Research Internships

"I first heard about Pacific Mammal Research during the Northwest Student Chapter Society for Marine Mammalogy conference. Cindy was a guest speaker during the conference, and I remember being absolutely mesmerized by the research she was doing at PacMam (I mean, who wouldn't want to study harbor seals and porpoises). When I learned that they provide internships, I jumped at the chance to work with the PacMam team. Long story short, I was accepted to be an intern for PacMam’s Spring 2026 Cohort. Throughout my time with PacMam, I have gained hands-on research experience through fieldwork and projects. As an intern, you get to choose which project you can be part of, and for my internship, I chose to work on the Harbor Seal Photo-ID and the Harbor Porpoise Photo-ID & Behavioral Monitoring. While working on these projects, I have learned more about the ecological behaviors of harbor seals and harbor porpoises and gained new research techniques to assess site fidelity. As an intern, I also got the opportunity to learn how to take ID photos in the field. This was one of my favorite parts of my internship because I not only gained experience in photo ID but also developed a skill I will use in future research. Taking photo-ID shots in the field was also very rewarding once you captured a clear shot, but it's a learning curve for sure! Also, during my internship, I had the opportunity to participate in outreach tabling events, which I found to be a great way for me to share what I have learned with PacMam with a diverse audience. Overall, I cannot express just how grateful I am for this opportunity and for getting to work with Cindy, Kat, and Ciera. They have been great mentors throughout this experience and have taught me so much about marine mammal research!"