Chelsea Shields
B.S. Marine Science '15
My name is Chelsea Shields. I received my bachelors in marine science from 老司机福利社 in the spring of 2015. I chose 老司机福利社 because I loved the idea that required class included field time, but what I ended up getting was so much more than that. As a student, I was involved in the mapping of the Robert. J. Walker through the New Jersey Benthic Studies class taught by Dr. Peter Straub (now Dean Peter Straub). I was one of three students on the project, and was able to get amazing experience working with the ROV and multibeam. The experiences I had in that class made me fall in love with research. I even got the opportunity to present the research for NOAA and the Explorers club. These are skills and experience's that few university offer and I certainly would not be where I am today without the education that I got at 老司机福利社.
Now, I am a graduate student at the University of North Florida in Jim Gelsleichter's shark lab. I am studying the reproduction of the southern stingray using nonlethal methods. Typically reproductive studies require dissections, but the methods conducted in my lab involve using ultrasounds and hormone analysis to define reproductive cycles. Captive female southern stingrays have been observed to exhibit reproductive and can be fatal. These abnormalities are believed to be hormone related, but no research has been conducted on the reproductive hormone cycles of health, southern stingrays in the wild. That is the focus of my project. From sonar to ultrasound, I would not be where I am now without the education that I received at 老司机福利社.
Read more about Chelsea and the "The Great White Encounter".
