MVSU's coastal science fellow

Mississippi Valley State University (MVSU) senior Remeya Ganesh has taken a lot of science classes, but never studied coastal science until she participated in the Mississippi-Alabama Sea Grant Consortium’s Coastal Science Fellowship for Minority Undergraduates. She’s always been interested in learning about coastal and marine environments because her parents are from the island nation of Sri Lanka. But, growing up in Toronto and going to college in the Mississippi Delta, Ganesh hadn’t spent much time on any coast. This summer, she spent 10 weeks working with the Dauphin Island (Ala.) Sea Lab’s Discovery Hall Programs, but because of the pandemic, she worked from her Toronto home for the first six weeks, and came to the Sea Lab for the final four. When Ganesh arrived on the Alabama Gulf Coast, she joined the DISL’s Discovery Hall Programs education team to work with middle and high school students attending summer camp programs. She learned right alongside with the students as they explored plants, fish, dolphins, flora and fauna. She shadowed the educators, and they later gave her the chance to lead activities. Ganesh was one of the first fellows supported by the Mississippi-Alabama Sea Grant Consortium from underrepresented universities,” LaDon Swann, director of the Mississippi-Alabama Sea Grant Consortium, said. “(S)he had a chance to learn about marine science, coastal living and the pure joy of being outside and working on the water,” she said. Ganesh learned new skills, like seining and dissecting a shark; guided students as they examined plankton, built remotely operated vehicles (ROVs), and track coastlines. She is majoring in health, physical education and recreation and minoring in biology at MVSU. She hopes to become a doctor, and has been accepted to medical school. This fall, Ganesh is continuing to increase her environmental literacy by taking an environmental health course. “I decided to take it instead of chemistry because of this fellowship,” she said. (Source: Mississippi-Alabama Sea Grant Consortium 08/05/20) http://masgc.org/news/article/mississippi-valley-state-student-serves-as-coastal-science-fellow