2025 Internship Project Overview

We joined the Ward Lab in their ongoing research on nitrous oxide, an important greenhouse gas, and its dynamics in the ocean. The lab’s current work focuses on nitrous oxide fluxes and the biotic and abiotic mechanisms that control its cycling, including environmental factors, particularly the presence or absence of oxygen. Each of us worked with a lab member who studies a different aspect of this phenomenon, spending five weeks in the lab followed by a 25-day research cruise in the North Atlantic. Our responsibilities included sampling seawater collected using bottles deployed on a conductivity, temperature and depth (CTD) instrument from various depths in the ocean, creating agarose particles to study micro-anoxic sites in oxygenated waters, filtering seawater to prepare for DNA analysis, running samples on a gas chromatograph to determine the amount of nitrous oxide consumed by microorganisms, and subjecting seawater to various levels of light to determine the mechanisms of abiotic, light-driven nitrogen reduction, known as photochemodenitrification.

 

ORGANIZATION/RESEARCH GROUP

The Ward Lab, Department of Geosciences, Princeton University

LOCATION

Princeton, New Jersey; Narragansett, Rhode Island;
at sea, North Atlantic Ocean — Sargasso Sea and Chesapeake Bay

 

Interns

Darren McKeogh ’28
Major: Geosciences
"I learned the importance of oceanography in collecting data for climate modelers to use. The skills I developed include methods for maintaining samples, extraction of DNA from phytoplankton and culturing samples. I will utilize these skills in my independent research project, as this internship has inspired research motives for me."
Ottilie Sykes ’27
Major: Geosciences
Minor(s): Environmental Studies
"I developed hands-on experience by assisting in setting up equipment, operating scientific instruments, and conducting experiments to learn about the nitrogen cycle, particularly photochemodenitrification. This is a concept still in the beginnings of being understood, so it was really interesting to learn about it from the lead author herself, and see experiments in action."
Molly Thacker ’28
Major: Geosciences
Minor(s): Planets and Life
"I learned that being a scientist is about more than knowing facts—it’s about developing physical and technological skills, adapting to problems and finding solutions on the fly. My internship made me particularly interested in oceanography and its applications to my dream field, astrobiology."

Click to view the end-of-project presentation

 

Bess Ward
William J. Sinclair Professor of Geosciences and the High Meadows Environmental Institute

Mentors

  • Catherine Hexter, Ph.D. Candidate, Geosciences
  • Amal Jayakumar, Senior Professional Specialist, Geosciences
  • Elizabeth Leon Palmero, Associate Research Scholar, Geosciences