NEWS
CCMI welcomes Cali Grincavitch as WIOSA Intern
CCMI is pleased to announce the selection of Cali Grincavitch as the 2021 Intern for the Women In Ocean Science Award (WIOSA). Launched by CCMI in 2019, the purpose of WIOSA is “to advance women in ocean sciences to become world-leading professionals, by developing a cohort and network of WIOS coming through the ranks to push the frontiers of science.”
Cali is a senior at Harvard College who is studying integrative biology. She has known since her sophomore year, after taking a tropical biology course, that her future work clothes would be a wetsuit and bucket hat—not a blazer and stockings. Cali grew up in the woods of western Massachusetts, but this biology class took her to One Tree Island in the Great Barrier Reef, where she was mesmerized by its beauty. Yet, she was shocked and saddened to see the sheer amount of bleached coral firsthand. She wanted to understand why this was happening and what she could do to help prevent the loss of such diversity. This led her to pursue ways to learn more about marine conservation through remote research using ArcGIS to quantify coral bleaching in the Great Barrier Reef and through her National Science Foundation Research Experience for Undergraduates internship at the Bermuda Institute of Ocean Sciences in 2020, where she tested the sampling capabilities of an automated sampler for eDNA metabarcoding.
The WIOSA internship will allow Cali to apply the critical skills for molecular and field work in marine biology that she learned in Bermuda to research with corals here on Little Cayman. Cali is specifically interested in the thermal tolerance of corals and hopes to continue building her skills and confidence in coral biology research before applying to graduate school. Working directly with corals in their natural habitat alongside passionate female scientists through the WIOSA internship is an incredible opportunity to get closer to her goals. Cali is dedicated to pursuing ways to protect and restore our reefs further throughout her career, building on the progress made by amazing female researchers like those at CCMI. After her experience with CCMI this year, Cali will return to rowing on the Charles River as part of Harvard’s Women’s Varsity Heavyweight Rowing team and baking chocolate chip pumpkin bread for her teammates every Monday.
As a WIOSA Intern, Cali will spend three months at the Little Cayman Research Centre, supporting fieldwork and the research programme of CCMI. Click here for more information about WIOSA.