Published: Sept. 6, 2017

Zachary Little in the field

Zachary worked with diatoms in both the lab and the field. Photo credit: Sarah Spaulding 

 This summer, USGS Ecologist and INSTAAR research scientist Dr. Sarah Spaulding was a research mentor in UNAVCO’s Research Experiences in Solid Earth Sciences for Students (RESESS) program and welcomed undergraduate intern Zachary Little to her diatoms lab.

 

Zachary grew up in Essex, Maryland and is a first generation college student at University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC). He is currently entering his junior year as an environmental science, geography, and GIScience major. His draw to the geosciences stems from childhood memories of going to Ocean City, MD every summer.

“I found peace in letting the moving current take my drifting body downshore. My interest in what I later learned to be sediment transport has motivated me to seek out coastal research, specifically coastal geomorphology and beach erosion/development.”

Zachary’s RESESS project focused developing a new method for diatom verification. He applied automated particle analysis software directly to traditional light microscope images of diatoms to evaluate the potential of using software in conducting automated diatom analysis of microscope images. He imported high-resolution microscope images of diatoms into an automated particle analysis software called "VisualSpreadsheet" where he tested how different operating configurations affected the software's ability to pick out diatom cells from microscope images. Zachary’s work yielded an approximate 5-fold efficiency difference in sampling time between automated analysis (the software's ability to pick out diatoms from microscope images) and manual analysis (the researcher manually conducts the analysis). For example, it took the software 68 seconds to automatically pick out 216 diatom particles from 183 microscope images, whereas it took 400 seconds to manually pick out 255 diatom diatoms. These results convey that this process has the capability of making diatom species identification a faster and more efficient process.

Zachary Little in the Diatoms Lab

Zachary's research project resulted in a more efficient diatoms identification method. Photo credit: Sarah Spaulding

At times when Zachary perceived progress was not moving fast enough, he stressed and doubted his research abilities. Dr. Spaulding explained to heim that he was feeling impostor syndrome. Almost everyone experiences imposter syndrome throughout their graduate research or professional career, yet few people take the time to talk about it. After initiating discussion of imposter syndrome with other mentors in the RESESS program, Dr. Spaulding facilitated a time and space for Zachary and her lab group to share past experiences of imposter syndrome. Dr. Spaulding reflects that “being a research mentor forced me to reflect on my science and my interaction with students and collaborators,” which was an invaluable learning experience. In turn, it was also a fruitful exercise for Zachary.

 

“Before this summer I had no research experience," he said. "I frequently struggled with impostor syndrome, but seeing other scientists like me was comforting and helped me realize that I am capable of research. Dr. Spaulding’s patience and consideration made the stressful research process more manageable and helped me succeed as a new researcher."

With new motivation, Zachary plans to be a USGS research volunteer this school year and looks forward to returning as RESESS intern next summer. His research success and mentorship in scientific writing and poster making led him to submit an abstract to AGU; he will be attending the fall meeting this December.