Undergraduate Summer Research Awards
Summer research awards provide paid employment opportunities for students to participate in scientific research at Dalhousie during the summer. If you would like to gain research experience in an academic setting, these awards can provide you with financial support.
NSERC USRA Projects Available in Oceanography for Summer 2023
The following supervisors will be offering NSERC USRA projects in Oceanography for Summer 2023. Below is a list of projects to which students can apply.
Any interested students should contact the listed supervisor. Those wishing to apply for one of the following NSERC USRA projects should submit the following to the project supervisor: completed application form; transcript(s); updated CV.
2023 Summer Research Awards Application Form [PDF - 135 kB]
2023 Summer Research Awards Guidelines [PDF - 215 kB]
Applications are due by January 25, 2023.
For more information, please contact:
USRA Coordinator: David Barclay
Fax: (902) 494-3877
E-mail: dbarclay@dal.ca
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Supervisor: Dr. Markus Kienast, markus.kienast@dal.ca
Project Title: Oceans and Global Change
Project Description: The ocean initiates, amplifies and mediates global climate change on time-scales ranging from less than a year to thousands of years. Understanding the ocean’s past variability - recorded in the sedimentary archive – is thus of paramount importance for climate science.
Expected skills to be acquired: Students in my lab get to use different analytical techniques to extract from the sedimentary record detailed information on the ocean of the past. See www.oceanbiogeochem-atdal.org for more. ______________________________________________________________________________
Supervisor: Dr. Eric Oliver, eric.oliver@dal.ca
Project Title: Climatology and variability of polynyas along the Labrador coast and shelf
Project Description: Polynyas are areas of open water within the sea ice and are important for regional climate, oceanography, ecosystems, and human interactions with the ocean. This project will use digitised sea ice data from the Canadian Ice Service to detect polynyas along the Labrador coast and shelf and generate a dataset of polynya occurrence in space and time going back to 1979. This data will then be used to generate climatology of polynyas in the region and their variability across the time period of study.
Expected skills to be acquired: The student will acquire skills relating to programming and the analysis of large spatio-temporal datasets, the use of high-performance computing clusters, data visualisation methods, statistical methods commonly used in physical oceanography and climate science, and how to read and understand the relevant scientific literature.
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Supervisor: Dr. Ruth Musgrave, rmusgrave@dal.ca
Project Title: Tracking surface waters in Bedford Basin and Halifax Harbour
Project Description: The student will build simple surface ocean drifters using plywood and off-the-shelf GPS trackers, then test them in Bedford Basin and the Halifax Harbour. Data from the drifters will be used to understand how surface waters move through the area under the influence of winds and tides.
Expected skills to be acquired: Develop skills in building and testing simple drifters, working on small boats, writing code to analyze drifter data and infer the motion of near surface ocean waters.
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Supervisor: Dr. David Barclay, dbarclay@dal.ca
Project Title: Ocean sampling with a hydrofoiling vehicle
Project Description: A remotely operated hydrofoiling vehicle is proposed for oceanographic sampling in high-flow environments and in instances when platform stability is required. The student will assist with implementation of craft handling and navigation software and carry out a performance evaluation in the field.
Expected skills to be acquired: The student will gain experience in machining and manufacturing, designing and assembling power systems, programming piloting and navigation software, processing inertial motion data, and will summarize their findings in a report suitable for publication.
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Supervisor: Dr. Carly Buchwald; cbuchwald@dal.ca
Project Title: Nitrogen requirements for optimal kelp seed production
Project Description: This student will help design and set up experiments for testing the nutrient (mainly nitrogen) requirements for kelp seed growth. The student will analyze the samples for nutrients including, nitrate, nitrite, ammonium and phosphate. The student will prepare kelp samples for nutrient analysis as well.
Expected skills to be acquired: The student will learn how to conduct laboratory chemical analysis of four major oceanic nutrients. Additionally the student will learn how to design experiments, and analyze data.
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