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4 - An Undergraduate Research Experience with Emma McCann
6 Plays1 year ago
🎙️ Going Coastal - New Episode Incoming! 🎙️
Join hosts, Jon Miller & Marissa Torres, on the Going Coastal Podcast for a special hybrid Professional Development and Student Research Spotlight episode! All roads lead to Coastal for Emma McCann, a rising senior in Environmental Engineering at Stevens Institute of Technology and one of Jon’s current undergraduate researchers.
📷🌊Join us in cheering on Emma as she plunges into her senior year with graduate school on the horizon!
🔍 In This Episode:
- Academic & Professional Experience: Dive into Emma’s story—how she got acquainted with the coastal field, pursued different internship opportunities, and kept asking questions.
- Research Highlights: Explore her role as an undergraduate researcher in both academic, private industry, and government settings.
- Personal Experiences: Gain valuable advice from her experience working on multidisciplinary teams, building a supportive community, and seeking new challenges.
📍Spotify link: https://open.spotify.com/episode/7KQrVSLO2xKyabFI2v1FUR
✨ Throwback Tuesday: Mentioned in this episode is Nicole “Nikki” Zuck, a current PhD student at Stevens. Learn more about her work from a previous Student Research Spotlight on Going Coastal: https://open.spotify.com/episode/1PdxvUpIzUPFvhl7GCBgRf?si=8e1b56d3d15142fe
Thank you to NJ Sea Grant for sponsoring this episode. Also, remember to register for the ASBPA National Coastal Conference in Galveston (Aug 26-29) - poster abstracts and award nominations are due by July 15. As well as the RAE Coastal & Estuarine Summit in Arlington (Oct 6-10).
👉 Enjoying our podcast? Support us and get sponsored episodes for your brand. Contact us at podcastgoingcoastal@gmail.com.
Tune in now and stay coastal! 🌊
#GoingCoastal #Podcast #StudentResearch #CoastalStudies #ProfessionalDevelopment #ASBPA #NJSeaGrant #ASBPA #SNP #Students #Newprofessionals
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Transcript
Introduction to Hosts
00:00:07
Speaker
Welcome back to the Going Coastal podcast, the podcast of the student and new professionals in coastal field. Hosted by myself, John Miller, Marissa Torres, and Deb Fernandez, your dynamic hosts.
Episode Focus: Student Research & Development
00:00:20
Speaker
I'm gonna be your main host today, and I'm here with one of our other co-hosts, Marissa. You wanna say hi, Marissa? What's up, fam? For this month's episode, we're actually doing a bit of a hybrid hybrid show. We're bridging a couple of our typical subject matter. So we're going to bridge the student in student research spotlight a series that we typically have ah with a little bit of a professional development topic series. um And in order to do that, we're here today talking with our guest.
Guest Introduction: Emma McCann
00:00:54
Speaker
She's an undergraduate student at Stevens Institute of Technology
00:00:58
Speaker
in Hoboken, New Jersey. She's actually one of my students, so I know her pretty well. So let's welcome to the show Emma McCann. Yeah, thanks for having me. So it's awesome. So as we talked about, as I said in the intro, the the reason that Emma's here today is that we want to get to know a little bit about her, a little bit about the things that she's worked on, what she's doing, her career path, tips and advice for any young students and new professionals out there. So we'll start off very basic. We ask all of our guests to introduce themselves and just give us a little bit about their background, academic, professional, whatever you want. Just go for it, Emma.
00:01:40
Speaker
Yeah, sure. um So I'm a 5 out of 5 rising senior at Stevens. I'm studying environmental engineering.
00:01:51
Speaker
I recently, or I guess a couple years ago, got into the coastal realm of engineering and um really enjoyed it. But I've done other internships um like in construction management and environmental field work. But I've definitely been enjoying doing coastal work and definitely see a future um future career with that. So. You mentioned a little bit about a diverse background. I think your background is very similar to a lot of our guests in that they may not have necessarily went to school for a coastal. um They usually go to school for environmental or other fact other things, um and then eventually coming around to the the the the that come to the light and recognize what a cool profession that the coastal profession is.
Emma's Path to Stevens Institute
00:02:43
Speaker
um So can you, I guess, talk a little bit about kind of how you ended up at Stevens and kind of what you were thinking maybe before you got into Coastal and how you kind of maybe transitioned a little bit towards that direction? Yeah, definitely. So I guess going to Stevens, it wasn't really on the top of my list. I didn't really know too much about it. um But then like COVID came around and I learned more about Stevens and it was close to home and um I ended up getting off the wait list and I wanted to give engineering a try. I wasn't sure if it was like quite right for me.
00:03:22
Speaker
But I'm glad I did. I really enjoyed my time at Stevens so far. um But then going into coastal stuff, my sister, um she's doing some coastal engineering stuff now. And then I learned that we had a coastal engineering department at Stevens. So I guess it was freshman year. I reached out to John and I think Liz O'Connell, my academic advisor, also reached out to John about potential research that summer and that kind of set me on my path to into coastal engineering and um it was a really great experience like getting hands-on experience freshman year right from the get-go and yeah ever since then I've really loved coastal engineering. So Stevens has an undergraduate coastal engineering curriculum.
00:04:20
Speaker
Not yet. Not yet. Very working on it. I think 2027, maybe? Johnny, we're working on it. that's ah That's a transition. So far we have graduate programs, but we do have undergraduate minors in coastal engineering and we have a lot. We have some programs, accelerated master's programs, which I think Emma just applied for, um that allow you to essentially get your master's degree in an extremely short amount of time. so Yeah, it's like an extra, i just an extra year added on to that, right? Like just a five-year bachelor's and master's kind of thing. on Yeah, it's a really cool program that they do at Stevens. I think it's really great to take um advantage of. Sure.
