Undergraduate students in the UF/IFAS Department of Soil, Water, and Ecosystem Sciences (SWES) spent Summer 2025 turning class lessons into real-world practice. Through internships, research experiences and fieldwork, they gained skills for their professional careers in science, agriculture, conservation and Extension. Here are highlights from three students who shared their stories, along with a look at other SWES undergraduates who also took part in summer opportunities.

Seagrass monitoring in the Nature Coast Aquatic Preserve

Emily Colson, majoring in interdisciplinary studies: environmental management in agriculture and natural resources (EMANR)

Emily Colson worked on seagrass monitoring in the Nature Coast Aquatic Preserve. The work is supported through a Florida Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) contract and a Restore grant to DEP and UF. Her project centered on creating a new protocol for detecting stress in turtlegrass. This species is vital to Florida’s coastal ecosystems, but disease, nutrient stress and grazing are increasing threats to the seagrass.

“Detecting early warning signs, like fungal lesions or bite marks, helps managers act before meadows decline,” Colson said.

Using the image processing and analysis program ImageJ, she tested different workflows to measure leaf blades and highlight damage on scanned images. She also developed a classification key linking damage types to likely causes. Colson tied this work to broader ecosystem monitoring through biomass and nutrient analysis.

“The protocol is now ready for use and could be expanded with automation or training for new students,” Colson said. “It was a great way to combine technical skills with applied conservation research.”

^{Emily Colson (front) works at the UF/IFAS Nature Coast Biological Station’s mobile lab and conducting quadrat data collection at the field site in the Nature Coast Aquatic Preserve. (Photos by Enie Hensel)}

Water management and farm operations with U.S. Sugar

Michael Ferris, majoring in EMANR

Michael Ferris spent his summer 2025 internship with U.S. Sugar, where he tried his hand at agricultural water management and farm operations.

“My summer with U.S. Sugar was such a great experience for me to gain real-world management skills and to work with a great group of supervisors, many of whom were Gator alumni,” Ferris said.

His work included learning water management practices, conducting monthly growth measurements to estimate yields and overseeing daily farming operations. As a manager-in-training, Ferris was expected to take the initiative by identifying problem areas on the farms. This included pest issues and road maintenance. He had to ensure these were addressed.

One highlight was leading a team of five employees to implement the company’s owl house project, which provides shelter for barn owls. They serve as a natural predator of rabbits that damage young sugarcane, providing a solution for conservation and crop protection.

“My classes in EMANR gave me the background knowledge to succeed in everything from water management to pest control,” Ferris said.

^{Michael Ferris on a tractor, inspecting equipment, a barn owl box in the field, and the US Sugar water management facility. (Photos provided)}

Extension internship with UF/IFAS Pinellas County

Erin Petersen, majoring in SWES, water science specialization

Erin Petersen interned with UF/IFAS Extension in Sarasota County, working under chemicals in the environment agent Jackie Lebouitz and water resources agent Michael D’Imperio.

“I loved the internship,” Petersen said. “My supervising agents were very knowledgeable and kind. Through the internship, I learned a lot about Extension and met agents representing a variety of programs, from 4-H youth development to family nutrition.”

Her favorite experience was helping facilitate an Extension Green Team retreat in Largo. The event included dipnetting at Walsingham Park to monitor aquatic ecosystems and participating in a Bug BioBlitz at the Florida Botanical Gardens.

Petersen also contributed to projects including investigating irrigation practices for bromeliads and co-authoring an EDIS publication on bladderwort. She also is a primary author on an ArcGIS StoryMap about a UF Florida Medical Entomology Lab study on bromeliads and mosquitoes. It is scheduled for publication in 2025.

“Since I’m not a plant science or entomology major, I had to do so much research,” Petersen said. “Thankfully, the many scientific papers I read for SWES classes prepared me to review literature for this and other projects.”

^{Erin Petersen at Walsingham Park for a dipnetting event and ready for the Bug Bioblitz at the Florida Botanical Gardens. (Photos provided)}

Petersen also created a day-in-the-life video highlighting her internship.

Other summer experiences

Several other SWES undergraduates also pursued impactful summer 2025 opportunities:

• Samantha Miller, EMANR major, researched the City of Mount Dora and Lake County Water Authority joint stormwater quality improvement project, including expert interviews, on-site evaluations and a written report on the project’s origins, performance and future expansion plans.
• Cheyenne Sikes, EMANR major, assisted a coastal restoration program at Marine Resources Council. This included mangrove propagation, volunteer coordination, shoreline monitoring, data analysis and lagoon health reporting.
• Izabelle Young, SWES major, served as an innovation engineer intern at Costa Farms, supporting a warehouse management system rollout. Young’s other project work included redesigning a biological control-release tool. She also prototyped a heat-safety WBGT sensor, which indicates heat stress on people, for outdoor farm work.

Together, these experiences show the range of opportunities available to SWES students, so they can gain practical knowledge and professional connections for future careers. Their summer experiences highlight how hands-on learning helps translate classroom lessons into real work in agriculture, natural resource management and environmental stewardship.

If your workplace offers internship opportunities for SWES or EMANR students, contact us at soils-advising@ifas.ufl.edu.

Featured image from Adobe Stock (#78418208), edited by Adobe Photoshop GenAI.

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