Fieldwork, internships and study abroad: Oregon State biology student expands career path

Exploring science beyond the classroom

Planken, an Honors senior biology major with a marine biology and ecology concentration, came to Oregon State from San Diego specifically for the opportunities.

“I was interested in the study abroad funneling for my major concentration and the BI 450 class. That was a big hook,” Planken said.

BI 450 is a field-intensive course based at OSU’s Hatfield Marine Science Center. Students eat, breathe and sleep marine biology for 10 weeks through lectures, field studies and laboratory research. The course offers unique access to the facility’s state-of-the-art wet labs where specimens can go from the coast, to under the microscope and back again. For Planken, it was a defining experience that helped them experience fieldwork before graduation.

“It was so wonderful,” they said, even if they realized that early morning tide-dependent sampling might not be their long-term calling. Still, the course offered a valuable, hands-on opportunity: a complete research project built around a student-generated question and hypothesis.

“I learned a lot about the research process, and especially how to speak my mind.” Planken said. “I came up with the study idea myself and my fellow peers thought it was interesting enough to want to be in my group. It really made me feel like a researcher.”

The group studied Rostanga pulchra, a bright red sea slug that feeds on an equally bright sponge. “We were testing to see what it was that attracted them specifically to the red sponge,” Planken said. The team hypothesized that a pigment called astaxanthin might be responsible.

The early research experience helped build confidence and open the door to an even bigger opportunity: a 12-week paid internship with Pfizer in La Jolla, California.

Planken found the internship listing on their own and applied after their father, a Pfizer employee, encouraged them. This was their first professional internship after summers spent working as a barista, and the scale of the company was intimidating. “I was so nervous because it’s a huge company. I had to be professional,” they said.

Once they arrived, the nerves eventually faded. Planken was placed in an oncology research group, where they worked on “antibody-based assays for specific cancer cell lines, studying which types of cancers were susceptible to certain drug combinations.” Their microbiology coursework proved especially helpful, but they also learned new techniques from scratch, including Western blots and cell culture maintenance.

The experience itself helped Planken imagine more future opportunities, and a supportive mentor made a difference, too. “I had the best mentor I could ask for,” Planken said. “He did a really good job at uplifting me as a learning student intern.” Before they left, he told them, “If you need a letter of recommendation from Pfizer, I will write one.”

Before Hatfield and Pfizer, Planken also spent nearly five months studying abroad at James Cook University in Townsville, Queensland, one of the world’s top institutions for marine science. They selected the program through OSU GO after seeing it highlighted during their first year. “I wanted to be in a warmer climate, go to the beach and be able to dive while I was there.”

The coursework was demanding, but the experience was unforgettable. During breaks, Planken and friends explored the coast, and they completed more than 10 dives on a four-day liveaboard trip to the Great Barrier Reef. “We essentially just dove and then slept,” they said. “It was really, really cool.”

Back on campus, Planken continues to build research experience through the Honors College. Their thesis, advised by Priya Rajarapu in the College of Forestry, examines pesticide use among Oregon Christmas tree growers. The Head Academic Advisor in the Honors College, Beau Baca, connected Planken with the study opportunity. “We’re trying to fill a knowledge gap for OSU Extension,” they said. The project surveys growers about “their uses of pesticides and how their chemical use impacts their farms,” as well as which pests and chemicals are most common in the region.

Outside the lab and classroom, Planken is an artist. “I love to draw and paint,” they said. Digital art is their current focus, “paint is expensive and I live in a dorm,” but creativity has been part of their life as long as science has.

Looking ahead, Planken is still weighing their next step. “I honestly have no idea what I’m going to do when I graduate,” they said, though they know they want to return to school through a graduate program eventually. Their family, especially their mother and father, have been a steady source of encouragement. “My family has been the biggest supporter.”

If there’s a common thread through Planken’s OSU experience, it’s discovery — of new environments, new research fields, new confidence and new possibilities. Whether in a coastal field station, a pharmaceutical lab or the waters of the Great Barrier Reef, they’ve embraced every opportunity that Oregon State helped make possible.