00:05:06
Speaker
I mean, personally, I would say like, one of the things that's kind of cool about the way Stevens, I mean, I'm excited to have an undergraduate, eventually, an undergraduate ocean slash coastal program. But one of the things that's kind of cool about the way that and that Stevens does it is that it does force you to have more of a background in civil engineering or environmental engineering or some other topic that is generally very closely related to Coastal. So in some senses, that forces you to have a little bit more breadth in terms of your experiences, which I don't think is a bad thing, particularly when it comes to Coastal. Because as we always say, like although we all love Coastal and it's ah it's a growing field, it's still somewhat of a little bit of a niche and niche field. So I think it's a it's good to have that you know background that's a little bit more broad. Sure. Yeah, I'm already like comparing it to
00:05:56
Speaker
URIs undergraduate ocean engineering program. um As I like to call it, it's a it a jack of all trades, master of none. So we have to learn the mechanical engineering, civil, chemical, um not so much like the bio. um biosciences, but some oceanography and then how to apply all of those or electrical engineering to how to apply all of those concepts and throw it under pressure in saltwater and make it work.
Curriculum & Projects at Stevens
00:06:27
Speaker
So if that's something that like Stevens is looking into, I'm curious what ah the curriculum looks like from an undergraduate perspective for
00:06:38
Speaker
um someone who may be interested in going to Stevens and pursuing Coastal eventually, like what that undergraduate curriculum, what kind of classes you would take. ah So what kind of and in your, so you're just finished up your junior year, so what kind of classes um do you take up between freshman and junior year? Well I guess I'll talk a little bit about like the design curriculum that's probably been my favorite part of Stevens so far. um So they have a program at Stevens it's called the Design Spine and every semester you'll have a ah design class and it starts off pretty broad. um I guess the first one we built a robot so it was a little bit mechanical focused. One semester we had to
00:07:25
Speaker
work with trusses and building trusses that was a little bit more civil focused and then last semester i designed a wastewater treatment plant so finally getting more into the environmental aspect um but i think what i liked about that so much is that you really got to see all the different kinds of engineering um even though you have people in your classes that are mechanical, civil, chemical, but then you're coming together to work on this one project. So it's a really good way to collaborate and um like bring your knowledge from your department into this project. So that's probably my favorite part about Stevens is challenging the design classes, but it's really rewarding in the end of the semester.
00:08:12
Speaker
It's one of the things that's interesting about Stevens is that certainly the design focus is really important, but then also the a lot of the undergraduate disciplines, as you get close to graduating, you end up taking a lot of graduate classes. So a lot of your specialization, particularly in environmental, which um which Emma does, I would say probably half of your classes or more from like junior year on are graduate level classes. So you're taking ah specific topics that are, ah you know, right alongside graduate students. So it's kind of unique and and, you know, I think certainly built into the curriculum and this is, these are some of the things that, you know, Emma and I have talked about in terms of as she moves forward, the classes that she might take, you know, that option or alternative to take different coastal classes, coastal engineering, coastal structures, sediment transport, those types of things.
00:09:07
Speaker
um Those are generally more towards the end. So maybe this year coming up or moving, transitioning into her master's um program definitely will take more of those classes. What kind of design class would, do you do you have like ah one of those design spine classes for coastal engineering and what might that look like or who who might it involve? So we don't have a specific coastal engineering one at Stevens, but we do have a senior design course, so that's the whole senior year. um And that project can be
00:09:50
Speaker
either something that you want to do or it can be a project that um the professors at Stevens bring to the department and you choose from. um So I'm hoping this year that I'll work on a civil i mean a coastal project. So that I guess that's how you can kind of bring coastal into the undergrad curriculum a little bit. And I think for us, I think that's one of the reasons that we're beginning to think more about ocean engineering as a discipline. because we're seeing more and more of our civil engineering senior design projects that have like a real strong coastal aspect to it. So we've been doing some work with the the offshore wind port in New Jersey um over the past couple of years, and they've sponsored senior design projects. And so, you know, there's a a port aspect to it, some coastal engineering, there's some naval engineering.
00:10:47
Speaker
um And so those types of projects are becoming more and more common. I think last year somebody did a ah wildlife management area and like ah drainage a project within that wildlife management area. So bringing in aspects of coastal. This year we have one I think that HDR might be sponsoring that is very specific to looking at living shorelines um and combining some perhaps environmental engineering, civil engineering. so um As we see more and more of these projects, it kind of makes more and more sense to give students the alternative to specialize in that discipline. So we're hopeful. We're crossing our fingers. nothing is Nothing is certain yet, but we're moving in that direction.
00:11:32
Speaker
Do you see most of the, and sorry, this is probably a question for John at this point. sorry I'm sorry, Emma. Do you see that most of the folks coming in who end up doing Coastal at Stevens are from the, they start in environmental engineering versus civil engineering. Is there an easier or more direct path from one or the other? I wouldn't say so. I think um actually the most recent student that did the accelerated master's program was a mechanical engineering undergraduate student. So we see we definitely see a lot of environmental engineers that begin to transition over. I think i think personally, this is just my my my my thought that mechanical engineering is perhaps the most clear kind of what is a mechanical engineer. You start to think about cars and machines and things like that, and it's pretty pretty cut and dry kind of what you what you think of. When you start to get a little more abstract, some people don't know what a civil engineer does.
00:12:30
Speaker
Because does say civil engineers F is equal to ma everything equals zero supposed to be static. That's like, well, yes so some people right. So some people get into it through civil um environmental is just another level of kind of people don't really know what an environmental engineer does. so see that one yeah Stevens right now has really strong really strong wastewater management, soil remediation, and actually sustainability management programs, and so Coastal kind of cuts across some of
Internships and Co-op Experiences
00:13:00
Speaker
those. So we do get a lot of students like Emma who get interested in what we do and the kind of
00:13:07
Speaker
engineering with nature kind of stuff that we do and living shorelines and beaches and dunes and natural systems and get interested in all that and that's kind of the way some of them come to coastal so you know I think one of the things that it's just a common theme that we hear all the time that we fight against. And Emma just confirmed it again in that, you know, she didn't necessarily know that coastal engineering was there or existed or that Stevens had a program. It's, you know, in Emma's case, we were very fortunate that her sister had kind of fallen into it too. And so I guess this is a quite, maybe you don't know Emma, but I'm just curious, like, how did your how did your sister end up going that route? Do you have any idea?
00:13:52
Speaker
Yeah, um so she was at Cornell doing civil engineering undergrad and um she was doing, I think it was a club called Agua Clara. It's some program. Yeah, I'm not exactly sure what they did, but it was working with water and I think like water resources at Cornell. And the professor there that she worked with, I guess introduced her to coastal engineering, and um also knew Dr. Pat Lynette in California at University of Southern California. And I think
00:14:34
Speaker
they got in touch and she learned more about Coastal and decided that was um where she wanted to go for her PhD. Oh, cool. So she's out there now in Southern California? Yeah, she is. She's ah almost finished up. I think December she'll be all wrapped up with her PhD. me Connections, connections, connections. That's what it's all about. What's your name again? hey so I say connections because my daughter's going to USC and fall in the fall, so she's going to be out there too. I actually went out there and met up with Emma's and a sister out there.
00:15:13
Speaker
But i guess um i guess I guess the thing is, right like there's like you know there are these connections and ah you know talking about these things and these experiences, you know I think, and having podcasts about them, I think it's an invaluable part of you know trying to bring more people to Coastal. Because again, I just think that the number of projects we see at Stevens, I did mention to you guys, I was in court all day arguing about beach nourishment and sea level rise and climate change and all that kind of stuff. That stuff's not going away. That's going to be around. So it's a good dis it's a good background to have. There's going to be plenty of jobs moving forward, I think, dealing with the coastal environment. So we need more students. Got to get more students. Absolutely. Who doesn't want to spend more time at the beach? I know. It's like the perfect combo.
00:16:09
Speaker
Yeah, so you mentioned you went to Stevens because it was, yeah we were uncertain at first, but it was close to home. So you're from, you're a Jersey girl? I am, yeah. Nice. where So North, South, Mid. ah Central Jersey. Central Jersey. So I'm like, I grew up right near Sandy Hook. So I was always at the beach and I love like being in the water and it's kind of the perfect environment going into coastal engineering. some people Some people will argue Central Jersey doesn't exist. It's just North Jersey and South Jersey. It's Taylor Ham and Pork Roll. It's just, what do you call it? Roof of the Yankees or the Phillies, one or the other.
00:16:49
Speaker
So it was interesting, you also said so you you said that when you got to Stevens, you were fortunate enough to talk to your sister, um learn about the stuff that we're doing, get in touch with your academic advisor, and she suggested that you you contact us and do some research. So can you let's just talk, I guess, generally about some of your experiences, some of the things that you've been doing as a research student. And yeah, Yeah, for sure. I guess the first year it kind of started out um just learning about all the different projects that ah the group was doing and what kind of work, and just like coastal engineering, um like what you can do with coastal engineering in general. ah We talked a lot about
00:17:37
Speaker
like different ways you can. every I forget what you worked on actually as ah as ah as as a freshman. it' was like Yeah. So coming in, I think we first talked about all the different things you can do with coastal
Research and Career Impact
00:17:53
Speaker
engineering. I had no idea that it was more than just sandy beaches um before I came to work for you that first summer. And I think we definitely did a lot of field work, which was great exposure. um Just using the different kinds of equipment and getting that hands-on experience was really great. And then I think I started off with drone processing that first summer. Oh, wow. And creating like the DEMs. Oh, we got you from the fer the very get-go. Wow, as a freshman, it's impressive.
00:18:32
Speaker
Um, yeah, Nikki was a big help. I think that first summer and getting me up to speed. Yeah. So it's it's interesting. So I think one of the things that so I remember when, uh, when Liz came to me with, uh, there was a couple of students that were kind of looking for that summer summer work and it was it was kind of right after COVID. So things were like uncertain kind of where everything was and what was opening and what was in-person and what was hybrid and all that kind of stuff. And and I know we had a number of, ah we have this program called the Pinnacle Scholars Program at Stevens where it's it's it's for a select number of students that Stevens supports research during the summer.
00:19:24
Speaker
And so we had a number of those students, and I'll say that those students are, they get academic, um they they get into the program based on their performance in high school. So they're like the high achieving students, not that all students at Stevens are not high achieving students. And you know so we had a number of those, and then we had Emma, and I think it was just one other student, maybe two, that had come just randomly through the undergraduate advisor. And so, you know, we put kind of both sets of students to to work on different things. And, you know, all of the pinnacle scholars that we had, I think, basically transitioned out. I don't know, was Audrey in that first group? I don't remember.
00:20:05
Speaker
i I can't remember, but I do know that you know it was kind of a feeling out process and it was awesome for us because we got to get experience working with Emma and kind of feel out, the feel out process, right? Like, is is what we do a good fit for Emma? Is Emma a good fit for us? And like, Emma took to it. And like, I think that... That's the biggest hook that we have. ah Okay, i'm I'm a field guy. So for me, the biggest hook. Yeah, we know, John. We know. Nobody likes to look at those models. What do you mean? You don't want to spend all day every day staring at a computer screen? I say i think that's what i think that's kind of what Emma's sister does. She also works in modeling. And so it's different strokes for different folks. But you know we love to get the students out in the field, get their hands on instruments, drones, jet skis.
00:20:54
Speaker
GPS is like current meters whatever we can get their hands on we try to do it because I think that really You know makes it real kind of what we're doing, you know and Makes you feel like if I can have a career doing this, you know Spending time at the beach getting paid to be at the beach, you know, what what better what better career path is there so I think it's kind of how we we hooked Emma and got her interested and I and then And then had to make her realize it's not all fun and games. There's the background stuff, so the drone processing structure for motion work that ah I think Emma's been helping us with that ever since really. So that's probably three years now you've been working on the drone processing work with us. I think Emma's probably created more DEMs than certainly any of our graduate students at this point, probably.
