The Blue Future: AltaSea Celebrates Dr. Melanie Lundquist and the Summer Internship Cohort
In early August, AltaSea unveiled The Blue Future Wall, a permanent installation on the AltaSea campus filled with photos of AltaSea’s interns. The wall will continue to grow with each new cohort of young scientists, engineers, and educators that completes AltaSea’s internship program.
The Blue Future Wall is dedicated to Dr. Melanie Lundquist, whose leadership and support since AltaSea’s inception have helped bring AltaSea from vision to reality. Dr. Lundquist’s generosity and ongoing belief in creating opportunities for young people have opened career pathways for students who might never have imagined a future in ocean science or the blue economy.
AltaSea offers paid internships for college students year-round thanks to the support of several foundations. The Kayne Foundation has been supporting AltaSea’s internship program since 2024, funding the stipends for about three dozen college students. The Sherman Fairchild Foundation will be funding 13 internships for the Fall 2026 semester. And the Chalten Trust, via the Marin Community Foundation, provides funding for internships related to renewable energy.
This summer’s cohort of interns at AltaSea included students aiming for careers in robotics, aquaculture, and environmental nonprofits. Students have the opportunity to work directly with AltaSea-based organizations that align with their studies and career interests. William Lee applied what he’s learning at Santa Monica College’s aquaculture program in his laboratory internship at Kelp Ark, where a typical day included testing water parameters as well as identifying, isolating, and sorting microscopic specimens.
Calvin Harding, who studies marine science and aquarium science at Orange Coast College, also interned at Kelp Ark. Harding said that his communications-focused internship allowed him to network with marine industry professionals and expand his skill set.
“This summer was very valuable to me because I got to learn all about content creation. Doing things such as script writing, voice-over, and video editing can take a lot of time, and this internship gave me a better idea of how it could be a viable career path,” Harding said.
“The main challenge I faced through all of this was learning how to edit videos in a way that would make them engaging to audiences on social media, which is something I never did before this internship.”
Taryn Escola, who studies marine biology at CSU Long Beach, spent the summer interning for the Los Angeles Marine Protected Areas (MPA) Collaborative. Escola conducted boat-based internships, educating students about the importance of MPAs and teaching them how to fish.
“I learned how to communicate with kids about topics that may be harder to understand,” Escola said. “Kids often struggle to pay attention or respect the fish, so finding ways to explain why respect is important was a fun challenge.”
“This internship gave me a lot more comfort on and around a boat, experience handling fish, and practice with public speaking,” Escola said.
UC Irvine computer engineering student Yan Li worked as a lab intern at Sperra, gaining hands-on experience with 3D printing commercial-scale concrete structures for offshore renewable energy installations. Li helped build a concrete dispensing silo and a large concrete anchor. Li also completed an individual project—developing a custom app for Sperra’s database to streamline the company’s data management.
“The most valuable thing I learned at Sperra was industrial control systems,” Li said. “Industrial systems are much more applicable in the real-world workforce as opposed to projects usually done at university.”
Some students worked directly with AltaSea, gaining experience in nonprofit operations and environmental education. UC San Diego electrical engineering student Angel Gomez interned for AltaSea’s education department, assisting with the mentorship program for high school students. Over the course of five weeks, Gomez helped the students develop projects focused on marine robotics, aquaculture, and ocean-based renewable energy.
“I think the most valuable thing I learned was how to be a leader,” Gomez said. “Before my time at AltaSea I hadn’t done much work teaching others, but now I know what it’s like to guide others and how to help them if they get lost.”
A common sentiment amongst the interns is that the skills they learned during their internships at AltaSea will benefit them as they prepare to start their careers. Gomez is pursuing a career in robotics, and hopes to return to the AltaSea campus in the future to work for Blue Robotics. Escola plans to work in fisheries management. Harding is pursuing a career as an aquarist at a major aquarium. And Lee is committed to working in the environmental nonprofit sector.
“I’ve met many kind and intelligent people during my time at Kelp Ark,” Lee said. “Being around like minded people gives me hope for the future.”
For more information about AltaSea’s internship program, including video interviews with participants and applications to join the next cohort, click here.
Written by Emily Vidovich. Emily is an environmental journalist specializing in ocean conservation and climate change mitigation. She obtained her bachelor’s degree at George Washington University and a Masters in Global Environmental Studies at a university in Tokyo, Japan. Born and raised in the Port of Los Angeles, she now works in research and communications at AltaSea.