WEST BOOTHBAY HARBOR – There’s more to studying minute sea life than looking through a microscope.

At the Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences, 16 high school juniors from Maine every year discover some of those complexities when they spend a week studying marine biology through a research internship offered by the lab.

The Keller-BLOOM Program provides students opportunities to work with several of the many scientists at Bigelow, which focuses on basic ocean science research. The lab’s studies range from the biology of single-celled plants, called phytoplankton, which form the base of the food web, to the functioning of complex ecosystems and processes influencing global climates, according to a statement from the lab.

The nonprofit, private research institution located on McKown Point Road next to a U.S. Coast Guard station and a Maine Department of Marine Resources facility was founded in 1974 by Charles and Clarice Yentsch. The student program was begun 19 years ago by Bigelow researcher Maureen Keller to provide a real-world ocean research experience for students.

“I applied to the program to see if this is the kind of thing I want to do and study in college and pursue as a career,” said Garrison Beck, a junior at Monmouth Academy in North Monmouth. “I’ve been interested in science, and right now I’m trying to find which field I’d be most interested in.”

Dan Hales of Mount Desert Island High School said he’s interested in a career in marine biology.

“This is a good opportunity to get lab experience in the field,” he said.

Sara Bachman of Falmouth High School, said she’s interested in science and music.

“They’re two very different things,” she said of her interests. “But this is something I like, so I’m seeing if this is something I’d be interested in pursuing in college.”

Researcher Wendy Bellow has her students working on chemistry, such as looking at chlorophyll and nitrates with the help of a spectrophotometer, which measures the difference in light passing through the tiny life forms.

Jordan Francke of Presque Isle High School said another piece of equipment, a fluorometer to measure chlorophyll, “measured the quantity of phytoplankton at each station.”

The students arrived at the laboratory Sunday and took a cruise Monday on the Snow Goose, a powerboat borrowed from Camp Kieve in Nobleboro, to collect samples of sea life to be used in their research all week.

“We’re at sea all day collecting water samples,” said research associate Ilana Gilg. “We had four stops, or stations, along the way to collect the samples.”

The Snow Goose left the bay and traveled up the Sheepscot River to Wiscasset.

Senior research associate Willie Wilson and molecular biologist and senior research scientist Susie Wharam left Great Britain a year and a half ago to work at Bigelow.

“It’s such a beautiful place,” she said of the lab’s site.

Wilson said the ocean life studied at Bigelow Laboratory – the small end of the ecosystem – is really important to look at.

Pointing to an experiment being conducted by Wharam for the students, he said, “She’s taken some sea water with bacteria and viruses and put it in a centrifuge to get it to the bottom of the tube.

“We take the bacteria and viruses and grow them on plates to watch as colonies,” he said.

He said the experiments show what percentage of the bacteria and viruses actually grow up and live.

The students all receive scholarships, although they are asked to pay a small fee toward room and board, said Jane Gardner, administrative assistant for the lab.

“We try to get one from each [Maine] county, but it doesn’t always work out that way,” she said.

In 2004 the lab assessed the Keller-BLOOM program and found that at the end of each five-day session, students were able to develop testable research questions, collect multiple water samples from a local estuary, measure characteristics of the samples, analyze and integrate the results from various labs, and present their findings to a nonscientific audience.

All of the students to date who participated in the program have graduated from high school and attended college. Three-fifths of the graduates remained living in Maine. More than half have pursued career paths in science and math.

For others, the experience of working directly with scientists in the field helped them realize that a scientific career is not one they were suited to pursue, the assessment concluded.

The other students participating in this year’s program are Jessica Campbell of Stearns High School, Millinocket; Natalie Dumont of Skowhegan Area High School; Sarah Flagg of Hampden; Julia Johnstone of Skowhegan Area High School; David Sherman of Islesboro Central School; Amber Brooks of Telstar Regional High School, Bethel; Anna Chase of Dirigo High School, Dixfield; Eben Court of Boothbay Region High School, Boothbay; Josh Dennison of Mount Ararat High School; Lane O’Connor of Yarmouth High School; Jared Snell of Wiscasset High School; and Jennie Wiacek of Gorham High School.

To apply to the program, high school juniors write an essay and submit a letter of recommendation from their high school science teacher, who receive information each year from the lab. For information, go to www.bigelow.org.

gchappell@bangordailynews.net

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