00:21:43
Speaker
I like doing it. It's kind of fun. I like using photo scan. She spends time on a computer too. It's a balance. I think there's a good balance with coastal engineering in most roles. Well, if you want to have some field work and then bring that data back into the office. Um, use that data. I think that's a really cool aspect, you know, like taking the data, collecting it and then bringing it into the office and, um, making something out of it. Yeah. Making something out of it. I think that's really, um, really cool that some other aspects of engineering, they don't, they don't get to do that as much.
00:22:33
Speaker
That's true. It had me thinking about that. Because right now, so I'm out at a foam wave workshop teaching folks about how to use our model, how to use fun wave. And one of the conversations that we're having is, you know, machine learning and AI is all the rage. Everybody wants machine learning and AI. So the inland hydrology folks, they're sort of figuring it out. It's easier for them. The climatology
00:23:00
Speaker
climatology and like atmospheric sciences kind of, um they're they're also towards that. Because they're more data rich, I think where we meet in the middle at the coastline, where we have forcing from both sides, there's not a lot of data that we have for either regional ocean or like local ocean. We either only have like in situ measurements or we have to rely on satellite data. And so we're still at this point where we need to continuously still go out and collect data almost constantly. And then we still have to also constantly keep processing it. And we still don't know enough about actually sediment transport down to the, there's still some physics that we don't know. There's still some physics of nonlinear ah wave-wave interactions or the wave breaking that is still uncertain. So we do need that healthy mixture of both. And we always need more data to validate our models.
00:23:59
Speaker
I'm not trying to sell sitting at your computer all day on a model as not important or not fun. It can be fun if you like it. But then balancing that with going out and collecting the data. It's right at that nexus. And we do need both. So I'm hoping that if Stevens, um you know, makes this ocean coastal program that I know that John's the field guy, but y'all need to find yourself some more modelers and start bringing in. and
00:24:33
Speaker
We work well with modelers just because we don't want to do it ourselves doesn't mean that we don't. You knowes out you it and you know, we love working with modelers. If you if you all do it, that means we don't have to. So that's great. We get to spend more time in the field. and Yeah, but there's only one of me and there's many of you in the field. I need some balance. Yeah, man. I think that's one of the, that is one of the great things about, um, you know, Coastal is that there are different avenues. So there's, ah you know, there's the, The field research that we do, the environmental engineers that come in, but there's also a whole lot of modelers and many modelers with backgrounds in applied mathematics and physics and so more the hardcore sciences. But you know there's different you know the there's different avenues to get into Coastal. and
00:25:21
Speaker
Yeah, it's it's it's all important. you know And i'm just I'm just happy that we haven't quite not happy mean we haven't quite cracked the remote sensing data rich within the surf zone and along the coastline and the areas that you know we basically play in and research. Otherwise you'd be out of a job. Right. Like in deep water, it's you know you have lots of satellites and you can do lots of really cool stuff. but you know when the sediment transport's happening, the morphology's changing, and the beach was different today than it did yesterday, it's really hard to predict what the waves are gonna do if you don't know what the beach is doing. So, yeah. Just constantly changing. It's just such a dynamic system. Yeah. And so must be undergrad. If I remember undergrad, what a time. I was a go-getter, and it sounds like, Emma, you are also a go-getter. John was trying to fill me in on
00:26:19
Speaker
just everything that you do. And I want to know how you keep your head on straight. And so for our listeners, let, let us know everything. So you've, you started in his, you only had the half hour with heart left. So you might run out of time, but I want to know, how do you do it? Um, uh, you started in John's lab freshman year. What happens like during the academic year? What'd you do sophomore at the ah summer between sophomore and junior? And then now you just finished your junior year. How's that that been in terms of um because I feel like you started the research undergraduate research very early. And that's not something that a lot of people get to do. um So it's I mean, it sounds like if anybody's at Stevens, they just have to have their undergrad advisor just contact John. You just get right into the coastal lab. But like what has your progression been since um joining that and what other
00:27:17
Speaker
activities or organizations have you pursued in your and undergrad that have have really made an impact and helped you in different ways up to now? Yeah. um So, yeah, I was very fortunate that John um was accepting of freshmen coming into his lab and helping him out. um That was a really great experience starting that freshman year. And then, so I was part of the co-op program at Stevens. So that's, it's a five-year program where you have um two or three work semesters. So you're working full-time during the semester. um So right after I worked for John freshman year, I did a co-op that fall of sophomore year.
00:28:14
Speaker
um in the city at New Line Structures. So that was like a construction management um internship. So that was interesting. I learned a lot about how that processes like construction and construction management. And I think it helped me realize that that's more of maybe what civil engineers would go into and that wasn't quite what I wanted to do. um So then the next summer, um, between sophomore and junior year, I worked for John again, um, doing research. And I can't quite remember what projects we worked on that summer, um, but that's been more John processing fieldwork. Um, and then
00:29:12
Speaker
that year I took classes as regular and then so last summer between like my junior and senior year I worked at Barred and Associates um in the city and they do a lot of um coastal engineering projects working with the ah the New York District for the Army Corps so that was really interesting.
00:29:39
Speaker
Yeah, so I think one of the things that Emma mentioned, I think is really important and it's just general advice for students and new professionals is, particularly students, is to try new things, try different things, because it's almost as important you find out what you don't like as you find out what you do like. Because way back many, many years ago when I was at Stevens as an undergraduate, I did the co-op program as well. And I actually started out learning about coastal, link sorry, coastal chemical engineering. That was kind of at the time, That was the discipline within engineering that made the most money. And I was like, well, I could i could probably do chemical engineering if I make a lot of money doing it. And then I had one co-op experience and very, very quickly ran away from that and said, I never want to do this again. Nothing against chemical engineers out there. It's very important. It's really important, but just wasn't for me.
