Katherine Williams '04


Environmental Science and Marine Biology

williams2My name is Katherine Williams. I started at the University of New England as a marine biology major, and half way through my freshman year I added an environmental science major.

I was entranced with UNE the first time I visited. It was small and comfortable, offering me a place with huge opportunities and approachable faculty. Best of all it was only meters from the ocean! It was perfectly situated so that I could go home to Vermont on the weekends, but far enough away that I could take advantage of my new collegiate freedom. I chose to double my major because it gives me unlimited opportunity when I graduate.

I like the fact that Monday through Wednesday I don't have to look "pretty" because I'm bound to get muddy from being out in the field.

The faculty is such a wonderful group of people; they care about what's going on in your life and can sometimes feel like extended family.

Internships
Sophomore year I was an education intern at the New England Aquarium in Boston. The experience taught me a lot about making the leap from scientific thinking to the way everyone else who isn't studying marine science thinks about the ocean so that I could explain the exhibits in ways they would understand and appreciate. I had to know about every exhibit in the Aquarium, even though I specialized in just one; knowing people trusted me to give them the correct information was intimidating. The whole experience improved my public speaking skills, my confidence and my knowledge.

Research
williams3Junior year, I spent the summer working for Pam Morgan, a faculty member in the Department of Environmental Studies, on the University's fringing marsh, collecting data on the newly built dock and what effects it had on the delicate marsh ecosystem. It was the first time I had done hard-core field research, and although there were plenty of times when we should have been miserable (between the heat, the bugs, the tedium or the humidity) we never actually were. The experience solidified my desire to be a field researcher and focused my attention towards ecology.

Summer before senior year, I spent at Harbor Branch Oceanographic in Ft. Pierce, Florida, studying fish bacteria. This experience was not a particularly enjoyable one, but it was still an amazing experience because of the depth and the independence of the research I was doing and the support I received from my professors back at UNE. It also reinforced the most important lesson of field research, and that is to be flexible because things don't always work.

I am applying to graduate school in California for the fall of 2005. After graduation, I plan to take a year off to work before I head back to school.
    
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