Doris Carbajal
Washington State University
Research Mentor: Sarah Wise
Project: The COVID-19 Pandemic and Alaska's Fisheries
My time working with CICOES was truly an amazing experience. This summer I had the pleasure of working with Dr. Sarah Wise of NOAA’s Alaska Fisheries Science Center. The research project aimed to learn more about how Alaskan fisheries and coastal communities have been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic and what they have done to adapt during these difficult times. Furthermore, we also researched who distributes disaster relief, how it gets distributed, and how much people receive. My job was to analyze relevant journal articles and code key words and paragraphs I found that would be useful to the overall goal of the research. I accomplished this by utilizing a software program called MaxQDA. This program helps with qualitative data analysis and made my job more efficient and helped me stay organized with the coding I did.
Of course, this whole journey was no walk in the park, I encountered some obstacles that were unavoidable, but thankfully my mentor, Dr. Wise, was always willing to help me and answer any of my questions and concerns. Furthermore, the continual struggle of working every day in front of a computer screen was also a slight deterrent for me personally. Regardless, I enjoyed being able to contribute to my mentor’s research and aiding her and her team with the exciting research they will continue. Throughout this internship I learned a lot about what scientific research can look like and what a career in the scientific field consists of. I also gained a deeper understanding on the importance of humans and the environment and how connected they truly are, which is something I am very interested in and have always wanted to learn more about! Overall, I had a great time assisting Dr. Wise in her research and making new connections with different people associated with CICOES and the other amazing interns during the final week of the internship.
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