00:30:30
Speaker
um And then I got into civil engineering eventually, and the civil turned into coastal. and But yeah I had to go through those experiences to understand what I didn't want to do in order to begin to narrow down towards and focus in on what I did want to do. So take advantage of your school's different programs, and and talk to different professors, and visit different laboratories, and try to get a sense of kind of what they're doing. If they have co-op programs, research programs, you know take advantage of it. like that's you know schools have these opportunities. And, you know, quite honestly, Emma had no idea whether I was going to accept her as a freshman ah into like coastal engineering and, you know, just so happened it worked out. And you never know if you don't ask, right? but so Sure. I also think that it matters like who, if you have to ask the right person, right? So I just, I worry about some folks who
00:31:24
Speaker
maybe don't have a very good undergraduate academic advisor who are just completely unhelpful or know nothing about what their actual interests are. It's like, what do you do in that situation? um And I know Emma had ah a great, it's almost she had a fantastic undergrad academic advisor. Liz, you said her name was. Shout out to Liz. She's killing it. Hopefully she keeps going. um So if any undergrads at Steven need to find the right one, it sounds like Liz is it. But for other folks who might not have someone very helpful, I suppose reaching out to professors directly is probably your best bet and finding if you enjoy a particular class, talking to that professor afterwards and seeing what they're what they might have ah to offer or know of.
00:32:20
Speaker
Yeah, I think that's, that's, that's very true. And, you know, we are definitely blessed to have Liz and I think Liz only started like maybe a year or two before Emma, um, started at Stevens. So like they just lined up perfectly. Liz was here at the right time. Emma was there at the right time and like everything kind of just fell into alignment. But I think the, you know, other things, sometimes you have to make your own luck, right? So sometimes some if you don't have a Liz, then you might have to do some. you know, emailing and, you know, potentially uncomfortable sort of cold calling to professors. And, you know, what I will say is that, you know, so at Stevens, we've had in the past year, they've started to do undergraduate research fairs. So they have our civil professors talk about some of their projects and
00:33:09
Speaker
I would say we probably had this year I had over a dozen undergraduates reach out about working in our group, which is actually a few more than we can handle so I can't so we do not give everybody a job. um but what I would say is that Stephen was proactive about advertising the possibilities, and many of the professors jumped at the opportunity to have undergrads work for them. But without Stephen's kind of setting up that interaction, I don't know that the undergrads would have recognized it or thought of it as an option and felt so comfortable reaching out to the professors.
Advice on Academic Opportunities
00:33:46
Speaker
Meanwhile, the professors are probably wondering, why can't I get any help? I need to have projects. I would love to have an undergraduate work on it.
00:33:53
Speaker
And you know the last thing I would say is that if you really, really want to do it, you know honestly, think about what it means in terms of like whether you need to get paid for it or whether you volunteer for it. So I'm fortunate in that I'm generally able to pay the students that work for me as undergraduate research assistants. But if it's something that you really, really enjoy, put in the time, put in the effort, potentially volunteer your labor, because if you're good, professors will generally find a way to find you, right? there's There's a certain amount, and you know, no professor wants to really have, you know, take advantage of what most professors don't want to take advantage of students, right? So, you know, if you volunteer and you prove yourself worthy, you know, that's, that means something. And and like, honestly, that was just talking about, you know, I mean, Emma just recently applied to the Accelerated Master's program. We talk about grad school all the time. And I've been talking with Emma about grad school for,
00:34:53
Speaker
two years now and whether she was interested or not interested. and you know One of the things for us is that you know if we find an undergraduate research student and they're good and they want to stay and get a master's, right that potentially leads to funding you know for a master's down the line. so Again, it's just a if you get the opportunity to get your foot in the door, that trial period, you can turn that into something, you know whether it starts that way or whether it just ends up that way, you can turn it into something that you want it to be financially or career pathwise. So don't be embarrassed to do it, don't be shy to do it, and don't get upset if the first person that you talk to rejects you, because again, it'll happen, but um eventually somebody, you'll get your foot in the door and
00:35:40
Speaker
It'll be worth it. I also think um like being in a sorority has helped a lot too because having like the older girls in the sorority and hearing their experiences and maybe professors that they've worked it with also being able to talk to them and ask them like how can I um also participate in research or how can I make these connections um that's been a really great resource just like coming in freshman year and having that mentorship from them of like how how do I do this um because it can be a little bit scary coming in freshman year and you're like well I want to get more involved but I don't know how or I don't know like where to go about it so I think that's definitely helped also having those older girls like especially for co-op questions and
00:36:36
Speaker
honestly anything school or not school related it's been really nice for um any kind of guidance like that so that's support network stuff is extremely important and That's something that actually leads into one of the things that the ASPPA student and new professionals group, one of their one of their babies, right the the mentoring program, which I participate in. and you know I love my conversations. I always say all the time that i my I find conversations with my mentee probably more valuable than maybe what my mentee is getting from me as the mentor. I just think that it's been such an amazing experience.
00:37:18
Speaker
and you know That's a formalized program through ASBPA Student and New Professionals Group, but it sounds like you're finding essentially mentors you know through other channels as well. and I think that's just really important because you're not going to have the answers to every question starting out, so it's important to be able to ask those questions and feel free asking those questions. so Again, whether you're working professionally, whether you're a student, um really think about trying to either formally or informally identify somebody that, you know, you can have that mentor-mentee relationship with because I think it just accelerates the growth process um throughout, so. Professionally, personally, emotionally, mentally. So for those but those in undergrad, Steven, so which sorority are you a part of?
