Student Research

While scientific work takes place year-round at the Center, the summer is a particularly active season for faculty, post-doctoral scientists, and undergraduate students doing faculty-mentored research. Undergraduate summer research often leads to an academic-year honors thesis or independent project.   

Additionally, non-science majors are welcome to propose research projects related to coastal and marine topics from all disciplines, including interdisciplinary approaches to the study of the sea. 

Students interested in coastal and oceanographic research may apply for fellowships through Bowdoin's Office of Student Fellowships and Research.

Coastal Studies Research Fellowships

Bowdoin College has a number of grants that support marine science. 

The College’s Doherty Charitable Foundation Coastal Studies Research Fellowship and Freedman Summer Research Fellowship in Coastal/Environmental Studies support a range of projects, including marine science, environmental research, climate issues, biodiversity, awater and air pollution, and natural resources of coastal Maine.

The Rusack Coastal Studies Fellowship supports projects with a natural science, humanities, or social science focus. 

Additionally, student researchers can apply for financial support from national sources, including the National Science Foundation and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Institution.  

For more information on fellowship applications and deadlines (applications are available mid-January and due in early February), visit Student Fellowships and Research. Students should contact potential faculty advisors early in the application process.

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  Large Cohort of Students Present Research at National Ecology Conference

  Six students were recently invited to give talks on their research at the 2022 Benthic Ecology Meeting in Portsmouth, NH. Three more students participated in a poster symposium.
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  Pieter Martino ’17 and Professors Publish Findings on Future of Blue Mussels

  The recent graduate is the lead author of a study investigating how blue mussels could fare under the stresses of climate change.
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  Marine Science Students Research Ocean Changes, Microplastics, Invasive Species, and More

  At the conclusion of the fall semester, it is a tradition for the Bowdoin Marine Science Semester students to present their independent research projects at the Schiller Coastal Studies Center. To a gathered group of scientists and students, they explain how they designed their experiments and what they discovered. The ten participants in the program this year pursued a range of inquiries, from how climate change might be changing snails’ eating habits to how much microplastic is being eaten by zooplankton.
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  Aidan Coyle ’17 Makes Green Crab Research Breakthrough

  Small, nimble, and aggressive, European green crabs are ferocious invaders. Since they first arrived on the shores of the United States in the early 1800s, they have been wreaking havoc on marine ecosystems up and down the East Coast.