New Intern - Diana Acosta

Measuring an Aplysina insularis,
home of Elacatinus lori

I am Diana Acosta, an Environmental Policy Intern at Save the Harbor/Save the Bay. I am currently in my second year of the Master in Public Health Program at Boston University concentrating in Environmental Health. I’ve always had a love for the ocean which is why I chose to major in marine science as an undergraduate at Boston University. As an undergrad, I worked at the Buston Lab. Here is where I worked with clownfish and assisted in behavior research and was even able to go to Belize with the lab for two summers to help out on an NSF funded project to study the population genetics of Elacatinus lori, a type of goby. This basically meant I was diving multiple times a day, everyday to do the research and it was my dream job. When thinking about what I wanted to do for my practicum for grad school, I came across this organization and thought it was the perfect blend of my marine science and public health background. Not only do I get to aide in work that helps restore and protect our beaches, but I also can help inspire others to create that connection I have with the water for themselves.

Diana on the Fish Pier

In my first week at Save the Harbor I was able to help out in organizing press clips created from all the articles published about the organization’s events from the past two years. It was interesting to read many of the articles and to see how invested this organization is in fulfilling its main goal of cleaning and maintaining our area’s beaches. The main project I had this week was creating a database of university contacts to recruit more interns for this semester and even beyond. Along with locating the portals most universities use now to advertise internships and jobs to students, I dug a little deeper and tried my best to find different contacts, i.e. real people,  in specific departments of universities to better target students that would be interested in joining Save the Harbor/Save the Bay. Many of the people I have contacted have responded back positively, so it will be exciting to see how many new applications are received once the emails are circulated to students all around the Boston area.

I really like that Save the Harbor is allowing me to help out in large projects right away and that I was able to hit the ground running. I look forward to working on more projects with Save the Harbor/Save the Bay and get a real feel for how a successful non-profit organization works.