00:38:12
Speaker
I'm a part of Sigma Delta Tau. What do you like about it? So one of our like key values is individuality. um I think that's my favorite like part of our group of women. um like everyone is so unique, but then we come together and we hold different events and raise money um for our philanthropies. It's just been nice to have a group of women like supporting you and uplifting you, especially at a school where it is more male dominated like Stevens. So it's yeah, honestly, like having that support network has been really great throughout college. That's awesome. I think that's yeah, that's that's awesome. And there's a lot of really
00:39:00
Speaker
amazing groups. I know certainly in the coastal area there's the, I think it's the is it the women in Women in Geosciences, Coastal Geosciences program. That's one of, that's one that I was i was actually a ah member of. um It was one of these, yeah, yeah, weird, right? They're very open to, you know, it's supporting ah supporting women getting into the, specifically the coastal geosciences, but still recognizing that although generally as a field, Coastal is much more, much more at least gender diverse than a lot of other fields of certainly of engineering. um But it doesn't mean that there is not more to do and there's not, ah you know, there are not barriers and challenges that are unique. And, you know, I think ah finding those organizations and participating and being a part of that discussion is really important. So, you know, it's, you know, it's one of those things that
00:40:01
Speaker
you know you know, honestly as somebody like I, you know, I know probably because Emma's been with us for so long, I know probably more about some of the stuff that Emma does than your typical, my typical undergraduate student, but it's one of those things that, you know, in quite quite honestly. So one of the other things that Emma works, Emma does is Emma just received a smart fellowship. And so when she came to me and asked me to write write the letter of recommendation for her for the fellowship, Things like that and those experiences and her involvement and the other stuff that she does, you know, makes it so much easier to write that letter of recommendation because it's, you know, it's not just, okay, she does work for me and she's really good at it. Like, you know, there's more there as much goes farther beyond that. So the involvement in those organizations and, you know, quite honestly taking leadership roles in some of those organizations.
00:40:55
Speaker
You know, that's a another great way as an undergraduate to really distinguish yourself as you kind of move through the field. For those who may not be familiar, um Emma, would you be able to describe like what the SMART fellowship is and what your experience was?
SMART Fellowship Discussion
00:41:13
Speaker
Sure. um So my sister actually introduced me to the SMART program. um It's basically, it's through the Department of Defense, um you apply anytime during college or even graduate school too.
00:41:33
Speaker
um yeah So it's basically the program where they pay for your schooling, they'll give you a stipend, um and they'll help out with like health insurance and like fees for books too. um And you owe the time back to them after you graduate. So like for me, they're paying for two years of my undergrad. So then now I'm, I have a job with the Army Corps when I graduate and I'm, um I'll be there for two years at least. um Where?
00:42:13
Speaker
So I'll be down here in Duck at the field research facility. Look at that. Guys, it's not a secret. Which is not a bad place to be. so It's secretly, but not secretly, the best place to be in ERDC. So it's amazing. I love it here.
00:42:40
Speaker
um But yeah, it's a really cool program, so you can apply, you know, to like the CHL in Vicksburg, you could apply here, or Krell, or... I've got the cold regions lab, let's go! Come on, Marissa, come on! The one coastal person! Okay, continue, sorry. But there's also like the There's a civil lab, environmental lab, geotech lab, but then also other ah military bases or even the districts too. You could apply to any district and work there too. um So then during your summer breaks, you intern at the facility that you'll be working at and then you're guaranteed to have that job after you graduate. So it's a really, really great program. Sweet.
00:43:34
Speaker
Super awesome. so Super programming. Like we we had one former smart, one of our former graduate students was a smart scholarship recipient. So I was familiar with the program when Emma approached me. And since Emma was applied, we've had other students um also apply to the program. So it's really, really ah great opportunity. And I would definitely suggest looking into these different programs. and i just a Personally, i was when I was in grad school, I was on a and applied for a National Defense Science and Engineering Graduate Fellowship, which wasn't quite as cool as a SMART fellowship, but um it did ah it did pay for my graduate school. It gave me flexibility to work on whatever research project I basically wanted to. I got more money actually than the typical graduate student at University of Florida, so it helped financially.
00:44:28
Speaker
And it was one of those things where, again, I never had heard of it. And I just assumed national defense science and engineering, like what does coastal engineering have to do with that? And one of the students said, Florida, one of the other graduate students was on the scholarship and the deadline, of the the application came out and he said, you should try, you should apply. And I was like, you know, no way does what does coastal have to do with this? He's like, I've got one. I was like, okay, what the heck? I'll, throw in the application or write the essay. It doesn't necessarily answer the question, but... No. Well, you know, and but then honestly, some of these, some of these, some of these scholarships, like something like that, it's the number of applicants from traditional sort of military fields is through the roof. However, the number of applicants from an ocean engineering perspective sometimes is smaller and that sometimes increases your chances of getting it. So you might have a higher success rate in ocean engineering as compared to
00:45:22
Speaker
other disciplines. So definitely seek those opportunities out and don't be afraid to apply. You never know what's going to happen. I can definitely say that the research that I've done with you, John, um set me apart from some of the other applicants in the SMART scholarship. um And like that research really directly translated to some of the work that um they're doing here, the FRF, and especially Brittany, who I'll be working with. um So I think some of those keywords on my application, like structure promotion, and talking about the processing helped. The award-winning John Miller strikes again. We've provided like the little baby steps, like the little entry steps, and then at
00:46:17
Speaker
FRF man, the the the type of equipment and tools and stuff that they do there is so amazing. I get jealous every time. Every time I see one of their presentations, I'm just like, man, they have such cool toys to play with. um But yeah, so it's, you know, the opportunities are are amazing. So what types of, I'm just curious, what types of things have you been working on?
