That’s a wrap! Just a few weeks ago, the CMIL Mentored Undergraduate Research Program successfully completed its fifth year in 2025. Our program provides marine science research experiences for San Diego community college students and upperclassmen from SDSU by matching them with a graduate student mentor at SDSU’s Coastal and Marine Institute Laboratory.
We were very excited to continue our partnership with the Mesa Impactship Program to collaborate on another research-filled summer! Interns worked with their mentors on a variety of projects, focusing on topics like burrowing crab behavior in different local estuaries, whether lobster feeding preferences change with increased water temperature, using models to predict coastal habitat viability for sicklefin devil rays, and more! Interns also participated in professional development courses throughout the summer, workshops on topics like exploring careers in marine science, and practiced science communication. They also created their own scientific posters and presented them at SDSU’s Annual Ecology Program Area meet and greet! Our graduate student mentors also benefit from this program, gaining experience in research coordination and being effective and proactive mentors. To read about the experiences of each of our interns, please read their blog posts by clicking the links below!