Melissa Southwell
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Marine Sciences Program
melissas@email.unc.edu

I am a third year graduate student researching the biogeochemical cycling of nitrogen by bacteria living in sponges. My interest in nitrogen cycling dates back to my undergraduate research at the University of Virginia, where I studied dissolved organic nitrogen in precipitation. I continued in this field by teaching farmers about nitrogen-fixing trees and cover crops as a Peace Corps agroforestry extension agent in Bamendankwe village, Cameroon (West Africa). Although it was a very different environment, I feel that many insights and proverbs I gained in Cameroon may prove useful in graduate school. Among these are such sayings as "jam pass die, monkey chop peppe, tin se na njakatu" (when times are bad, a monkey will eat hot peppers and think it's eggplant). However, I am hopeful that the food options in the Aquarius will not reach such a crisis situation.

My current graduate research at UNC - Chapel Hill has allowed me to apply my interests in nitrogen cycling to new and exciting environments such as coral and temperate reefs. I feel that the potential impacts of nitrogen inputs on coral reefs make this issue socially and scientifically relevant. Through my Aquarius experience, I hope to better understand these chemical processes and their importance in the ecosystem.