Shoreline Detection Research
00:46:43
Speaker
Can you say what you're working on? Or is it um secret um no I actually give like my presentation today to um the coastal lab like in Vicksburg and here. um So I've been working on
00:47:03
Speaker
So using core cam imagery, um I think you are familiar with core cam, John. um So using the imagery from those cameras and doing a shoreline detection model. um And so we have two people working on this model here. So two different methods of it. um So Sean McGill is going about it in, um like a classification, picture classification aspect. And then Mike Forte is going about it more of using like Esri's ArcGIS um and the deep learning tool there, which is a newer function that gis has ArcGIS has.
00:47:51
Speaker
um So what I've been doing mostly has been working with the images and trying to figure out what kind of image type is the best for these models. um So we looked into doing like day averaged images, so basically taking a picture every hour from the day and then compiling it together. um So making like a time X of the day, the darkest image of the day, the brightest image of the day, et cetera. But what we learned is that there wasn't enough data from all the cameras to do that. So we ended up working with the time X images of just one hour every day.
00:48:40
Speaker
um So we did like a lot of discovery work and and just investigation. um And that was like the first chunk of my summer was kind of figuring out what we're going to input into these models. um And then now we're working on training the models. And we've been getting some really good results. um So it's been really cool. I've learned a lot about machine learning, even though I'm not like directly like making the models and just like classifying the images and how these models work. It's been really interesting. Sweet. So you said it was for, so you're you're going through all of these images for both applications. So both for Sean's um classification and Mike's, was it shoreline detection?
00:49:36
Speaker
Yeah, sorry. i Actually, we're using two different image types for the two different models. I mixed it up a little bit. um So for Mike's model, we're actually using georectified snap images at one of the sites. What is that what does that mean?
00:49:59
Speaker
and you're In the best the best way that you can describe it. What? What does it mean? I don't know if I'm going to be 100% correct with this. but That's okay. We're not a fact-checking podcast. yeah would You could just whatever it say it with confidence and we'll believe you. so Basically, this site, Lynn Haven Inlet, it's in Virginia. um There's four cameras at the site. and Let's say you have one picture from every camera at one time. It'll take all four of those pictures and it'll project it in a rectified view. So instead of
00:50:39
Speaker
looking out at the shoreline, it'll be like a top down image of the whole shoreline with all of the cameras connected together. So it's like a seamless image of those cameras looking down at it um in that view. Okay. So then yeah' it's putting it like into like the real world coordinates. Sure. Okay. It's not just a picture, you just like throw it into like a 2d plane plan view. Top down view. I guess so. Like it, okay. I believe you. So it'll be like a tip smile. Okay, yeah, yeah. Yeah. Neat. But you do see some stretching like on the edges of the rectified images just because of the way they are processed. um Which has also been something we've been talking about is
00:51:39
Speaker
add those edges, how accurate is the shoreline being detected if it's being if the image is being stretched? um So that's kind of a question I had last week when we were looking at the results of the model. um So yeah, I've learned a lot and have a lot more questions about using imagery and um imagery for coastal like analysis. and So it'll be interesting to learn more about this in the future. See, this is, this is, this is why I was talking to Emma about going to graduate school, right? Cause these questions, right? Like that's, that's, that's the biggest thing with research, right? Is not learning more so than anything else. I think it's learning to be comfortable asking the questions. Cause so many times in typical undergraduate, typical high school, you know, you're just so used to being, there's an answer, you know, I mean i have the right answer. I have the wrong answer.
00:52:39
Speaker
There's no in between, but you know doing research and getting involved in research, understanding that there are questions to be asked and to answered and you know not to be intimidated by them, that's like half the battle. So it's so nice to hear Emma talk about it in that in that way and to hear her talk about questioning results on edges. And you know that's that's part of growing into being a graduate student and a researcher. So yay, good job applying to grad school. what Do you see yourself like staying? do Do you like this kind of line of work, like laura looking, working more with the the imagery, whether it's via camera or maybe even remote sensing, or I guess, I guess that kind of counts as remote sensing is the imagery, but like satellites even or LIDAR and like working in that space.
00:53:30
Speaker
Yeah, I definitely see myself working with imagery. um I think like even growing up, I always loved taking pictures and um using cameras and stuff like that. So being able to bring some of that into what I'm doing and then also incorporate Coastal, I think it's kind of the perfect combination of um what I would see myself doing in the future. Um, I love working with imagery. I think getting to look at pictures of beaches all day is really cool. Nevermind getting to live and work on the beach is also big perk. Yeah. Yeah.
00:54:16
Speaker
Yeah, as so that that actually leads into the next question that I was going to ask was, what do you see yourself doing in the future? So um you asked kind of the you answered the question from the subject matter perspective, continuing to work with photographs and imagery of the coast. um Do you see yourself continuing to work for the core government consulting mixture academia phd like where's what's your. Like obviously i'm sure you don't have it all worked out but just.
00:54:49
Speaker
And this is not an interview. no no no No, no, no. Well, it kind of is, but not for a job. I i don't know yet. I mean, I really loved working um at the Army Corps, especially here at the field research facility. um I think I do like that aspect of research and being able to investigate some of these questions. um which i don't I'm not sure if you really get that in consulting as much, um or like a private company. So I do see myself staying um with the Army Corps for a little while.
00:55:34
Speaker
um I think this is where I see myself for a bit. Sweet. and again it It goes back to, I think some of the discussions that we had at the beginning of your SMART fellowship and working at the core, working at Duck. and you know Back then you were expressing that you weren't quite certain that that's where you wanted to be or what you wanted to do, at least long-term and what the commitment was going to be like longer term. And it sounds like, you know, you took the chance, you had the experience and you discovered it's something that you really like. But, you know, and it's also kind of interesting that you're not quite certain, you know, you, you kind of like the research, but you're almost, you're leaving options open in turn, in case you want to you know change directions and.
