NSU Fall 2012 Horizons Magazine

Photos from pages 20–21 1. Students Jennifer Lash and Dusty Marshall measure coral. 2. Research scientist Brian Walker, Ph.D., investigates seascape ecology with graduate student Amanda Costaregni. 3. Graduate students confer before class. 4. Students Kimberly Atwater and Teagen Gray study shark behavior and genetics. 5. Ph.D. candidate Mark Rogers updates students during a class. 6. Student Dana Fisco studies an aquarium with a lionfish in it. 7–8. Researchers store diving equipment at the center where they have easy access to a marina. 9. Master’s degree candidates Keri O’Neil and Ari Halperin monitor the land-based coral nursery. 10. Keri O’Neil follows up with an experiment in one of the many labs. 11. Sails flank the outside of the center’s break room where Charles Fine, left, and Eric Burdett talk over lunch. Laura Snyder from Dick Jones Communications contributed to this article. 22 HORIZONS 23 HORIZONS around NSU Landing a hot job in a competitive market may seem daunting, but NSU students who frequent the university’s two Office of Career Development locations know they’ll have a head start when it comes to postgraduation professional life. That’s because the Office of Career Develop- ment makes a point of helping NSU undergradu- ate and graduate students learn the skills necessary for successful career planning through free workshops, one-on-one advisement, mock interviewing, and more. “Students who take advantage of our office learn how to make the best first impression and how to turn the skills they’ve learned in class into a re- warding career,” said Shari Saperstein, director of NSU’s Office of Career Development. “Students who have used our services have gotten great jobs with ExxonMobil, Warner Bros. Entertainment, and TechnoMarine, as well as internships with MTV Latin America, among others.” Saperstein said students find the mock inter- view program especially helpful to prepare for a big interview. Through this program, students can create a cover letter and resume and work with a career adviser to hone these items before participating in a videotaped mock interview. The career adviser can then provide instant feedback, and students keep their recording to study further. Other popular Career Development services include employer-hosted workshops and information sessions, on-campus interviews, career fairs, network- ing events, Skype or phone interactive advising for distance students, and drop-in advisement for main campus students. “We want our students to be as prepared as possible when they graduate,” Saperstein said. “Our goal is to provide a one-stop career spot for student success.” For more information about NSU’s Office of Career Development, please visit www.nova.edu/career. n Students Hone Job-Hunting Skills Through Office of Career Development By Andra Parrish Liwag Career-Boosting Tool Kit • Career Advisement —Through daily drop-in advise- ment hours or by individual appointment, students receive one-on-one career advice on resume writing, interviewing, graduate school planning, job searching, and more. • CAREERShark (www.nova.edu/careershark) —This site features jobs and internships posted exclusively for NSU students and alumni and updates users on all career development events. • On-Campus Recruitment Season —During the first three months of each semester, employers recruit for positions at employer-hosted workshops and informa- tion sessions, on-campus interviews, career fairs, and networking events. Richard E. Dodge, dean of the Oceano- graphic Center; Abigail Renegar, doctoral candidate; Al Gore, former Vice President; George L. Hanbury II, NSU president and chief executive officer; and students Keri O’Neil and Gwilym Rowlands at the land-based coral nursery during the center’s grand opening. stress and resilience to identify the best pathways to reef survivorship in an uncertain future.” Another lab is used by doctoral candidate, D. Abigail Renegar. The Coral Histology Lab studies the microscopic structure of coral tissues and cells to diagnose diseases, predict reproductive cycles, and investigate the effects of environmental stress on coral reefs. “Histological research is a key component in the assess- ment of coral health and resilience, allowing the evaluation of the effects of environmental change on coral tissue structure, composition, and function,” she said. Renegar and the other OC researchers are working diligently on coral reef restoration by observing coral reproduction, better known as spawning. Reef restoration is a tool in the reef preservation toolbox. This includes raising corals in places where larvae and juveniles are grown in a relatively safe lab environment before being moved to coastal locations to restore damaged coral populations. NSU has coral nurseries on the reefs off the coast of Fort Lauderdale. These are nurtured and stocked by assistant professor Dave Gilliam, Ph.D., his graduate student Liz Larson, and additional student researchers. The Center of Excellence also contains a land-based coral nursery where corals are cultured in large tanks. When the young specimens reach an appropriate size and age, these corals can be transplanted to reefs. One way to grow corals in the lab is to collect babies from the ocean. Each August, in synchronicity with moon cycles, many species of corals release millions of sperm and eggs all at once into the ocean. These form fertilized baby corals called larvae. The larvae swim for a while, but soon settle to the reef surface to grow a stout skeleton and con- tribute to the reef structure and ecology. That’s when an NSU science team collects fertilized eggs in the wild to raise the larvae in the laboratory’s controlled setting. Coral nurseries can play a significant role in restoration. NSU has tripled the size of its land-based nursery by building the Center of Excellence. In addition, NSU’s off-shore coral nursery now contains thousands of corals. Like the Amazonian rainforest that’s facing extreme degradation, coral reefs are disappearing at an alarming rate. Eliminating, or at least minimizing, the stresses on reefs is paramount. With the Center of Excellence for Coral Reef Ecosystems Research, NSU is embarking on a critical mission to understand and restore reef ecosystems. It’s a mission that must be accomplished. n (continued from page 19)