I have always been interested
in subjects that relate to science and technology. As a senior in high
school, I was accepted into the Office of Naval Research Scholarship program
at Elizabeth City State University that is affiliated with NASA and NOAA.
This research scholarship program gave me the opportunity to become a
student researcher in the area of computer science. Through my research
experiences at Elizabeth City State University, I was fortunate enough
to be exposed to an application of computer science known as remote sensing.
The combination of science and technology to be applicable to real life
situations, as GIS and remote sensing does, truly sparked my interest
which has led me to seek research opportunities in these areas and to
pursue a graduate degree in geography. My
research experience has not only
been developed during the academic
year, but also nurtured through
summer research experiences. In
the summer of 2003 I was given
the chance to complete a seven-week
summer internship at Norfolk State
University with the Research Experience
in Earth System Science (REESS)
program. I was able to be on the
Digital Earth research team where
we presented our research entitled “Disaster Agency Readiness:
Predicting and Preparing for El Nino, La Nina and Southern Oscillation
(ENSO)". During the summer of
2004 I conducted an internship with
the Undergraduate Research Experience
in Ocean and Marine Science (URE
OMSS) summer program at Elizabeth
City State University where I investigated "The
Relationship Between Sea Surface
Temperature and Sea Height on Strandings
of Harbor Porpoise". Satellite
imagery and Arc GIS was used on figuring
out why there were stranding of Harbor
Porpoise along the NC coast. Recently,
I conducted an internship with the
URE OMSS and NOAA EPP program in
Beaufort, NC on a project entitled "Mapping the Sea
Grass Resources of North Carolina's Core and Bogue Sound".
This research involved updating our
knowledge of the distribution and
extent of sea grass in the Core and
Bouge Sound areas of North Carolina. |
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