Kellie McCartin shows the fish tank in the Shinnecock Building she uses to help teach students about caring for marine life. (photo courtesy of Kellie McCartin)

The FA member excellence awards committee is proud to announce that Kellie McCartin, instructor of marine biology, has been selected as a 2021-22 recipient of the FA award for mentoring.

While our annual awards & retiree recognition celebration has been postponed until later this semester, we want people to know about Kellie's good work at the college and in the community. Below is my interview with Kellie as well as her nomination.

Q — You’re a relatively new hire at SCCC, so many WORD readers won’t yet be familiar with you.  Would you please introduce yourself?

A — I always wanted to pursue a career in academia and teaching, and I was fortunate to get this position early in my career. I’m originally from Queens and did my undergraduate work at Roger Williams University. I am an alumnus from Stony Brook’s School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences (SOMAS), and my doctoral research focused on local fish species and their migrations around LI.

Since 2018, I've been teaching marine biology, oceanography, environmental science and intro to biology. All are intro-level, non-majors classes. I like this mix because it’s a general population of students who aren’t certain of their future or maybe science is not their particular path. These students don’t always know how to appreciate science but they soon realize how relatable these subjects can be to any Long Islander. A lot of them just take marine biology or oceanography because they have a passion for the beach, swimming or surfing, and that’s great because there’s already a connection to the content. Once they establish any connection to the material, they generally do better in class and begin relating information to what they see around them.

There’s a common misconception that marine bio is the easiest science. It’s not. But it is a natural fit on LI. And I love teaching at a community college because we are communicating science at an important time and to this important audience, students who might not be as into and aware of science at first. I also enjoy introducing our students to other professors, grad students and researchers at Stony Brook University. It’s great for them to see an educational path.

Q —Last year, our award recipients for mentoring were selected for mentoring and assisting colleagues. But you’ve been laser focused on mentoring students. One way you’re mentoring students is by helping them learn to conduct research, analyze their findings and present their results at conferences. Talk about that?

A — In the sciences at four-year schools, a research/internship credit is often required. A great way to understand what a scientist does is to actually conduct a research project and present your findings. It’s challenging—it requires the entire process of the scientific method—so students need mentorship early on. I am where I am today because I had once benefitted from that early mentorship. It gives students a sense of accomplishment and it’s also a career builder.

So I have helped students do research and present their work. Some students are really interested in marine science, so we put together low cost, low equipment research projects and help them conduct and present their work. The pandemic made it harder, but they were still able to go through their data, do their analysis, type up the results and present since the conferences went virtual.

Q — Another way SCCC students have been fortunate enough to work with you is through internships: the Peconic River Alewife Monitoring internship and the SCCC Coastal Resiliency internship. What are some of the joys and challenges of working with students in these ways?

A — I would say the greatest joy is seeing a student catch and hold a fish for the first time. It takes some skill to catch a fish, especially an eel! There is such a wide range of emotions that span across their face from shock, pride, excitement—sometimes disgust if they weren’t expecting the slime—but they all want to get back in the water and do it again. Hands-on experiences like this can completely change a student’s career goals and inspire them to become a scientist.

For the Peconic River internship, we recruited students to do hands-on fieldwork and data analysis. This is a great field site since it is so close to the Eastern campus. The students maintained an underwater camera monitoring fish in the Peconic River, assisted in catching and tagging fish and some went on to analyze that data further and present their work at conferences. Working weekly throughout the spring, they met with local policymakers, local scientists and other collaborators at weekly meetings. It was real world work and networking. For the students who wanted to but couldn’t participate in the field (e.g., full-time job, no transportation, etc.), we set them up to do remote work like analyzing videos, documenting species and organizing databases so they were still able to participate and get experience.

The Coastal Resiliency Project, a paid internship that was started by our colleague Marianne McNamara, is more competitive and requires more rigorous fieldwork. It’s a summer job where students survey different biological aspects in salt marshes on the south shore; the goal is to monitor salt marshes at different stages of restoration and identify areas in further need of restoration efforts. A healthy salt marsh means a healthy ecosystem and greater resilience to climate change. Students get to explore salt marshes, sample for mosquito larvae and conduct fish and plant surveys. I then work with the students to gather and present their data at conferences.

Q — You’ve also developed a work study position for general aquarium tank life support and maintenance in the marine bio lab at Eastern. How does that work?

Typical aspects of any aquarist’s life include maintaining and cleaning tanks, feeding fish, etc. This was a work study opportunity for two students to get this kind of lab experience in our aquarium tanks in Shinnecock 112. They learned how to feed the fish, clean the tanks, test nutrients and even how to start a tank from scratch. They learned aquatic maintenance and nutrient cycles. It ended due to the Covid shut down but I’m hoping to continue the program. I did work study in college, in a shellfish hatchery for four years, and it was so useful. SCCC students deserve to have these opportunities too.

Q — And as if the above isn’t enough, you’ve been an active advisor to the Environmental Club at Eastern. What are some activities you’ve done with those students?

Club membership has varied due to Covid, but it’s usually around ten students. We get outside as often as possible, doing recycling and litter cleanups on campus, beach cleanups, fish seining surveys and other projects. These are primarily student initiated. They’ll say, “I want to go to this beach” or “Let’s do this park because I’m always there and it’s always dirty.” It’s good because other students then see the need. These club events are great opportunities for education about how LI waters are prone to pollution and the need for community activists.

