Research Internships in Ocean Sciences (RIOS) is a grant-funded internship for undergranduates, funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF). It is a 10-week paid internship, in which participants gain experience conducting and presenting research with the Department of Marine and Coastal Sciences. Interns may be stationed at Rutgers University Marine Field Station, where the focus of their research would be on ecology and life history of fishes, horseshoe crab nurseries, or other topics related to our current research projects.

Past RUMFS RIOS Interns & Projects
Click on a project title below to see a .PDF or .JPG of each intern’s poster.
^† indicates 1st place winner at end-of-summer poster session.
^‡ indicates 2nd place at end-of-summer poster session.

2017

• Stephanie Arsenault – Describing Community Composition of Artificial Reefs off New Jersey
• ^‡ Dawn Parry – Analysis of Juvenile Striped Bass Spawning Sites Using Otolith Microchemistry
• ^†Alexandra Schneider – A 25-Year Time Series Analysis of Juvenile Blue Crabs in Southern New Jersey
• Giselle Schreiber – Seasonality and Life History of Shrimp Species in the Mullica River-Great Bay Estuary

2016

• ^†Mattea Berglund – Priority Effects in Fish Traps Seeded with American Lobster or Tautog
• Joseph Citro – The Impact of Changing Water Temperature on Juvenile Fish Phenology in the Great Bay Estuary
• Jenelle Estrada – Ctenophore Predation on Bay Scallop Larvae
• Kate Faber – Quantifying Impacts of a Freshwater Diversion on Salt Marsh Food Webs
• Danielle McHaskell – Effects of Sediment Grain Size on Settlement of Juvenile Horseshoe Crabs

2015

• Theo Mercurio – Classification of Submerged Habitat Around Sandy Hook, NJ
• ^‡Katie Plank – Effects of Oiling on Marsh Food Webs: Fatty Acid and Gut Content Approaches
• Jen Wright – Analysis of Benthic Invertebrate Community and Habitat at Sandy Hook, New Jersey
• ^†Joe Zottoli – Nursery Habitats for Early-Life Stages of American Horseshoe Crabs in Great Bay-Little Egg Harbor, NJ

2014

• Rachael Saless – Supply of Juvenile and Larval Horseshoe Crabs (Limulus polyphemus) in Great Bay, NJ
• Anders Winquist-Bailey – Analysis of Fish Assemblages Across a Gradient of Human Alteration in Creek Habitats in Barnegat Bay
• Karl Lindberg – Age Validation in a Short-lived, Marsh-resident Fish

2013

• ^†Jessica Gezymalla – Asexual Reproduction Favored in Sea Nettles (Chrysaora quinquecirrha)
• Holly Kiang – Comparison of Fish Species Composition and Distribution in Barnegat Bay
• ^‡Chandler Navara – Dispersal of American Horseshoe Crab (Limulus polyphemus) Larvae
• Sarah Siedlak – Recruitment success and variability in marine fish populations: Does age-truncation matter?
• Jessica Valenti – BP Oil Spill Effects on the Abundance and Composition of Louisiana Marsh Fishes

2012

• Gina Clementi – Salt Marsh Fish Assemblages Along an Urbanization Gradient in Barnegat Bay
• Howard Kouan – Seasonal Dietary Patterns of Striped Marlin (Terapturus audax) in Baja California Sur, Mexico Based on Fatty Acid Analysis
• Katie O’Connor – Determining the Age and Growth of Fundulus grandis
• ^†Kaela Vogel – Automatic Pelagic Fish Detection By Area Distribution in Side Scan Sonar Images

2011

• Joshua Cullen – Recruitment of Anguilla rostrata Varies within Barnegat Bay
• Andrew Hassall – Small-scale Movement of Black Sea Bass, Centropristis striata, Using Telemetry
• Alexandra Ulmke – Seasonal Variation in Harbor Seal (Phoca vitulina concolor) Fish Prey in Great Bay, NJ
• Katie Wright – Fishing Pressure in Black Sea Bass (Centropristis striata): What can We Learn From Who’s Getting Caught?

