From Cornfields to Coral: Cedarville Student Completes Marine Research Internship in Bermuda

Despite growing up where the only waves are the ripples in a sea of corn, Sara McElroy of Marietta, Ohio, always had a fascination with the ocean. That passion recently led McElroy, who graduated in May from Cedarville University with a degree in biology, to complete a semester-long Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) internship with the Bermuda Institute for Ocean Sciences (BIOS) through Arizona State University (ASU).

"I'm so thankful God gave me this opportunity to see what marine research looks like," said McElroy. "He's such an amazing Creator, and that's what I love about science. As we go deeper and deeper, we see how everything is so intertwined. To take one factor out displaces everything."

During the internship, McElroy conducted a research project studying how repeated heat stress affects the protein levels in coral. Her work contributed to a larger project called ENCORE, which focuses on understanding what factors influence coral response to environmental stressors.