 45 faculty, and 288 trainees have been involved in the program since its inception in 1989. Schmitt thanked the lead investigators from each campus and especially those who volunteered their time to organize and mentor the Coastal Toxicology course at Bodega. He said not only have these people given a lot, they have become personal friends, and this applies to the students in the program as well. Schmitt’s final message to the students: the people you interact with in the program will help you in your future careers. Three afternoon speakers wrapped up the retreat. Former TSR&TP Director Jerry Last talked about his Fogarty research program in South America that grew out of his experiences with the TSR&TP. Previous TSR&TP trainees Craig Osenberg, now a Professor of Zoology at the University of Florida, and Y. Meriah Arias-Thode, now a microbiologist at SPAWAR, a U.S. Navy research center in San Diego talked about how their connections with the TSR&TP helped shape their careers and still influence their research. Arias-Thode's talk was titled “UC Toxics: What Hasn’t It Done for Me Lately”. She said that her participation in the Coastal Toxicology program has provided her with invaluable connections that she has been able to draw on over the years of her education and beyond. |
