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Jude Apple ~ Entrepreneurial Ecologist

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NSF MENTORING PROGRAMS

Understanding the Process

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Dr. Jude Apple's position at Shannon Point Marine Lab includes serving as mentor for two NSF programs: Multicultural Instruction in the Marine Sciences: Undergraduate Participation (MIMSUP) and Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU). MIMSUP is a 20-week program in which a diverse group of students from all over the country – as well as Latin America - come to study at Shannon Point between January and June. As a mentor, Jude helps MIMSUP students develop independent research projects, which are often connected to his own research. MIMSUP students have participated in the Bellingham Bay Study as well as Jude's Pelagic Ecosystem Function research, going out on cruises to conduct measurements that add to the year round data set for the San Juan Islands. "We expose them to the iterative, exciting, inquiry-based process we call science," says Jude, "and they learn a little more about being a scientist." Jude has brought MIMSUP students to the Pacific Estuarine Research Society meeting, giving them an opportunity to see what it’s like to be at a scientific conference.

"I’m out there being excited about my science and pulling them along with me."
The REU students come for the summer, and they are also from all over country, coming to have an independent research-style learning experience at Shannon Point Marine Center. They also work on Jude's research areas, and learn to collaborate with each other. Indeed, this last summer, COSEE PRIME, REU and NWIC interns worked side-by-side on both the Bellingham Bay and Pelagic Ecosystem Study projects. The Bellingham Bay Study provides an opportunity to engage REU students in doing science, giving them a question and having them go through the process of understanding a particular phenomenon and answering it with available tools. And they inspire Jude to keep mentoring: "They are the outcome."

Amy Burgess
Amy Burgess, Graduate Student, Western Washington University
Her experience being mentored through the MIMSUP program
Hannah Clark
Hannah Clark, REU Student, Wittenberg University, Ohio
How being in the REU program has changed her plans for the future