2025 Internship Project Overview

The goal of this project was to study the metabolic response of marine species, specifically corals, to determine the driving force for that change: increasing temperature or decreasing pH.

For the Princeton phase, I worked with Prof. Deutsch. I combed through dozens of research papers on the metabolic response of marine organisms to experimental levels of high temperatures and/or low pH and exported that data onto Excel. Using Dr. Deutsch’s script on MATLAB, we used my Excel spreadsheet to make charts in order to interpret the data.

In Puerto Rico, I built and calibrated an MX800 data logger and placed it near a coral reef and a CariCOOS buoy to collect data on pCO2, temperature, salinity, etc. I completed field work via scuba diving, and used R to code graphs using the data on the CariCOOS buoy.

This internship is connected to the HMEI Biodiversity Grand Challenges project, “Assessing the Costs of Biodiversity Loss in Hypoxic Coral Reef Ecosystems.”

ORGANIZATION/RESEARCH GROUP

Deutsch Research Group, Department of Geosciences, Princeton University

LOCATION

Princeton, New Jersey;
La Parguera, Puerto Rico

 

Interns

Amira Samih Mustafa ’28
Major: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
Minor(s): Bioengineering
"I was able to gain real technical research skills such as data analysis and lab experience. I have realized that I love working in a hands-on lab and will continue to pursue research in other disciplines such as engineering."

Click to view the end-of-project presentation

 

Curtis Deutsch
Professor of Geosciences and the High Meadows Environmental Institute

Mentors

  • Noelle Lucey, Associate Research Scholar, High Meadows Environmental Institute