Interesting Internships

While younger student campers made their rounds at CSI this summer, a group of twelve undergraduates made the ECU Outer Banks Campus their home for the season. The older students arrived in late May from all over the United States and stayed nearly two months as part of CSI’s undergraduate summer internship program. The competitive program, which received 42 applications, attracted students from eight different universities, including the University of Delaware, Cornell University, Virginia Tech, UCLA, Middlebury College, NC State, ECU, and UNC-Chapel Hill. Five of the twelve 2025 summer interns had participated in previous offerings at CSI, pointing to the strength of the undergraduate programs held at the coast.

Among the internships offered this summer were those focused on fisheries ecology, remote sensing, ecological modeling, environmental assessments, engineering, social sciences, and marine renewable energy. Each student was assigned a mentor and a specific set of tasks within one of these fields. Though some students often worked in the field and others worked mainly in the lab, each one received hands-on experience and professional guidance that helped shape their future career paths.

Lauren Elgin, a Charlottesville, VA, native and marine biology student at the University of Delaware, interned with Dr. Jim Morley and the Marine Fisheries Ecology Lab. Alongside lab members, Elgin assisted with various lab projects. Her favorite project involved a study exploring organismal density and abundance on oyster leases using hydrophones. She learned new skills both in and out of the water, and realized she really enjoys hands-on fieldwork. In fact, as her internship concluded, Lauren shared, “post-graduation, [I hope] to work somewhere along the coast, ideally doing lots of hands-on fieldwork!” Over the summer, she also had opportunities to practice her scientific photography skills, and some of her photos were used on CSI’s social media platforms.

Left or top: Lauren Elgin spent much of her summer assisting the Marine Fisheries Ecology Lab at CSI with fieldwork. Right or bottom: While out in the field, Elgin often practiced her scientific photography skills. This image highlights some of the beautiful spaces she worked in. Photos courtesy of Lauren Elgin.

While Elgin’s internship duties had her at various coastal sites, Maya Blanchard spent most of her days on the ECU Outer Banks Campus under the mentorship of Dr. Stu Hamilton. Blanchard, who has roots in both New York and North Carolina, is a biological sciences student at Cornell University. She assisted Dr. Hamilton in crafting a technical paper for the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) about sustainable aquaculture practices on Lake Victoria in East Africa. The draft included considerations of environmental, legal, and socioeconomic aspects of aquaculture in and around Lake Victoria, which is surrounded by five countries.

Through her internship experiences, she realized how much effort goes into a technical paper, stating, “[It’s] very complicated! It requires extreme organizational foresight.” The skills she gained through her writing experience will no doubt serve her well in a future science career. In addition to working with Dr. Hamilton, Blanchard also contributed to CSI’s social media posts about internships this summer.

As part of the comprehensive internship experience, Elgin, Blanchard, and the other ten students also went on a few field trips. Visiting Dominion Energy’s offshore wind lease (feature image) was one of the highlights. The group also met with and heard from various CSI faculty who shared their own career experiences and research throughout the summer.

“I am really grateful to those who spoke with the students and helped show them the many different ways they can be a scientist,” says internship coordinator Julie Kirn.

Near the end of their internships, the students each shared their experiences and research findings with fellow interns and CSI/ ECU faculty and staff during a half-day Research Symposium at CSI. Each student learned and refined skills that will be beneficial as they complete their schooling and apply for jobs in their chosen field.

“I was so blown away by the students’ final products at our end-of-summer symposium – so many of them had mastered new skills in coding, software, fieldwork, and more in just a few weeks! This was a wonderful group of students, and their presence on campus will certainly be missed. We wish them well in all their future endeavors,” says Kirn.

The preceding story first appeared in the Summer/ Fall 2025 edition of CoastLines, published in October.