BYRON
Byron has been in New Zealand conducting scientific research since June. He applied for and received a grant from UNH’s International Research Opportunities Program (IROP) to study the effects of UV radiation on sea urchin embryos. Byron will return to UNH in January to complete his bachelor's degree and to contemplate his future plans. Options at this point include pursuing a postgraduate degree in the U.S. or abroad; participate in a research project in the Antarctic; or sail as an Assistant Scientist for the Sea Education Association's SEA Semester.
READ ALL OF BYRON'S STORY
CREATING OPPORTUNITIES IN COLLEGE
SELF ADVOCACY
TRANSITION TO COLLEGE
FINDING OUT I HAVE A LEARNING DISABILITY
SUCCESS
GOING TO SEA
In sixth grade I moved
to the Cape. I loved playing in the water, swimming around, finding
horsehoe crabs, setting traps. I loved creating a new aquarium, picking
the fish and plants to go into it. During the summer of my junior year
of high school, I was involved with the Sea Education Association. It
was a summer program where I spent 9 days out at the Isle of Shoals and
9 days out on a tall
ship. It was the best experience I ever had. I was in that teen mode of
hating the world. Going to sea set me straight. There is no room for
ego.
It was great for me to get thrown into my place.
My senior year, I met someone who worked at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute. He asked me what I was going to major in at college. I told him biology because of my hobbies and interests. I worked in his lab that summer. The job started as a two week research cruise. We packed the boat the day after my last exam and went out to sea the next day for 2 weeks. I was hooked on the feeling of being totally detached from mainstream life. I loved being at sea and learning to work with other people in close proximity, giving up yourself for the bigger picture. There was a whole group of scuba divers (not me, I wasn’t certified as a “research diver”) collecting specimens to bring back to the lab. Working all night through, people always working, I thrive on that. Intensity at it’s greatest. People passionate about what they are doing, I was psyched. This is what I love about science.
But then I came back and spent the rest of the summer in the lab. I was counting microplanktin for 8 hours a day. I hated it. I was miserable. It really made me second guess the field of science. You know you write a grant for 4 years, all this number crunching to get the money, you finally get out to sea to do the research and you spend the next couple of years crunching numbers for your data. It is repetitive and monotonous but scientists can get through that because they have the motivation of discovery and in the end you have more questions then what you started with so it stimulates your curiosity to a higher level.
My senior year, I met someone who worked at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute. He asked me what I was going to major in at college. I told him biology because of my hobbies and interests. I worked in his lab that summer. The job started as a two week research cruise. We packed the boat the day after my last exam and went out to sea the next day for 2 weeks. I was hooked on the feeling of being totally detached from mainstream life. I loved being at sea and learning to work with other people in close proximity, giving up yourself for the bigger picture. There was a whole group of scuba divers (not me, I wasn’t certified as a “research diver”) collecting specimens to bring back to the lab. Working all night through, people always working, I thrive on that. Intensity at it’s greatest. People passionate about what they are doing, I was psyched. This is what I love about science.
But then I came back and spent the rest of the summer in the lab. I was counting microplanktin for 8 hours a day. I hated it. I was miserable. It really made me second guess the field of science. You know you write a grant for 4 years, all this number crunching to get the money, you finally get out to sea to do the research and you spend the next couple of years crunching numbers for your data. It is repetitive and monotonous but scientists can get through that because they have the motivation of discovery and in the end you have more questions then what you started with so it stimulates your curiosity to a higher level.