Ella Skonieczny alongside her fellow Hollings intern Alleyah Britton, and mentor Becca, holding Pacific oysters (Crassostrea gigas) from the Salty Lady Seafood Company oyster farm. During this trip out to the farm, we collected water samples to survey chlorophyll-a levels, nutrients, and monitor for harmful algal bloom species. (Image credit: Courtesy of Ella Skonieczny)
Hello, my name is Ella Skonieczny! I am a rising senior at Eckerd College double majoring in marine science and environmental studies. This summer I had the amazing opportunity to work at the Alaska Fisheries Science Center Ted Stevens Marine Research Institute within the Auke Bay Laboratory division in Juneau, Alaska.
During my time in Alaska, I worked under the mariculture team, working on an ongoing research project between NOAA and the Department of Fisheries and Oceans in Canada offsite link. This study aims to understand how food availability for Pacific oysters (Crassostrea gigas) alters their ability to survive and adapt to external environmental factors such as large temperature changes (heat and cold stress). The results that will come from this study will help to inform the growing mariculture industry of Alaska, including how best to sustain oyster farms long into the future, in what location oyster farms should be placed, and in what conditions oysters grow best.
A large goal of mine when beginning my internship was to be able to get out and learn anything and everything as an early career scientist. Now that my internship is coming to a close, I can successfully say that I have done so. I have come to call these new and exciting opportunities “experiential learning” including field work, hands-on experience, and skill building. During my internship I worked at kelp and oyster farms, drove small boats, collected and sampled salmon at a fish weir, ran an outreach table, aided in whale tagging and other dive efforts, created environmental communication products including an informational algae poster and oyster illustrations, and much more!
I could not be more grateful for this experience. I have truly found such a supportive, welcoming, and caring community here at NOAA in Juneau, Alaska. It will always be a place that I can call home.
Ella Skonieczny, 2025 Hollings scholar
Ella is a 2025 Hollings scholar double majoring in marine science and environmental studies at Eckerd College.