Graduate Research Fellow: Nicole Vandale

Nicole Vandale, Northeastern University, Marine and Environmental Science

Project: Evaluating the variation in surface microplastic concentrations due to seasonal environmental abiotic factors in the Boston Harbor estuary system 

Short Bio: I am from Holden, Massachusetts and graduated from Eckerd College with a Bachelors of Science in Marine Science with Honors. While at Eckerd, I was inducted into the Phi Beta Kappa honor society and was a Ford Apprentice Scholar. Through the NOAA Hollings Scholarship Program, I interned at the Kachemak Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve where I participated in lab and field work for various projects. Beginning my sophomore year, I was the lead intern for the Eckerd College microplastics monitoring project in Tampa Bay. Mentored by Dr. Amy Siuda and Dr. Shannon Gowans, I fulfilled duties of a lab manager, designing and implementing new experimental methods, overseeing data collection, processing, and analysis, and managing teams of interns and volunteers.

Brief Summary: This fall, I will begin researching environmental microplastics in Dr. Aron Stubbins’s lab at Northeastern University. Through looking at microplastics in sediment and coastal waters, we hope to drive a greater understanding of how microplastics become distributed in coastal systems.