Traineeships Offer Needed Relief for Graduate Students
Contact for Sea Grant Traineeships:
Shauna Oh,
Assistant Director
California Sea Grant
College Program
Scripps Institution of Oceanography
University of California, San Diego
E.: shaunaoh@ucsd.edu
T.: (858) 534-4440
Relevant Links:
Tools:
Revised:
September 5, 2008
Former Sea Grant Trainee Chris Peters, now an assistant researcher at Hubbs-SeaWorld Research Institute in San Diego. Credit: Christina S. Johnson
September 5, 2008
Contact: Christina S. Johnson, csjohnson@ucsd.edu, 858-822-5334
In these tough economic times, many graduate students face the unenviable burden of graduating with student loan debt to offset hefty tuition, fees and living expenses.
One of California Sea Grant’s strengths is its dedication not just to research but also education. The cornerstone of our education program is what we call our “traineeships.” Research projects we fund generally include support for at least one graduate student trainee, whom the researcher may select.
Traineeships can alleviate much of the financial uncertainty of graduate school, and instead of graduating with debt, trainees may enter the workforce with employable skills and focused experience in their field of study.
Chris Peters, a former Sea Grant Trainee, is one recent success. A business major as an undergraduate, Peters decided to change career paths and in 2005 began a master’s degree in marine science at the University of San Diego, a private Catholic school where tuition is about $34,000 a year.
“I entered the master’s program knowing I lacked the research and appropriate labor experience to obtain a respectable job in marine fisheries, at least that is what most employers told me,” he wrote in his 2008 exit report to Sea Grant. “The traineeship gave me financial freedom to obtain the experience I needed and at the same time complete a research-intensive master’s of marine science degree.”
“I was not as irritated by the financial constraints of graduate school as most students are in Southern California,” he wrote. “In addition, the experience I obtained was directly applicable to the career I was initially seeking. I am now familiar with the techniques involved in radioimmunoassays, metabolic enzyme assays and fish husbandry. Because of this experience, I was recently offered a position at Hubbs SeaWorld Research Institute, conducting research in marine finfish aquaculture.”
Peters, a research assistant at Hubbs-SeaWorld Research Institute since the spring of 2008, will soon publish two research articles on the effects of exercise on juvenile fish growth and stress with Sea Grant researchers Mary Sue Lowery, a biology professor at the University of San Diego, Mark Drawbridge, a senior research scientist at HSWRI, and Kevin Kelley, a biology professor at Cal State Long Beach.
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