00:56:22
Speaker
You know, I think it's important that, you know, I think sometimes people feel such pressure to have it all figured out, you know, and it sounds like you didn't have even Stevens figured out in high school and you ended up at Stevens and then you didn't have coastal engineering figured out. And then you ended up in that field and then you didn't have, you know, even whether it was coastal or environmental or like what your future beyond, you know, undergrad was like. smart fellowship, not smart fellowship, master's degree, not master's degree, but you're youre your ti your learning through your experience is kind of what you like and you're just kind of you know going with the flow, right? You're just kind of moving with the direction that you know life has taken you. and I think that's that's that's awesome because so many people feel or get into things and then feel they're stuck there. And I think about, often I think about what my life would be like if I was stuck as a chemical engineer, right? like i wouldn't have a
00:57:17
Speaker
Guarantee to you I would not have a podcast on chemical engineering. Students and new professionals in chemical engineering, no. Not happening, right? um Sounds like you could use one, though. Maybe. Maybe. I feel bad. I'm like bashing the chemical engineering. I'm going to get nasty emails from the Stevens professors and close in chemical engineering. To make up for it, we're going to have to invite a chemical engineer on the show. yeah well and chemistry Chemical oceanography. you know Hey, there's there's there's there's a lot of stuff now. There's carbon capture and, you know, sediments and, you know, carbon is a huge thing. Yeah. Yeah. We'll get the chemical engineers to explain it all to us. Yeah. All right. Write it down. ah Next episode. um not not next Not next episode. um But yeah, so that's kind of cool. So it sounds like you're, you know, you're you're pretty happy in the path that you've taken thus far. You, you know, have ah at least a
00:58:17
Speaker
yeah a preliminary plan for what your immediate future looks like, and you're just going to kind of see what happens. um I think one of the things that we want to ask before we before we wrap up is, you know, you've obviously done a lot, you've been ah involved in a lot. um You know, what kind of advice would you give students as they kind of move through, you know, the process?
Advice for Aspiring Students
00:58:42
Speaker
And I say the process, it could be, you know, starting in high school, it could be as an undergraduate, um just how do you, how do they get where you you're at? How do they do those types of cool things? I feel like my biggest piece of advice is just put yourself out there. um And like freshman year, really try to expose yourself to as much as you can.
00:59:10
Speaker
um like Liz would have meetings um for academic advice. And even if I didn't have something, I might just stop by and say hi or introduce myself to her. um And making those connections early on was really important. um But I think especially to being in maybe a smaller field, not being afraid to reach out to people and um like last summer for my internship I emailed the company because they didn't have an internship posting, but I ended up
00:59:48
Speaker
they thought I would be a good fit for the position that didn't exist yet. And so like doing things like that too, I think some people can be intimidated by doing that, but there's no harm in it. The worst they can do is just not respond to you. um And that happens sometimes. um So I think just putting yourself out there, also joining clubs too. I know at Stevens, we have a couple of different environmental clubs, civil clubs and organizations. So just meeting other people that are in a similar field as you and making those connections and friendships really goes a long way. So one thing I'm gonna,
01:00:39
Speaker
definitely make my daughter watch, the listen to the last two minutes of of our podcast. I'm not going to say that she's a regular listener of our podcast. She doesn't want to hear your voice any more than she already does, John. No, no. Dad's going to embarrass her, right? so But I think the advice that you just gave you know more broadly than just ocean engineering, coastal engineering, You know, that's great advice just that cuts across really all disciplines and kind of getting where you want and getting the things out of your experience, maximizing your experience. um So yeah, I think that I'm going to definitely make my daughter listen to that last two minutes.
01:01:24
Speaker
um So I don't know, Marissa, do you have any final questions or should we wrap up? I mean, I'm always full of questions. But I do respect your time. And I know that ah I don't want to hold you anymore because you're a very busy woman, it sounds like. And you know I ah look forward to meeting you in person sometime, um maybe even at the FRF. I look forward to maybe even potentially working with you in the future. And pointing, I mean, you're already at FRF. You have most of the contacts that you will need to make your way and be successful as a researcher, especially for our institution and for our nation. And we're happy to have you. Thank you so much for sharing your story and taking the time to do so. Thank you, Marisa. It was really nice to meet you.
01:02:21
Speaker
So as we wrap up here, as always, we'd like to thank our sponsor, financial sponsor, for allowing us to continue to record the podcast. um So New Jersey Sea Grant is sponsoring the podcast from that point of view. So thank you to New Jersey Sea Grant. At the point at which this episode is released, I believe It will still be some time to register to attend the ASPPA National Coastal Conference in Galveston in August, late August the 26th through the 29th. Unfortunately, I will not be there, but I think some of our co-hosts might be there. So if you are there,
01:03:04
Speaker
I will not be there. Sorry, guys. Deb might be there, its and sort of in her backyard. So um if Deb is there, feel free to come up to her, introduce yourself, talk about what you would like to hear on the Going Coastal podcast, because we're always open to hearing those suggestions and meeting our listeners. Also coming up in the fall, we have the Restore America's Estuaries Coastal and Estuarian Summit. which is going to be held in Arlington, Virginia, just outside of DC from October 6th to 10th. So plenty of time to still register for that. I will be attending that conference, at least for a little bit. So again, feel free to come up to me, introduce yourself, love to hear from our listeners at that event.
Contact Information for Listeners
01:03:49
Speaker
If you really enjoy listening to the Going Coastal podcast, you can always contact us. Eventually we're going to get to the point where there'll be opportunities to sponsor different podcasts, allow us to do more and better and greater things and reach a more broad audience. If you're interested in that, you're welcome to reach out to us at our new Going Coastal email address. It's podcastgoingcoastalatgmail.com. and I would say look out for us on social media. We haven't quite, we haven't quite gone down that path yet, but
01:04:27
Speaker
There's some rumblings about different social media, um whether it's ah Instagram, Twitter, et cetera, whatever your social media du jour is. I think our youngest co-host is going to help us set some of that stuff up, but be on the lookout for that. And as always, we hope that you enjoyed the show and continue to be a listener. Thanks for listening. All right, cool. Thanks all.