Transect Magazine: Learning through Teaching

This story originally appeared in the Summer 2025 edition of Transect.

Bigelow Laboratory’s East Boothbay campus is often packed with undergraduates. Through internships, the Sea Change Semester program, and field trips, students from universities and community colleges across the country have several, hands-on opportunities to engage with the institute’s research.

But sometimes the relationship goes the other way. During the academic year, several Bigelow Laboratory scientists venture to Colby College, 60 miles up the road, to teach regular classes in multiple departments in support of a new, Bigelow-driven marine science minor. This upcoming year, in fact, scientists will be teaching more on-campus classes at Colby than ever, in everything from science communication to introductory ocean science.

These on-campus courses enhance Colby’s offerings, exposing a broader swath of students to ocean science, including those who may never step foot in East Boothbay. They increase the visibility of the institute at a leading liberal arts college, which can aid recruitment for Sea Change and other programs. And, for scientists who have otherwise dedicated their life to research, they’re a valuable opportunity to develop new skills and nurture fulfilling mentorship relationships.

“For me, teaching adds breadth to my intellectual life,” says Vice President for Education Ben Twining. “Teaching a subject really enhances your understanding of it, and it confronts you with the bigger picture. I’m a better scientist because of it.”

RELATIONSHIPS TO ADVANCE OCEAN SCIENCE

Colby College and Bigelow Laboratory formed a strategic partnership in 2010 to leverage their combined resources to advance both education and research. The Sea Change program, which is the centerpiece of the relationship, began shortly after. It enables undergraduates to live at Bigelow Laboratory for a semester while they undertake ocean science courses, independent research, and fieldwork. The program is accredited through Colby, though it has been open to students from other institutions for several years.

But from the earliest days of the partnership, Bigelow Laboratory scientists also taught at Colby.

Twining developed an introduction to ocean science course during Colby’s month-long exploratory January term in 2010. Researchers have continued to teach those special “Jan Plan” courses almost every year since. The semester-long classes began in 2018 when Senior Research Scientist Peter Countway taught a special, research-based capstone for environmental science majors, which he has also continued to teach every year since.

Bigelow Laboratory scientists have taught a range of subjects at Colby — from foundational topics like evolutionary biology and marine microbiology to applied ones like ocean forecasting and geoengineering. The diversity of offerings reflects the variety of scientists’ interests, but classes are also developed in close consultation with Colby to fit within the school’s curriculum and needs.

For Bigelow Laboratory, there are countless benefits. The institute gets library access and academic discounts through the partnership, and senior scientists get salary support to supplement their grants. They also get access to an intellectual community and resources on Colby’s campus.

“The relationship with Colby puts us in the academic world, which is useful,” Twining says. “It connects us with a breadth of disciplines we don’t have here, exposing us to new ideas and giving us colleagues from different fields.”

Though most on-campus teaching is done by senior researchers, postdoctoral scientists can also get involved. That provides them essential skills training before they go on the job market, says Director of Education Aislyn Keyes.

Keyes was hired in 2023 as the inaugural marine educator. She provides logistical support for would-be teachers, especially for Jan Plan courses that may spend significant time at Bigelow Laboratory, and helps them implement the most up-to-date, evidence-based teaching practices in their classrooms.

“Postdocs have the opportunity to really develop their science portfolio while they’re here, but if they’re interested — or think they may be interested — in university positions, that will require showing that they can teach and that they’ve developed their own teaching approach and style,” she says.

EDUCATION’S INTANGIBLE BENEFITS

Keyes herself came from a science background, transitioning after her PhD into education because of how energizing she found teaching.

“Being around students, it just fills your cup, and I have the best feeling every time I walk out of a classroom,” Keyes says. “But it’s also about paying it forward. Most of us got where we are because of mentors, and having the opportunity to be that for someone just starting their career is hugely impactful.”

Teaching can also be a learning experience for the scientists themselves.

Senior Research Scientist John Burns just wrapped up his second iteration of “Evolutionary Cell Biology,” which applies concepts from molecular and cell biology to understand the diversity and evolution of life. He describes teaching as a “conversation.”

“It helps me ensure I have a good breadth of knowledge in my field, and students always come up with surprising ideas,” he says. “It’s fun to work through those ideas with them, and sometimes it gets me to think about things in a new way.”

Senior Research Scientist Doug Rasher adds that teaching is also a chance to explore new areas of research. Rasher has taught “Seafood Forensics,” which digs into real-world issues around illegal fishing and seafood mislabeling, five times.

“The students love the framing because it is timely and relevant, and it’s definitely made us all more empowered consumers of seafood,” Rasher says. “But it’s also allowed me to broaden and deepen my understanding of our oceans, opening up new collaborations for research proposals and papers.”

That face time with students, he adds, is also handy for recruiting them to the institute’s more intensive programs.

One such student is Elias Porter, a current Colby senior studying environmental science. Porter, who says he was familiar with Bigelow Laboratory growing up on the Maine coast, took Rasher’s class as a sophomore.

“I think courses with Bigelow staff at Colby are great ways to meet researchers and start to find out what marine research is actually like,” he says. “Doug’s class was my first serious, literature-heavy course and a great way to dip my toes into the world of research.”

It inspired Porter to enroll in the Sea Change Semester the next fall where he did independent research with Rasher. He even stuck around for the January term after as an intern. It’s a perfect example of the “multiple points of contact” that Twining and the education team strive to create with students.

“I think it would be really hard to experience the community, resources, and expertise at Bigelow and decide that you don’t like the lab environment,” Porter says.

There’s growing interest, both at Colby and among scientists at Bigelow Laboratory, for these Bigelow-led courses. Investments — like Keyes’s new role, the marine science minor, and the recent laboratory expansion — are helping fill that need. The goal, the education team says, is to offer more classes, create more regularity, and facilitate more opportunities for students to get their hands wet (literally!).

“That will not only benefit students and the college, but also guarantee demand for our courses and create these teaching opportunities for those who want them,” Twining says. “One of the things I love about Bigelow is that no one has to teach that doesn’t want to. The people who do it are committed to it, and they’re seeking it out, so we’re committed to making it happen for them.”

Photo Captions:

Photo 1: Elias Porter, a Colby College senior, collects samples during Sea Change Semester, which he applied to after taking an on-campus class with a Bigelow Laboratory researcher (Credit: David Fields).

Photo 2: Undergraduate students in the Jan Plan introductory ocean science course, part of Colby College’s new marine science minor, learn to do fieldwork with Senior Research Scientist Karen Stamieszkin (Credit: Aislyn Keyes).

Photo 3: Students, including Elias Porter (left), participate in a research cruise during the Sea Change Semester program, which is open to undergraduates from all institutions but is also part of the marine science minor for Colby College students (Credit: Yoon Byun).

Photos 4-6: Colby College students participate in field trips and classroom lectures for “Evolutionary Cell Biology,” a 200-level class offered in Colby’s biology department and taught by Senior Research Scientist John Burns, about the principles of molecular biology and evolutionary diversity (Credit: John Burns).