Hello! My name is Demi Carballosa and I’m a senior student at FIU pursuing a bachelor’s degree in Marine Biology. My interests in the ocean started young with snorkel trips with my family feeling like mystical trips to a world unseen. In a continuous pursuit of my interests joined this class very excited at the prospect of being able to head out to sea to conduct research that I find personally interesting. As each week clicked on, my anticipation grew as we completed each as

Thoughts of my first research trip, generated mixed ideas. Some of pure excitement and some of just outright wonder for what steps lie ahead, after experiencing such a unique adventure. I didn’t always know that marine research would be the end all career path I sat with in life, but now after my time on the water it seems obvious to me now. You always run into situations with expectations, my expectations for the research trip were poised around uncertainty. How would I reac

Having previously been on a research vessel myself, I had thought that I was prepared for another trip. As it turns out, I was wrong. Not only was I pleasantly surprised when I first went out to the bow of the Hogarth and saw the gorgeous view of the ocean ahead of us, but we were greeted by a welcoming committee of dolphins trailing our ship! Upon arriving after a long drive to St. Petersburg, staring at the R.V. Hogarth finally got me to realize that I was going to spend a

Participating in the Biological Oceanography at Sea course has been the highlight of my last semester at FIU. Ending my undergraduate career in a pandemic has been challenging and certainly very different that I had imagined it. Like many who have had their plans affected by COVID-19, we were unsure if we would even be allowed to go on the trip at all. Just a few weeks before our departure date Dr. Bracken-Grissom told us that we had the go ahead! Planning continued as we wor

I have been thrilled ever since I was accepted to join OCB4005C. Since I have only ever conducted beach shoreline data collection, I jumped at the opportunity to experience offshore data collection on a vessel equipped with advanced gear. After loving invertebrate zoology in Fall 2020, I could not wait to marvel at in person. After double checking our suitcases for last minutes necessities, Olivia and I left for St Pete so we could join our class and Hogarth crew. By noon, we

I did not know about this class until Dr.BG told me about it while I was taking her invertebrate zoology class. When she told us that we were going to be conducting our own research and going on an actual research cruise, I knew that I had to take this course. I had no experience whatsoever on research or how to conduct it, so this class gave me a great insight into what was expected. With covid going on we were all very worried that we would not be able to participate in

The dream many marine biologists have when they first enter the field is to conduct exciting field work on a vessel out at sea—many such marine biologists will quickly learn that field work like this isn’t very common. Usually, it’s trekking out into mangroves with a minnow net, or sampling sediment cores in a local estuary, or catching fish by rod or risking fingers to catch crabs under murky waters. In the Spring of 2021 that initial field work fantasy was given life. The R