Name: Sophia Beckmann
Class Year: 2026
Major: Biology
 
Internship Organization:  Smithsonian Environmental Research Center (SERC)
Internship Title:   Plant and Molecular Ecology Intern
Location:  Edgewater, MD
 
What’s happening at your internship? We would love to hear what kind of work you are doing!  

First day out at GCReW in front of the CO2 lab

Right now, I just finished census, which is when we count and measure all the plants in the experiment I work on. It’s a very rigorous job, but everyone does their part to get it done. I was a team leader for the second year in a row, so I was responsible for keeping my team on task and checking on them in the Maryland heat. Before this, I have mostly been conducting fieldwork in the marsh looking at soil and leaf greenhouse gas emissions using a portable greenhouse gas analyzer. I also designed and deployed a decomposition experiment this summer using tea bags and bags of plant litter.
 
Why did you apply for this internship?  

Checking in sea level rise experiment chambers

SERC is at the center of climate change research, which is a passion close to my heart. SERC is also home to the Global Change Research Wetland (GCREW), which has long running global change experiments. The community and people at SERC is unlike any other, they’re extremely welcoming and hardworking which inspires me day after day.

Can you talk about the skills you are learning and why they are important to you? 

I am developing my R coding skills, method creation and adaptation, and scientific communication skills. R is a commonly used coding language which I use to process large datasets, and even though it’s challenging at times I now can see how applicable it can be to other situations. It also feels like a testament to my growth journey since I’ve been at SERC. In my internship, I keep finding myself adding on new things to my project, which requires methods so I can implement it. I have to push myself to think about feasibility, and materials and be prepared to change things when I get to the field if needed. It helps me keep the big picture in mind of what I am trying to do. Scientific communication is vital to climate change science. It needs to be shared with the public, and other scientists to inspire and educate.  

Can you give us three adjectives and three nouns that describe your internship experience? 

Three adjectives to describe my summer at SERC are insightful, reflective, and joyful.  

Three nouns to describe my summer at SERC are bonds/ friendships, marsh, and biogeochemistry.