This summer marked the sixth year of CMIL’s Mentored Undergraduate Research Program! Through this program, students from San Diego Mesa College and SDSU joined research teams at SDSU’s Coastal and Marine Institute Laboratory, where they worked closely with graduate student mentors and gained firsthand experience in marine science.
In partnership with the Mesa Impactship Program, our 2026 interns explored a wide range of questions affecting Southern California’s marine and coastal ecosystems. Their projects examined abalone diets, lobster feeding under warmer ocean conditions, climate-related changes in fish behavior, burrowing crab ecology in coastal marshes, and fish communities within Marine Protected Areas. Interns contributed to field sampling, animal care, laboratory experiments, video analysis, data visualization, and scientific writing. They also explored marine science careers and graduate school opportunities, strengthened their communication skills, and shared their work through scientific posters. Meanwhile, graduate student mentors developed their own skills in teaching, project coordination, and supporting new researchers. Follow the links below to hear directly from the interns about their experiences at CMIL!
To read about the experiences of each of our interns, please read their blog posts by clicking the links below: