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"Life After Toxics" by Mika Pringle Tolson |
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| Each fall, the TSR&TP Coastal Toxicology lead campus program holds a retreat in Bodega Bay where students and faculty from the multiple campuses involved in this program get together to share their research and interact on an informal basis. Last year affiliated faculty at Bodega Marine Lab piloted a course held the week before the retreat for program trainees to learn the benefits of approaching a toxics problem from different disciplines. Students presented their findings at the retreat, and faculty critiqued their work. The format was very successful and the course was repeated this year on a new problem, the potential for toxicity from creosote-treated pilings in the marine environment. | ||||||||||
Bodega Marine Laboratory, Bodega Bay, California. |
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| Sixteen trainees gave presentations from both field and lab experiments on the chemistry of creosote, aquatic toxicity, and ecological effects on the marine community. Students in the course came from five different UC campuses, and were enrolled in graduate programs varying from biology and ecology to toxicology, chemistry and engineering. The course proved to be a valuable experience for all to appreciate what it takes to be a scientist in the other fields. Andy Tincu, a trainee from UC San Diego with a biochemistry background, summed it up, "It was cold, wet, muddy, and salty. I was surprised how difficult conditions are in the field. This course gave me new respect for field biologists." Craig Osenberg, Professor of Zoology at the University of Florida in Gainesville and former Coastal Toxicology trainee, wrapped up the retreat with a talk on "Life after Toxics". He began by describing his own experience as a postdoctoral trainee in the program in 1988. He was able to increase his focus to other fields while maintaining his specialty, which allowed him to think more broadly as a scientist. "The program is not only interdisciplinary, but also collaborative. It’s a bridge between basic and applied research, where applied issues are used as a vehicle to ask some basic scientific questions," he noted. Osenberg provided some take home lessons for his audience, "Take advantage of the opportunities you have in the Coastal Toxicology program now. It’s rare that graduate students have access to faculty like at this workshop. Learn to embrace the unknown to expand your knowledge, and talk to professors in other disciplines. Ask stupid questions, especially about other disciplines. Real insight comes from naïve questions. Interact broadly while you have the opportunity. Get out of your lab! Be inquisitive! Don’t let life’s craziness keep you from doing things that are intellectually fun. This is what will keep you going in the future." And Osenberg's last piece of advice for current trainees: "Good programs are rare. Take advantage of this one while you can." |
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