Research Projects
The Semester at WHOI program has been suspended. It will not run in 2023.
The program features a semester-long, for-credit research project directly advised by a WHOI scientist or engineer in a wide range of oceanographic research areas.
See the WHOI Areas of Research and WHOI Departments, Centers & Labs for potential projects and advisors.
2019 SAW student research projects
226Ra and 228Ra Distribution in the South Pacific Ocean
Connor Downing, Lehigh University
Advisor: Matthew Charette, Marine Chemistry and Geochemistry
Optimal Dimensions of a Tropical Seaweed (E. isiforme) Farm
Elena Perez, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
Advisors: Hauke Kite-Powell, Marine Policy Center, and Michael Neubert, Biology
Aging Juvenile Ammodytes spp. via Otolith Microstructure
Kent Pham, University of the Sciences
Advisor: Joel Llopiz, Biology
The Eastern Mudsnail Tritia obsoleta and the Trematode Parasites it Harbors Informing Ecosystem Health; a GIS Analysis
Camille Serra de Villeneuve, Concordia University
Advisor: Lauren Mullineaux, Biology
The Role of Mixotrophy in Future Ocean Conditions
Lila Szweda, College of William and Mary
Advisor: Matt Johnson, Biology
2018 SAW student research projects
An Analysis of Denitrification and Annamox Processes in Sediments underneath Oysters Grown in Three Commercial Methods
Carmine Ricciardi, Norwich University
Advisor: Virginia Edgcomb, Geology and Geophysics
Small Scale Variation in Larval Fish Settlement in St. John, USVI
Matt Stefanak, Middlebury College
Advisor: Joel Llopiz, Biology
Design of a Lagrangian Float for Monitoring Phytoplankton Abundance in Coastal Waters
Franklin Zhang, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Advisor: Michael Jakuba, Applied Ocean Physics and Engineering
2017 SAW student research projects
Winter Rainfall in Southwest Western Australia and Its Spatial and Temporal Relationships with Oceanic and Atmospheric Conditions
Nathaniel Cresswell-Clay, Tufts University
Advisor: Caroline Ummenhofer, Physical Oceanography
How manipulations to microbial communities and lability of marsh grass detritus alter nutrient cycling dynamics in tidal creek sediments
Katelyn Rainville, Mount Holyoke College
Advisor: Amanda Spivak, Marine Chemistry and Geochemistry
2016 SAW student research projects
Localized impact of aquaculture effluent on Red Sea coral reef water nutrients and microorganisms
Cynthia Becker, Ithaca College
Advisor: Amy Apprill, Marine Chemistry and Geochemistry
Design of an Imaging System for a Glider
Laura Chrobak, University of California, Berkeley
Advisors: James Kinsey and Brian Claus, Applied Ocean Physics and Engineering
Wind wave production on a gently sloping tidal flat
Lauren Dana, Bryn Mawr College
Advisor: Britt Raubenheimer, Applied Ocean Physics and Engineering
Observing the Atlantic Meridional Mode (AMM) in simulations of North Atlantic hurricanes
Patrick Orenstein, Brown University
Advisor: Jeff Donnelly, Geology and Geophysics
Tracking ocean productivity through stable carbon isotope analysis in meso and bathy pelagic fishes of the North Atlantic
Mary Caroline Regan, Wake Forest University
Advisor: Simon Thorrold, Biology
2015 SAW student research projects
Ice Rafted Debris Exceeds Proglacial River Sediment as a Source of Potentially Bioavailable Iron to Coastal Waters in Greenland
Megan Behnke, St. Olaf College
Advisors: Matt Charette, Marine Chemistry and Geochemistry, and Fiamma Straneo, Physical Oceanography
Timescales and Efficiency of Salt Marsh Restoration
Lina Davidson, Barnard College
Advisor: Amanda Spivak, Marine Chemistry and Geochemistry
»Additional examples of WHOI undergraduate research projects
