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Bremen International Graduate School for Marine Sciences
Annika Förster
Report of GLOMAR PhD student Annika Förster about mentoring a DAAD internship student
From 02.06.2008 to 04.08.2008 Richard Ellis from Brown University (Providence, USA) completed a two-month internship in our working group “Marine Geotechnics” at the Center of Marine Environmental Sciences (MARUM), University of Bremen. This internship was offered by the DAAD-Rise program, which gives students from the US and Canada the chance to spend a summer in Germany and work with German PhD-students on research projects (www.daad.de/rise). Normally the DAAD would pay for the internship, however, but because of this year’s large number of applications, GLOMAR (The Bremen International Graduate School for Marine Sciences) agreed to cover the cost for Richard Ellis’ internship.
Richard Ellis is studying Geology at Brown University in his third Bachelor year. He worked together with me at sediment cores which are directly connected to my PhD work. On undisturbed and slid sediments, which were taken at the Mauritania Slide Complex, NW-Africa, he carried out sedimentological and geotechnical measurements. These measurements included core description, non-destructive physical property measurements using a GEOTEK Multi Sensor Track (MST) and laboratory tests to measure bulk density, grain density and porosity on discrete samples using a Pentapycnometer. Also, grain size distribution and water content of the sediments were defined. The main focus was then dedicated to the more sophisticated geotechnical experiments, including ring shear and oedometer tests. Also, he was engaged in data analysis, processing, and discussion of their scientific meaning. Furthermore, he got a general overview about Marine Sciences and the different research areas.
I perceived Richard as a motivated and initiative young researcher and I was impressed about his broad knowledge and skills for being third year bachelor student. He was enthusiastic and fully participated in the life of the scientific community and also in group activities after work.
For me, it was a great experience to help integrating an undergraduate student into laboratory work and serve as a personal and professional mentor. I benefited personally and professionally from this program by improving the knowledge of the Northern American culture and lifestyle, improving my English skills, gaining leadership knowledge and making a new contact to another university. I would like to thank GLOMAR for the uncomplicated realisation and for the financial support of this internship.
Richard Ellis is studying Geology at Brown University in his third Bachelor year. He worked together with me at sediment cores which are directly connected to my PhD work. On undisturbed and slid sediments, which were taken at the Mauritania Slide Complex, NW-Africa, he carried out sedimentological and geotechnical measurements. These measurements included core description, non-destructive physical property measurements using a GEOTEK Multi Sensor Track (MST) and laboratory tests to measure bulk density, grain density and porosity on discrete samples using a Pentapycnometer. Also, grain size distribution and water content of the sediments were defined. The main focus was then dedicated to the more sophisticated geotechnical experiments, including ring shear and oedometer tests. Also, he was engaged in data analysis, processing, and discussion of their scientific meaning. Furthermore, he got a general overview about Marine Sciences and the different research areas.
I perceived Richard as a motivated and initiative young researcher and I was impressed about his broad knowledge and skills for being third year bachelor student. He was enthusiastic and fully participated in the life of the scientific community and also in group activities after work.
For me, it was a great experience to help integrating an undergraduate student into laboratory work and serve as a personal and professional mentor. I benefited personally and professionally from this program by improving the knowledge of the Northern American culture and lifestyle, improving my English skills, gaining leadership knowledge and making a new contact to another university. I would like to thank GLOMAR for the uncomplicated realisation and for the financial support of this internship.