2010

• Jaymie Frederick – Horseshoe Crab (Limulus polyphemus) larvae abundance and distribution: patterns in a small estuary
• Michelle Jakaitis – Examining the correlation between spawning stock biomass and larval density for seven Middle Atlantic Bight fish
• Caitlin McGarigal – Evaluating the ese of motion-activated transmitters to track Paralichthys dentatus in the Great Bay Estuary
• Nate Ramsey – Analysis of the relationship between the frequency and method of natural mortality estimates of flatfishes
• Tara Seely – Spatial and temporal variation of epiphytic growth on Zostera marina

2009

• Callie Crawford – Exploring summer flounder, Paralichthys dentatus, carcass behavior in preparation for discard mortality studies
• Kevin DeCristofer – The initial impact of acoustic tagging on behavior of Paralichthys dentatus
• Iris Kemp – Forage fish distribution at pier edges in the Hudson River
• Merril Rudd – Large fish distributions among pier habitats on the Hudson River using dual frequency identification sonar
• Emily Sexton – Non-invasive sex determination of summer flounder, Paralichthys dentatus
• Sarah Wolfson – Spatial changes in epiphytic growth on Zostera marina in Barnegat Bay – Little Egg Harbor Estuary

2008

• ^‡Franny Buderman – Effect of pier shading on prey fish in the Hudson River, using dual frequency identification sonar
• Jessika Hoffman – Development of a rapid tagging technique for short term studies on summer flounder,Paralichthys dentatus
• Chris Huch – Blade ejection due to temperature stress in Zostera marina
• Caitlin Kennedy – Fish sound production in a Mid-Atlantic Bight tidal creek
• Jessica Kurth – The effects of temperature on the abundance of blue mussel beds (Mytilus edulis) in the Barnegat Inlet
• Brian Reckenbeil – Quantifying movement and dispersal in adult weakfish, Cynoscion regalis: Day vs. night comparison

2006

• Paul Clerkin – Movement of sub-adult striped bass (Morone saxatilis) within an estuarine ecosystem
• Gregory Henkes – Investigating feasibility of acoustic telemetry and habitat use of adult hickory shad, Alosa mediocris, in the Mullica River/Great Bay estuary, New Jersey
• Ralph Jiorle – Study of the physical parameters of the Beach Haven sand ridge area using the autonomous underwater vehicle REMUS
• Margaret Malone – Distribution of telemetered smooth dogfish, Mustelus canis, in a southern New Jersey estuary
• Rachel Mosher – Underwater videographic analysis of seagrasses in the Barnegat Bay-Little Egg Harbor estuary
• Katie Schmidt – The effects of the burrowing anemone, Ceriantheopsis americanus, on invertebrate diversity and abundance at LEO-15, Station 30

2005

• Alison Astalos – Water quality data assessment of the Mullica River-Great Bay estuary
• James Bunkiewicz – Dietary overlap between bluefish (Pomatomus saltatrix), Weakfish (Cynoscion regalis), and summer flounder (Paralichthys dentatus) from the inner continental shelf off the coast of New Jersey
• Alicia Manoski – Using acoustic telemetry to track bluefish (Pomatomus slatatrix) in the Great Bay/Mullica River estuary
• Paige Roberts – Day time vs. crepuscular movements of newly tagged striped bass, Morone saxatilis, using ultrasonic telemetry
• Rachel Sargent – Larval sampling, rearing, and acoustic tracking of Limulus polyphemus

2004

• Fernando Fuentes – Day and night movement comparisons of the striped bass of Great Bay/Mullica River estuary
• Katie Seebald – The use of ultrasonic telemetry for assessing diel differences in habitat use by juvenile and adult summer flounder, Paralichthys dentatus, in the Greay Bay-Little Egg Harbor estuary
• Anya Watson – Tracking the elusive Great Bay horseshoe crab Limulus polyhemus with ultrasonic telemetry: What do horseshoe crabs do after the spawning season?