Erin Murray recently spent a month with a research team in Norway studying the impacts of noise from a nearby offshore windfarm upon key species of the local aquatic food chain. By exposing copepods (small crustaceans that are an important food source for salmon and codfish) to constant, low frequency audio from the windfarm for three weeks and assessing signs of stress. The team highlighted how noise pollution impacts ecosystem balance and commercial fisheries, further demonstrating connections between human activity and marine life. As a result of her work at NTNU, Murray reports that she was invited to return to Europe to continue her research. Overall, Murray notes that this experience has enhanced her research and professional background, in preparation of attending graduate school. This experience was supported by Ohio State’s TRONDBUSS program, and Ohio State’s TRONDBUSS program and a Student Sustainability Grant through Ohio State’s Sustainability Institute (SI), and you can read more about it here!

Dr. Patrice Hamel is the mastermind behind the Trondheim:Columbus exchange program (TRONDBUSS) now part of  the STILSA (Students in Life Sciences Abroad) program, an umbrella initiative that supports mentored student research experiences abroad. Through STILSA, the Department of Molecualr Genetics offers paid and credit-earning international research internships in collaboration with the Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Sorbonne Université and Paris Saclay Université in France and recently at the University of French West Indies. Through STILSA, Ohio State undergraduate students (both current and recently graduated graduated can pursue research internships across wide fields of study, including systems biology, neuroscience, marine biology, plant biology, RNA biology, terrestrial ecology, biomaterial science and animal ecophysiology.  Learn more about STILSA and apply for available opportunities.

Story image used with permission from Erin Murray.