Q — What advice do you have for encouraging other FA members to become more involved in actively mentoring students? How and why should we make the time to fit this into our work each semester?

Mentoring students is so rewarding because you see how much it means to them and it’s often how we got where we are. It’s like paying it forward. I couldn’t have gotten to where I am without that one-on-one guidance to navigate a world I was unfamiliar with, and science is often an unfamiliar world for SCCC students. I love to hear from students that they’re grateful to have learned what a career could look like in the natural sciences.

Our jobs aren’t just about teaching courses but helping students find their way, find their career path. Students really need these conversations, these research opportunities and this kind of networking. It’s extremely important and, really, it is our duty to not only teach but mentor our students.

Award: Outstanding Mentoring
Nominee: Kellie McCartin, Instructor, Marine Biology (Eastern)

Over the last two years, Kellie has developed several research opportunities, internships and field work activities for students interested in marine biology or environmental science. She has mentored numerous students in developing research projects, presenting that research at conferences and helped them learn scientific skills to help prepare students for their future. She has also supervised internships and created work study opportunities to engage students in our marine biology/environmental science program. During the early stages of the pandemic shut down, Kellie created virtual internship opportunities for students to continue their learning. The virtual option has also allowed students that would normally be restricted to campus/online to participate in these extracurricular activities. Details of activities and events are below.

Mentored students in conducting scientific research and presenting findings at local and national scientific conferences (Fall 2019- present) T= Oral Presentation, P= Poster Presentation

Kellie mentored student Jenna Haines to develop a fisheries research project. They collaborated with researchers at Stony Brook University who shared fish scales with them that Jenna could age and photograph. Jenna’s project began in Fall 2019 and was completed in Summer of 2020. Kellie advised her in her research and her development of a poster that was presented at two conferences. Jenna has since graduated from SCCC and is currently applying to SUNY ESF in pursuit of a B.S. in Environmental Science.

1. Haines, J., E. Ingram, M.G. Frisk, and K. McCartin. 2021. Using Scales to Age Commercially Valuable Fish in a Proposed Wind Energy Area. 150th American Fisheries Society Annual Meeting (Virtual) — P
   
2. Haines, J., E. Ingram, M.G. Frisk, and K. McCartin. 2021. Using Scales to Age Commercially Valuable Fish in a Proposed Wind Energy Area. SUNY Undergraduate Research Conference (Virtual) — P

Kellie mentored student Brendan Lin Spring of 2020 through Spring of 2021 to analyze the data collected during the 2020 Alewife Internship he participated in. They developed a poster together for SURC 2021. Brendan also gave a presentation to the SCCC community explaining the Alewife Internship during virtual STEM week in March 2021.

1. Lin, B., E. Hornstein, A. Perruzza, and K. McCartin. 2021. Examining Temporal Trends of Alewife Migration in the Peconic River. SUNY Undergraduate Research Conference (Virtual) — P

Kellie mentored student Anna Perruzza Spring of 2020 through Spring of 2021 to perform statistical analysis of local alewife population data collected from local partners and the 2020 Alewife Internship she participated in. They developed several talks together that Anna was able to present to local partners and national conferences. Anna received an Equal Opportunity Scholarship from the American Fisheries Society to present her research at the 150th Annual Meeting. Anna has since transferred to Stony Brook University where she is pursuing a B.S. in Marine Vertebrate Zoology.

1. Perruzza, A., E. Hornstein, and K. McCartin. 2020. Run Size Estimation and Temporal Trends of Alewife Migration in the Peconic River. 150th American Fisheries Society Annual Meeting (Virtual) — T
2. Perruzza, A., E. Hornstein, and K. McCartin. 2020. Run Size Estimation and Temporal Trends of Alewife Migration in the Peconic River. Peconic Estuary Partnership, Natural Resources Subcommittee Meeting (Virtual) — T

Kellie is currently mentoring students Grace Nelson and Kyler Vander Putten to develop presentations regarding data collected in their Coastal Resiliency internship that she had supervised during Summer 2021.

Developed a marine biology/environmental science internship for SCCC students (Spring 2020-present)

Beginning in January of 2020, Kellie partnered with local non-profits and educational institutions to develop and supervise a marine biology/environmental science internship for SCCC students. The goal of the Peconic River Alewife Monitoring internship is to give students interested in science an opportunity to learn how to conduct scientific research, communicate that research to different audiences and perform activities that help restore our local ecosystems and watersheds.

Kellie supervises and mentors students in the field, teaching them fisheries and environmental field techniques. She also conducts weekly Zoom meetings for their research group and collaborators from March through July. In the meetings, they have scientific discussions, practice presenting data and invite collaborators to give mini-career talks.

In 2020, the internship was awarded to five SCCC students.
In 2021, the internship was again awarded to five SCCC students.

Created a work study position for general aquarium tank life support and maintenance in the marine biology lab (Shinnecock 112, Eastern campus) (Fall 2019-Spring 2020)

Mentored two students

Grant Coordinator and instructional supervisor for SCCC Coastal Resiliency Internship (Mar 2021- present)

Demonstrates and assists students in how to conduct nekton (fish) surveys throughout internship and mentors six interns

Environmental Club Advisor on the Eastern Campus (2019-present)

Engage local community in conducting beach cleanups, participating in local seining surveys of fish and invertebrates and promoting sustainability.