BU’s Marine Semester Marks 35th Anniversary
BU’s Marine Semester Marks 35th Anniversary
BU’s Marine Semester Marks 35th Anniversary
For 35 years, BU’s Marine Semester has offered undergrad and grad students in the BU Marine Program an unparalleled intensive hands-on laboratory and field experience. Over the course of the fall semester, they take one course in each of four blocks to allow for deep dives into topics related to their research interests. They study in BU Marine Program’s teaching lab and off campus at field sites throughout New England, among them Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary and the Boston waterfront, as well as Belize in Central America, where they spend up to two weeks snorkeling along the world’s second largest barrier reef. There, they conduct research projects on topics such as coral reef regeneration and the diversity of marine invertebrates living on the roots of mangrove trees.
Many students say the semester is the highlight of their time at BU.
“This is the reason why many students come to BU to study marine science,” says Marine Program director Peter Buston, a College of Arts & Sciences associate professor of biology.
But this year, the COVID-19 pandemic forced the program to pivot. Faculty and staff set about retailoring each of the Marine Semester’s 16 courses, maintaining the program’s uniquely experiential approach, with safety the priority. With its emphasis on outdoor fieldwork and indoor lab spaces featuring plenty of room for social distancing, the program was well suited to adapting to COVID requirements. Unsurprising, travel to Belize proved impossible. Several courses usually taught on site in Belize were moved online and instead of collecting new samples and taking them back to campus, students studied existing samples culled from previous research trips.
The pivot required innovation and ingenuity, and despite all the changes, students say it was an amazing experience.
“The Marine Semester confirmed that this is what I want to be doing…that I want to be a scientist, and I can be a scientist,” says Kurt Castro (CAS’21).
And the many adjustments students had to make taught some valuable life lessons as well.
“What I learned about myself was this: it is OK for things not to go how you planned them to, and when it doesn’t, that it’s an opportunity to learn something new,” says Coretta Granberry (CAS’21).
Find more information on the Marine Semester here.
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