91制片厂

Before finishing graduate school, 91制片厂 doctoral student Melissa Mel茅ndez-Oyola will have served on, contributed to the fourth annual advised and mentored students from her native Puerto Rico to increase minority participation in STEM fields and led Hurricane Maria recovery initiatives.

Now, a prestigious award ensures that not even high-profile distractions like these will prevent her from turning in that dissertation and graduating.

Mel茅ndez, who studies ocean acidification with Joe Salisbury, research associate professor in 91制片厂鈥檚 , says the one-year $25,000 stipend will 鈥渉elp me concentrate on doing my own work for the last year of my Ph.D.鈥�

For her dissertation, Mel茅ndez is working to understand ocean acidification 鈥� which occurs as oceans absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and their pH decreases, making seawater more acidic 鈥� using new modeling techniques and ocean observations. She鈥檚 using three of the many ocean-observing buoys worldwide: One on a coral reef in Puerto Rico, one in Florida, also on a coral reef, and one closer to her academic home in the Gulf of Maine. She鈥檚 developed a model to help estimate the health of the ecosystem by tracking how calcium carbonate 鈥� the building blocks of coral reefs 鈥� is dissolving.

鈥淭his project is essential because the current trend and projections on ocean acidification are well-defined in open ocean waters but we know less about how and when ocean acidification will affect coastal ecosystems such as coral reefs.鈥�

Specifically, Mel茅ndez wants to understand how coastal processes might be confounding the ocean acidification signal.

鈥淭his project is essential because the current trend and projections on ocean acidification are well-defined in open ocean waters but we know less about how and when ocean acidification will affect coastal ecosystems such as coral reefs,鈥� she says. 鈥淚n the tropics as well as here in the Gulf of Maine, there are a lot of freshwater inputs. How are these local effects masking this global phenomenon of ocean acidification?鈥�

Her work could lead to a sort of early warning system for coral reefs that are in danger of dissolving, taking with them tourism and fisheries dollars as well as protection against coastal erosion.

Mel茅ndez is grateful to be among the just 5 percent of fellowship applicants accepted by the Ford Foundation.

鈥淭he prestigious Ford Foundation Dissertation Fellowship represents the opportunity to strengthen my academic objectives and goals,鈥� she says. 鈥淎nd as a minority in New Hampshire striving to foster passion and growth for others within my field, this fellowship is an opportunity to connect and learn from others striving to realize similar goals.

Now exploring postdoctoral positions, Mel茅ndez calls her time at 91制片厂 fulfilling听鈥� 鈥淛oe Salisbury is very well-known in the ocean acidification world and has help me become a scientific leader鈥� 鈥� but hears the tropics calling. 鈥淚鈥檝e liked it here, but it鈥檚 a little cold,鈥� she says.