Nearly 300\u00a0miles\u00a0south of\u00a0the classrooms and laboratories of\u00a0East Stroudsburg University,\u00a0junior\u00a0marine science and biology major\u00a0Michael Shearer\u00a0was\u00a0having one of his best learning experiences yet.<\/p>\n
Observing\u00a0the delicate aquatic ecosystem around him as he\u00a0kayaked\u00a0through\u00a0a salt marsh along Virginia\u2019s eastern shore\u00a0earlier this summer, Shearer was living the experience described in so many\u00a0of his\u00a0lectures and textbooks.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe were looking at everything from plant life\u00a0to animal life to water conditions in order to get a decent understanding of the environment as a whole and how everything interacts with and is affected by the rest of the environment,\u201d Shearer said.<\/p>\n
Shearer\u2019s\u00a0adventure\u00a0was one of\u00a0the\u00a0many\u00a0impactful field experiences\u00a0ESU students have\u00a0had\u00a0at Chincoteague Bay Field Station\u00a0in Wallops Island, Va., since the university first began its partnership with the facility\u00a0nearly 60\u00a0years ago.<\/p>\n
Students live in on-site housing at the facility\u00a0during the summer\u00a0months\u00a0while taking courses that allow them to\u00a0study marine life in\u00a0its\u00a0natural environment.\u00a0This summer,\u00a0nearly 30\u00a0ESU students\u00a0participated.<\/p>\n
Shearer, who\u00a0took courses\u00a0at the facility\u00a0from June 7 to July 18,\u00a0said\u00a0the field station\u00a0was the perfect opportunity to\u00a0practice the\u00a0skills\u00a0he\u2019d\u00a0learned at ESU\u00a0in real-world situations.<\/p>\n
\u201cI’ve always been more of a hands-on learner, so it was such a blessing to finally be back out in the field,\u201d\u00a0said Shearer,\u00a0from Lansdale, Pa.<\/p>\n
Max Stull,\u00a0a junior majoring in marine science and biology\u00a0from Derby, Kans., had a similarly fulfilling experience\u00a0recording data, collecting\u00a0samples\u00a0and\u00a0getting to know\u00a0fellow marine science majors from other universities.<\/p>\n
\u201cWorking with everyone really fostered connections with both students from ESU and other university students I otherwise wouldn’t interact with,\u201d said Stull, who was at the facility from June 14 to Aug. 7.<\/p>\n
Course\u00a0offerings\u00a0at Chincoteague Bay Field Station\u00a0span a range of topics, including\u00a0Behavioral Ecology, Field Methods in Oceanography,\u00a0Coastal Hazards and Sustainability,\u00a0Conservation Biology,\u00a0and Marine Botany,\u00a0helping\u00a0students\u00a0figure out\u00a0what\u00a0interests\u00a0them the most.<\/p>\n
\u201cI had struggled beforehand to form research questions and to understand what direction in this field I wanted to pursue,\u201d Stull said. \u201cIn these classes, I was able to explore different opportunities and discover what interested me the most.\u201d<\/p>\n
James Hunt, Ph.D., professor and director of ESU\u2019s marine science program, is among the faculty who teach at Chincoteague Bay Field Station.<\/p>\n
At the facility,\u00a0Dr. Hunt\u00a0is more than just\u00a0a familiar face\u00a0to\u00a0ESU students.\u00a0His\u00a0research focuses on ecology and marine invertebrate behavior, making Chincoteague Bay\u00a0an ideal backdrop for students to learn from his\u00a0expertise.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was going into this with a basic understanding of the environments we were working in, but with all the additional information provided by Dr. Hunt, I felt like I was more than prepared to go out into the field and properly apply all the new knowledge I had gained,\u201d Shearer said.<\/p>\n
With ESU\u2019s location in the Pocono Mountains,\u00a0participation in the consortium running the\u00a0facility\u00a0is vital to having a successful marine science program\u00a0that gives students hands-on learning, Dr. Hunt said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt allows students to gain experience casting nets from boats, using oceanographic instruments at sea, and collecting and analyzing field data from a variety of coastal habitats,\u201d he said.\u00a0\u201cThe field station gives us access to salt marshes, sea grass beds, estuaries, mudflats, subtidal communities, oyster beds, wetlands, and more.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dr. Hunt was joined at Chincoteague Bay Research Facility this summer by fellow ESU faculty members\u00a0Tracy Whitford, Ph.D., assistant professor of biology, and\u00a0Shixiong\u00a0Hu, Ph.D., professor of geography.\u00a0Alumni Lauren Huffman\u00a0\u201824\u00a0and Jordyn Drager\u00a0\u201825\u00a0also worked at the\u00a0research\u00a0facility this summer as\u00a0staff members.<\/p>\n
Learn more about the\u00a0marine science<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0biology<\/a>\u00a0programs at ESU.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Nearly 300\u00a0miles\u00a0south of\u00a0the classrooms and laboratories of\u00a0ESU,\u00a0junior\u00a0marine science and biology major\u00a0Michael Shearer\u00a0was\u00a0having one of his best learning experiences yet.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":51,"featured_media":25070,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[143,42,58],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-25068","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-community","category-news-release","category-slider"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/quantum.esu.edu\/insider\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25068"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/quantum.esu.edu\/insider\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/quantum.esu.edu\/insider\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quantum.esu.edu\/insider\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/51"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quantum.esu.edu\/insider\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25068"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/quantum.esu.edu\/insider\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25068\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25072,"href":"https:\/\/quantum.esu.edu\/insider\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25068\/revisions\/25072"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quantum.esu.edu\/insider\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25070"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/quantum.esu.edu\/insider\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25068"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quantum.esu.edu\/insider\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25068"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quantum.esu.edu\/insider\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25068"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}