POTENTIAL REU PROJECTS,
Students select topic areas that interest them the most. Faculty mentors guide students to design technically feasible, time-appropriate projects. The expertise required for some projects may require participation by more than one faculty member, but each student always has one mentor designated to oversee the work. To illustrate the range of projects the students could do we provided the following topics (with likely mentors) would be suitable for student projects. This list neither exhausts nor limits the projects that could become student projects. We encourage you to examine the IMS faculty web pages to learn more about our research interests
Project |
Mentor(s) |
The effects of emergent peat reefs on beach shape and ecology |
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The biological and geological consequences of storms covering salt marshes with sand: |
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The relationship between along-shore changes in beach erosion and offshore geology |
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Improved prediction of the timing of sea turtle hatchling emergence from nests |
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Forces produced by vehicles on uniform versus mixed beach sediments and the effects of driving on buried organisms |
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Value and function of shorebird foraging habitat over time after overwash events create new intertidal flats and initiate succession of invertebrate prey |
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The potential for deployment of real-time sensors for water quality instrumentation in estuaries |
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Quantifying the extent and magnitude of oyster reef ecosystem services |
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Investigate the loading of fecal contamination from tidal creeks stemming from animal versus human fecal contamination |
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How land uses that add impervious surfaces affect pathogen loading and estuarine water quality |
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Quantifying impacts of stormwater-borne materials on habitat structure in shallow coastal waters |
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Assessing the condition of coastal streams originating from varied watershed types |
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Determining the impacts of stormwater-borne nutrients on estuarine primary productivity |
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Applying microbiological, molecular and biochemical indicators to identify and distinguish human from climatically-driven changes in estuarine and coastal biogeochemical cycling, food web dynamics, and water quality |
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Use observational (monitoring) and experimental (bioassays) results to examine nutrient limitation of phytoplankton primary production, biomass, and community structure |
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Examine the linkage between excessive primary production (eutrophication) and low oxygen events in the Neuse and New River Estuaries |
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Use molecular and biochemical tools to detect, quantify, and characterize harmful algal bloom species in NC estuarine and coastal waters |
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Examine physical-chemical and biological mechanisms affecting air-water CO2 flux in the Albemarle Pamlico Sound system and New River Estuary |
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Examine the impact of oyster-reef associated sponges on biogeochemical cycling in oyster habitats across estuarine gradients |
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Research historical human alterations to coastal hydrology (e.g. inlet dredging) and the impacts of increased salt water intrusion into North Carolina’s sounds and coastal estuaries |
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Spatial-temporal variation in freshwater inputs to coastal estuaries and its relationship to oyster reef development |
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Computer modeling of storm surge and waves in coastal North Carolina |
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Observations of the response of the Neuse Estuary to storms |
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Measurement and computer modeling of flow around oyster reefs |
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Circulation and exchange in a residential canal system: Implications for distributions of contaminants near canal mouths |
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Vegetation density and patchiness effects on flow and inundation rates in salt marshes |
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Characterization of flow and concentration boundary layers over a bed of filter feeders |
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Quantifying coastal carbon sequestration within exploited temperate biogenic reefs |
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Acoustic tagging of adult estuarine fishes to explore habitat utilization and resident versus migrant life-history strategies |
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Evolution and function of restored intertidal oyster reefs and salt marshes across landscape and depth gradients |
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Synergistic effects between bioeroders and predators on oyster mortality |
