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"It's amazing that I'm able to spend my days doing research, and that it's intertwined with the coastal environments where I was raised. It's also very exciting to be part of such an interesting and supportive collection of people that make up the E2O research group."
Student Profile: Celeste Kieran
Biological Sciences master's student in the Faculty of Science
I'm a Master's student in the Earth to Ocean research group currently studying long-term changes in the marine foraging dynamics of Pacific salmon. I grew up on Gabriola, a gulf island in the Strait of Georgia, but have spent the last 7 years living and studying on the east coast where I completed an double major in Biology and Spanish at Dalhousie University and spent several wonderful summers working as a research assistant at the Mersey Tobeatic Research Institute. In 2018 I was lucky to spend a semester in Haida Gwaii studying Natural Resource Science at the Haida Gwaii Institute.
WHY DID YOU CHOOSE TO COME TO SFU?
I had heard great things about my supervisor Dr. John Reynolds and the Earth to Ocean research group.
HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE YOUR RESEARCH OR YOUR PROGRAM TO A FAMILY MEMBER?
With access to a fisheries-collected archive of salmon scales (some dating back to 1913) and the use of modern laboratory techniques such as stable isotope analysis, I’m exploring how large-scale climate events and environmental factors influence Pacific salmon foraging patterns in the marine phase of their life-history.
WHAT ARE YOU PARTICULARLY ENJOYING ABOUT YOUR STUDIES/RESEARCH AT SFU?
It's amazing that I'm able to spend my days doing research, and that it's intertwined with the coastal environments where I was raised. It's also very exciting to be part of such an interesting and supportive collection of people that make up the E2O research group
HAVE YOU BEEN THE RECIPIENT OF ANY MAJOR OR DONOR-FUNDED AWARDS? IF SO, PLEASE TELL US WHICH ONES AND A LITTLE ABOUT HOW THE AWARDS HAVE IMPACTED YOUR STUDIES AND/OR RESEARCH.
I'm deeply grateful to be a recipient of the 2021 NSERC CGSM award, the Weston Family Award for Northern Research, and the Northern Research Training Program award. I was also awarded an NSERC Undergraduate Student Research Award in 2020, which helped support research exploring interactions between salmon abundance and riparian forest productivity.
Contact : celeste_kieran@sfu.ca