Environmental science alumnus makes waves at Mote Marine Laboratory
Sandy Camilleri, Wayne State University's first Environmental Science Program major, has joined the Mote Marine Laboratory in Sarasota, Florida.
Shortly after her graduation with a degree in environmental science from WSU in December 2005, Sandy began a 12-week volunteer internship with the Sarasota Dolphin Research Program (SDRP) at Mote Marine Laboratory. During the internship, she participated in a number of projects, including purse-seining in Sarasota Bay to look at the distribution and abundance of bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus) prey species and the effects of red tide (Karenia brevis) on those fish.
After completing her internship, Sandy was offered the opportunity to become a staff Research Assistant on the purse-seining project. She started in June, just in time for the 4-month summer field season. She is now in charge of training incoming interns to safely purse-seine.
She also captures and analyzes acoustic recordings for the presence/absence of fish, dolphins, manatees and boats; analyzes the red tide water samples (by counting cells of K. brevis/ml), and performs maintenance on their boat (FLIP) and equipment to keep everything in running order. In between the summer and winter field seasons, Sandy catches up on analyzing acoustic data and doing repairs to equipment and enjoys the occasional chance to go out on dolphin surveys.
Sandy plans to stay at Mote for a year and then enter graduate school in the Fall of 2008. She is interested in ecotoxicology and more specifically looking at the effects that red tide has on the marine ecosystem. According to Sandy, "SDRP has the longest-running study of bottlenose dolphins in the world and combined with the data from our purse-seining project, we are getting a better picture of what is happening in Sarasota Bay throughout the year.
There is still plenty to be tested and researched so my hope is to continue working and until I can start graduate school." We have little doubt that Sandy will be successful in her future research endeavors and academic success!