Elizabeth Moty – The University of Vermont

Internship: Field Technician Intern, NCBO

A Deep Dive into NOAA Fisheries: Monitoring Hypoxia, Bay Conditions, and Sediment Mapping: Assisted in the maintenance of the Chesapeake Bay’s hypoxia monitoring program and the Chesapeake Bay Interpretive Buoy System (CBIBS) through field operations, sensor maintenance, and quality assurance. Additionally providing updates to the Chesapeake Bay’s Coastal and Marine Ecosystem Classification System map product by incorporating new bathymetric data and oyster restoration information.

Ruby Ondatje – University of Maryland, College Park

Internship: Science Education Intern, NCBO

Environmental Education Throughout the Watershed: As the Science Education Intern for the NOAA Chesapeake Bay Office, Ruby Ondatje supported educator programs focused on Chesapeake Bay Program endorsed environmental literacy models. To further support these models, Ruby created a Chesapeake Watershed Phenomenon Database, featuring local events and resources to assist formal and informal educators across the watershed.

Sydney Hall – University of Maryland, Baltimore County

Internship: Education and Outreach Intern, Arundel Rivers Federation

Green Careers Fair: Introducing students to careers in the environmental field: Entering the work force can be difficult and overwhelming without the support or knowledge needed to navigate your chosen profession. This summer, I hosted an event at Quiet Waters Park to introduce students to careers in the environmental field, all while touring two completed restoration sites. This gave students tangible examples of work that can be done in the environmental field, as well as introduced them to established professionals to begin building their network and thinking about their futures.

Oluwole Okusanya – Towson University

Internship: Computer Science Intern, NCBO

Visualizing The Chesapeake: Data Engineering for the Chesapeake Bay Interpretive Buoy System: This summer at NOAA’s Chesapeake Bay Office, I developed a suite of Python-based visualization pipelines for the Chesapeake Bay Interpretive Buoy System (CBIBS), including multi-station wind and wave rose plots built from a class-based architecture supporting multiple time windows. I also built squeeze plots illustrating the relationship between dissolved oxygen and temperature at Sharps Island across multiple seasons, helping visualize conditions relevant to species-specific environmental thresholds in the Bay. Together, these tools give researchers and the public a more accessible, repeatable way to explore Bay conditions from buoy data.

Kate Koblegarde – New York University (NYU)

Internship: Environmental Economics Intern, NOAA

Oyster Restoration Economics of The Chesapeake Bay: Ecosystem Valuation, Restoration, and Implementation of Financing Future Initiatives: Analyzing ecosystem valuation by synthesizing nitrogen and phosphorus filtration data, economic models and restoration costs of oyster reefs in the Chesapeake Bay. For the future of Bay oysters, I have designed a prospective tax deductible to adopt a reef program titled Chesapeake Reef Guardians. My goal is to design markets to incentivize financing the future of oyster conservation.

Cassidy Martin – St. Mary’s College of Maryland

Internship: Box Turtle Researcher, Jug Bay Wetland Sanctuary

Population Demographics of Eastern Box Turtle (Terrepene carolina carolina) at Emory Waters Nature Preserve: I added over fifty box turtles to the extensive database at Jug Bay Wetlands Sanctuary. This data was gathered from a previously unsurveyed area that will soon undergo a stream restoration project. My data on the heath and demographics of these turtles will provide valuable information that will allow the stream restoration’s impact on the box turtle population to be measured.

Wyatt Palenchar – University of Maryland, Eastern Shore

Internship: NERTO Graduate Intern, NCBO

Utilizing eDNA for fish community analysis at NBS restoration sites: Oxford, MD is threatened by shoreline erosion and flooding due to changing environmental conditions. The town has implemented both grey and blue-green infrastructure to help with this issue, including recently constructed nature based solutions. This project works to understand how fish species may be using these different sites through the use of eDNA collected from water samples.

Cheyenne Murdaugh – University of Maryland, Eastern Shore

Internship: NERTO Graduate Intern, NCBO

Analyzing Benthic Invertebrate Communities At Restoration Sites With Nature-Based Solutions: As a part of the larger Strand project, my internship focuses on the macrobenthic invertebrate community composition around Oxford, Maryland. By collecting samples at different shoreline restoration sites around Oxford and the Tred Avon River, we hope to see how shoreline restoration effects the benthic community.