Carolyn Waterbury
Sanford, North Carolina, United States
of America
9 Years Experience
Research contractor at the Environmental
Protection Agency
Experience
National Science
Foundation
REU Intern / June, 2017 —
August, 2017
My research during looked to
see what environmental
parameters caused certain
strains of Heterosigma
akashiwo to bloom in hopes
of determining what
conditions might cause
harmful algal blooms. I ran
toxicity and photophysiology
experiments on six strains
of H. akashiwo.
Additionally, I collected
water samples from algal
blooms containing H.
akashiwo, which I cultured
in a variety of salinities.
With these samples, I
extracted H. akashiwo DNA
and ran PCR reactions in
order to quantify fragment
sizes as a proxy for genetic
differences driven by the
unique salinity conditions.
Finally, I used
prior-collected single
strand isolates and ran PCR
reactions to produce
fragments to be sent in for
sequencing. Before
experiments began, I
performed cell counts under
a microscope using a
hemocytometer. All
experiments required
extensive pipetting and
practicing aseptic
techniques in a fume hood to
avoid cross-contamination.
Research Expertise
Beaufort Sea Nearshore Monitoring
Project
climate change
heat-shock protein analysis
About
I am an experienced research assistant
and data analyst with 10 years of
professional research experience
either working in a molecular lab or
in an outdoor environment collecting
data. I have 7 years of
fisheries-based research experience
either collecting samples in the field
and maintaining large fisheries’
databases or working in a lab-based
setting analyzing samples. I am
skilled in statistical analysis with 9
years of experience running in-depth
analysis in R. Currently, I am working
at the Environmental Protection Agency
assisting with toxicology exposure
experiments using in vivo and in vitro
models.