4-H/CCAR Intern Wins Big at the Maine State Science Fair

Student injecting sea urchin
Hannah injecting a sea urchin with a potassium chloride solution to induce spawning

Big congratulations to CCAR/4-H aquaculture intern and George Stevens Academy junior, Hannah Dyer. Hannah spent her spring break and two-weeks of her high school’s Independent Study & Internship Program at CCAR working on a project for the Maine State Science Fair.

student looking at sea urchins eggs through a microscope
Hannah checking the fertilization and development of sea urchin eggs

Her project titled: How Does Food Type Influence Larval Development in the Green Sea Urchin? placed 2nd in her category, Animal Sciences- Nutrition and Development.

With the help of CCAR’s staff, Hannah learned how to spawn green sea urchins (S. droebachiensis) and rear their larvae. She tested two larval diets, CCAR’s live microalgae blend and a formulated microalgae paste, in hopes of determining whether a formulated microalgae paste could be a suitable replacement for the live microalgae currently used to produce sea urchins at CCAR.

Hannah also won a special award from the Acadia Institute of Oceanography, a full scholarship to their Advanced Marine Science Program this summer.

experimental system for larvae
Hannah’s experimental system

Last summer, Hannah was one of seven 4-H/CCAR high school interns who spent eight weeks at CCAR working with yellowtail kingfish and learning all about aquaculture. Her curiosity for marine science and aquaculture shines through to everyone who has had the pleasure of working with her. This girl’s going places!

researcher and student injecting sea urchins
Research Associate, Luz Kogson, shows Hannah how to properly inject sea urchins

 

 

 

Check out all of the projects from students representing high schools all over Maine in the MSSF Program. These teens are Maine’s future!