Biology and EGGS students visit Washington, DC

Eleven undergraduate and graduate students and three faculty members from the Biology and EGGS department traveled to Washington D.C. on March 25,, 2019. Students met with Dr. Christopher Mah, a Research Associate in the Department of Invertebrate Zoology at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History. Dr. Mah studies the evolution, ecology, and biology of echinoderms and is the world’s leading expert on sea star identification and classification. Dr. Mah gave the students a personalized tour of the national archives of invertebrates within the National Museum of Natural History. Students were able to learn about the process of identification and classification new invertebrate species. Dr. Mah’s blog on echinoderms was of particular interest to the students and can be found here: http://echinoblog.blogspot.com/.

Following their tour of the Natural History Museum, this group visited The Washington Center to learn more about internship opportunities in the Washington D.C. area. The Washington Center (TWC) partners with hundreds of universities, government agencies, public and private organizations to provide immersive internships for undergraduate students across any discipline. TWC program runs each semester and during the summer session. Students who are accepted to TWC program are matched to internship opportunities within their discipline and TWC staff help to prepare these students for internship interviews. During their internship, students live at TWC’s residential facility with other interns, attend seminars and classes in the evenings, and leadership trainings each week, all while earning 12 college credits.

During this trip to TWC, BU students met with one of TWC’s internship coordinators, Ciara Barrick, and learned about the application process as well as life at TWC. Students attended a professional development seminar lead by Rebecca Borovsky to develop their two-minute introductory pitch. The students were then given a tour of TWC residential facility and were able to interact with a number of the TWC staff.

Any students who are interested in learning more about TWC can talk to Lauren Polinski lpolinski@bloomu.edu or Dr. Hare-Harris ahare@bloomu.edu. For more information about TWC, please go to this link: https://www.twc.edu/. The visit was organized by Dr. Thomas Klinger, BAHS professor, Dr. Hare-Harris, BAHS assistant professor and Stephen J. Jones Faculty Fellow, and Lauren Polinsky, Alumni & Professional Development.