2025 Internship Project Overview

The “biological ocean pump” sequesters carbon and nutrients from the atmosphere and surface-level ocean and cycles them into the deep ocean interior. However, as climate change intensifies, atmospheric carbon dioxide exceeds the natural rate of the ocean pump, which raises a need for additional carbon capture methods. Seaweed has gained notable traction in this regard due its high carbon-to-nutrient content. During my internship I traveled to Cebu, Philippines, where we collaborated with the Ren Research Group to conduct field research in the Climate Foundation’s depth-cycled seaweed farm to understand its potential role in carbon sequestration. On-site, I collected and filtered water samples at various depths and locations of the seaweed farm for future nutrient analysis. While off-site, I analyzed the week’s worth of sensor data to identify correlations associated with these depths and locations within the seaweed farm. This experience intensified my appreciation for seaweed and its keystone role in climate mitigation.

This internship is connected to the HMEI Climate and Energy Grand Challenges project, “Deep Water-Fertilized, Open Ocean Seaweed Mariculture: A Field Study.”

 

ORGANIZATION/RESEARCH GROUP

Sigman Research Laboratory, Department of Geosciences, Princeton University

LOCATION

Cebu, Philippines; Taipei, Taiwan; Princeton, New Jersey

 

Interns

Jessica Curran ’28
Major: Civil and Environmental Engineering
Minor(s): Climate Sciences, Sustainable Energy
"I loved the first-hand experience of working in the field surrounded by open-ocean and seaweed, while being able to dive deeper into the data to truly understand the system as a whole. This internship entirely redirected my academic goals, setting the bar even higher, with my current desire to pursue a Ph.D. program in Geosciences, cultivating my passion for research."

Click to view the end-of-project presentation

 

Daniel Sigman
Dusenbury Professor of Geological and Geophysical Sciences, Professor of Geosciences

Mentors

  • Lingkun Guo, Ph.D. Candidate, Geosciences
  • Tanya Marshall, Princeton Presidential Fellow, Geosciences