Gigi Gaultier
University of Washington
Marine Conservationist
Leading the Way for Women in Science
In Fall 2016 I studied at Friday Harbor Labs for a marine biology research quarter. I spent 10 weeks conducting research on the effects of temperature increases on eelgrass. My Team collected 160 eelgrass shoots from the Puget Sound region and collected the data each day for temperature and measurements. Our main objective was to look into possible restoration projects in the future for local eelgrass in the Puget Sound. When the project ended, I learned how to code to be able to display our data and write a scientific paper on our findings. Once all of this was done, my team was invited to present our conclusions to the Director of Natural Resources for the Samish tribe and at the UW research symposium in May 2017.
This experience was important to me because I was able to get involved with hands on research in my field as an undergraduate. I knew I was passionate about marine biology but this confirmed to me that I want to do research and discover new things so that I can educate others. Presenting my work at the UW research symposium has helped me understand my want to use my research to inspire conservation to others.
Freshmen Year: Aspiring to Become a Marine Biologist
I gained the competency of research because of the dedication I put into being able to conduct an experiment and measure out data that had never been looked at before. The experiment I was given was something that Washington state was genuinely concerned with and is hoping to better understand. Throughout this process, my team had to overcome challenges of our experiment not going as planned to still effectively collect our data. From here we could get a better understanding of what our data really meant but visualizing it through coding graphs. Three months were spent gathering information and making sure our experiment went as planned to get accurate statistics.
My Research Project on Eelgrass in Friday Harbor Labs
I gained the competency of synthesis because to reach our conclusion within our research, we had to find a defining trend from the data we collected. What was most important in the process was knowing what factors of temperature changes were effecting the health of these local eelgrass shoots. Learning how to code especially helped with this part because as we could visually see decreases in eelgrass shoot lengths due to long term temperature increases, we could see that was a major conclusion. My team had to work together here to reach a final conclusion to then present back to the director of natural resources.
I gained the competency of analysis there were so many parts in this project to look at. Just within the eelgrass shoots alone, my team were measuring length, width, decay percentage, root length and if any new growth was presenting itself. In addition to this, we had two different water temperature levels that the eelgrass was living in (one cold and one hot) that required measuring twice a day to assure our temperatures were stable. To fully comprehend all of this data, it was essential that my team look at each measurement individually for each treatment to get a full understanding of what was happening. Doing this helped my team come to our final conclusion.
This research project relied fully on the creation put together by my team. Although we had a research mentor present who helped guide us towards how we would get this project done, my team was responsible for putting everything together and collecting the data to reach a conclusion. My team agreed that each of us were on an equal level playing field of knowledge and we each excelled in a different portion of our project. We kept each other on track while making sure this project would be finished on time to present our conclusion. Our research topic of “temperature effects on eelgrass” was presented to us at the beginning of the quarter but it was up to my team to collect the props and data to efficiently create the research project and reach a conclusion.
I gained the competency of collaboration because this was a big part of working on a research team. As I mentioned before, my partners and I each excelled in a different portion of our project which required us to collaborate on sharing ideas and finding the most effective ways to finish all we were required to do. We split up the work so that not one person was doing one thing throughout the entire experiment. This was our way of teaching others about new research ethics that one of us might be lacking in. A big part of collaboration was about being open and honest with one another. Guidelines were needed to be set ahead of time so that everyone was on the same page. On the day we left to collect eelgrass in the field, the whole team knew it was going to be a long night but we were dedicated to making it fun for everyone. Working together in a team taught me a lot about communication and the effort that comes with making sure everyone is in the know of each step of the process.
My Research Team Taking Measurements on Eelgrass
I gained the competency of verbal communication because of the presentations I was offered after our project was done. Scientific communication was something new to me because my team had to learn how to effectively educate others about a project that has so much depth that is hard to understand. I wanted to be able to teach people about science in a way that it could be communicated with anyone. Within my team, verbal communication was also incredibly important to keep each other knowledgeable about a part of the project we might not be working on or to work out a challenge together.
VERBAL COMMUNICATION
Throughout my time at Friday Harbor Labs, a big part of completing our tasks efficiently was keeping a positive attitude. Working on a research project makes for a high stress environment but it was important to me to remain hopeful and see the positivity in what we were doing. When my team faced challenges or setbacks such as having to redesign our experiment, I looked at this situation as one encouraging us to work hard. I was lucky to have a team that was willing to be open minded so that all of our perspectives had input. It made for this environment to be an easy one to be excited about. I know that when things go wrong, it can be simple to default to being frustrated but whether it being playing music during long hours of taking measurements or fun games rewarding us at the end of a long days work, keeping a positive attitude made all this research doable.
Spending a quarter researching in Friday Harbor Labs has helped me gain a lot of confidence in being able to conduct an experiment and communicate science. I have gained confidence in team work, public speaking and research because of the position I put myself in outside of the UW classroom experience. I now see that although research was incredibly important to me in my field, it was the education aspect that stuck out to me. I can use my knowledge that I learnt here to apply in graduate school and other research projects. I know that these competencies will help me as I further my science career and continue to educate others about conservation of the marine environment.
