I've had a wonderful holiday! Missed the big snow storm in Little Rock because I was in North Carolina visiting family. When I got back I worked on projects around the house and then, when I realized I still have a few days before school starts, began to work on my internship applications.
I revisited my summer internship applications for two colleges. With the help of my professors I applied to the REU (research experience for undergraduates) at VIMS (Virginia Institute of Marine Science at William and Mary). This one is now finished and in the mail so to speak. Let me just say that the professors at my school are fantastic and I have found that they volunteer to help me whenever I encounter the next step in my goals to get into grad school.
Once the VIMS application was complete I began working on my application to the Maryland SeaGrant REU at the University of Maryland. I have to write a personal statement, which I am working on. And I've already lined up the people who will proof read it and edit it before submission.They also require a resumé which I have previously completed as an assignment in my Environmental Practicum class. I will have a couple of people check it and then everything will be ready on my part. Now the big question. I contacted two professors to write recommendation for the VIMS REU. I need two more for the Maryland REU. Do I contact two different professors? Is it okay to ask the first two professors to write another recommendation? I really don't know. I'm going to ask some grad students what they think I should do. After all, they have already been through this process.
I am really excited about both opportunities. They are located in the same area of the country and the research opportunities are a collaboration through the Sea Grant funding program run by NOAA. Getting accepted by one of these internships will be a learning experience that I don't think that I would be able to get anywhere else given my interest in protecting the oceans during the coming years of climate change. I find myself reading all the different webpages of both programs getting excited about what professor they may assign me to and what type of research I will have available to me. Both programs have large RV's (research vessels) and the prospect of going out onto the ocean and participating in this type of research is daunting. These vessels work round the clock and every researcher has shifts that they are required to take samples, do lab work, and sleep. It's a crazy schedule but it sounds great to me. After doing police work for 23 years I have no problem adapting to strange work schedules, altering sleep times, and eating when ever I get the opportunity.
