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The Art of Collecting

Instructor Phil Alatalo teaches 2018 Summer Student Fellows (SSF) Brooke Torjman (Muhlenberg College ’19) and Samantha Kenah (Skidmore College ’19) how to deploy a plankton net to collect the tiny organisms that form the base of the ocean’s food web. The SSF program, which takes place from late May to early August each year, brings a cohort of rising college seniors to WHOI to work on research projects with scientist mentors. After Torjman and Kenah retrieved the net from the water, they were able to examine the plankton trapped in a jar at the bottom of the net’s funnel-like structure. Applications for the summer 2019 program will open in mid-November. (Photo by Jayne Doucette, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)