Real Science, Real Experience for Coastal Fellows

August 25, 2020
Dressed in bright orange jumpsuits and matching masks, University of Rhode Island students Cara Megill and Jacqui Roush stood at Conimicut Point in Warwick and flipped a switch to begin pumping about 50 gallons of seawater through a complex filter system designed and built by their advisors, Andrew Davies and Coleen Suckling. (Photo by Todd McLeish)

Jacqui Roush and Cara Megill, a senior marine biology and chemistry major from Boyertown, Pennsylvania, found microscopic pieces of plastic at every site they tested – coastal locations from Point Judith to Providence as well as at sites in the middle of the bay. The took their samples back to Coleen Suckling’s laboratory on URI’s Kingston campus to filter out non-plastic particles, and they are now analyzing each sample to see if they can identify the source of the plastic and how it got into the bay.

It’s a process they repeated almost daily from mid-July through August at a dozen sites around Narragansett Bay as part of a research project to document the location, concentration and movement of microplastics in the bay. With the help of Save The Bay, the students also deployed a manta-trawl net from a boat to skim for plastics at the water’s surface.

The students’ plastics research is supported by Rhode Island Sea Grant and the URI Coastal Fellows program, a unique initiative designed to involve undergraduate students in addressing current environmental problems. Now in its 24th year, the program pairs students with a mentor and research staff to help them gain skills relevant to their academic major and future occupations.

The project was a great hands-on learning experience for students about “about microplastics and about the research process in general.” It gave students field and lab research experience to help inform their careers.

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