A member of the MSC community, Jessica Torossian of the Helmuth Lab, was recently awarded the College of Science Dean’s Award for Graduate Student Excellence in Innovation. This award recognizes a student who has made a lasting and positive impact on the community outside of Northeastern University, as evidenced by bringing scholarship to the community, benefiting society in some manner, exemplifying best practices for innovative and creative scholarly collaborations across departmental and discipline boundaries, or other achievements.
Distributed by the College of Science Dean for the first time, this award recognizes Torossian’s commitment to involvement in outreach efforts at the Marine Science Center and in the surrounding community. Torossian’s outreach efforts are extensive, and range from interactions with K-12 students and the community to developing resources for educators and marine resource users.
Torossian, at right in her legendary eagle ray costume, and Senior Lab Technician, Francis Choi at the left.
Torossian has been an active participant at several MSC Open House events, greeting guests in a handmade spotted eagle ray costume and helping her lab mates to convert the bunker hallway into a mock underwater laboratory to highlight Northeastern’s role in Fabien Cousteau’s Mission 31 project. Torossian also enjoys sharing her research and path to a career in science to visiting school groups.
Furthering her contributions efforts, Torossian served as the staff scientist in the week-long Coastal Ocean Science Academy’s middle school program in the summer of 2015, giving students their first taste of what it might be like to work as a marine biologist. Torossian understands the value of investing time in preparing the next generation for STEM careers, and thus devotes time to mentoring undergraduate and high school interns, including interns from Beach Sisters program at Girls Inc. of Lynn.
Torossian spent a week leading middle schoolers in exploring local coastal habitats as the staff scientist for the 2015 Coastal Ocean Science Academy
Most recently, Torossian has served as a Research Assistant with the MSC Outreach Program, developing the pilot for an updated version of the digital Boston Harbor Habitat Atlas. This online resource for educators, stakeholders, and the general public will include an interactive mapping interface, online tours of study sites, and open-access learning modules. Much of this resource development draws on a number of skills Torossian gained while working as a professional photo editor before she plunged back into school to pursue a degree in marine science.
Even with all these extracurricular activities, Jessica still finds time to work on her PhD research under the direction of Dr. Brian Helmuth, in which she is investigating thermal physiology in blue mussels, particularly in response to stress from extreme cold.
Upon review of Torossian’s extensive and meaningful outreach efforts, it is clear that she is surely deserving of the Dean’s Award for Excellence in Innovation, not only due to the quantity, but also the quality of her contributions to the field of science communication and outreach. This award recognizes Jess, a true science ambassador, as a role model for science graduate students, exemplifying the importance of not only conducting meaningful research, but sharing that research and passion for science with youth and the general public.
