by My experiences with STEMSEAS so far has been completely different from every research experience I have ever had. Starting off, I have never been so seasick in my life (thankfully it was only for a couple of days) which I cured with some fresh air and determination to be in the lab learning. It’s a bit difficult to fully describe my experience on STEMSEAS without jumping all over the place with the projects, lectures, and demonstrations, because in a sense that’s what this journey has been like. Total immersion into the world of science and what really goes on aboard a research cruise has included sequencing DNA samples of phytoplankton, lectures on climate change, glaciers, and lead pollution, measuring heavy metal elements in real time, and collaborating with the next generation of scientists. Not only have I learned about diverse topics concerning the health of the earth, but the fear of the unknown when becoming a scientist or advancing my education has turned into an understood challenge.
I could easily describe to you the everyday routine of breakfast, mustering in the lab, lunch, mustering back into the lab, dinner, and closing lectures or activities before bedtime- but that can get very repetitious so I will break it down into small summaries. The first few lectures we had concerned the glaciers and climate change, a topic that is very controversial for people everywhere-ironically, with me going to college for bio science I get asked a lot of questions about the climate and if theories are true concerning the environment when I travel back home to Yakutat, so these topics always perk my interest. Essentially, there is more than one action that is causing Earth to melt, some of which include glacier ice melt, CO2 increase in the atmosphere, and some natural processes that cause a positive feedback instigating these processes into further dooming us into global warming. I can already feel the outpour of information wanting to just spill out onto this post, but I will hold back for the sake of no visuals to aid in understanding. Another lecture that stuck out to me was ‘Lead Pollution’ by Cynthia Hall. Just as the title says, we learned about lead pollution in an environment that literally hits home. Lead was used in many things back in the 1900s, one of those products was paints. For most people living in remodeled homes in 2019 this isn’t a huge deal, but the impacts this had and still has on lower-class citizens who live in houses containing lead paint or products is mind blowing. Lead poisoning can make an individual more inclined to violence, a lower IQ, learning disabilities, and overall just make it that much harder to thrive as a functional member of society.
Aside from the immense amount of knowledge I have gained on STEMSEAS, the most important part of the experience to me has been spending time with good people. While getting to port is an exciting destination, I will definitely miss the adventures I have had on this research cruise. For me, and for others as I have come to find out, the Sikuliaq will definitely not be my last venture on a research vessel.
-Hayley Lekanof, UAF
