After many long journeys to Anacortes from places as far as Guam and Alaska we were grateful for a long nights’ sleep in our comfortable dorms.

This morning we woke, rested and ready for an exiting and packed day. We began with a scavenger hunt to get to know the town of Friday Harbor, running around looking for niche spots. The winner of this competition would get to bragging rights, stickers, and the first pick for team names.

After moments of success (and some backtracking), we quickly rearranged to drive to Friday harbor labs. We thoroughly toured the campus and went inside a few of the lab buildings.

Our group began in the Sunflower Sea Star lab, where Dr. Rebecca Guenther, an instructor at Friday Harbor Labs, showed us her most recent research project. She and her team have been studying the effects of the Sea Star Wasting Disease on the sunflower sea stars in the area for years, describing the problem and her solution.

As we listened attentively, she explained the artificial reproduction process, and opened the lids to the many generations of Sunflower sea stars in tanks.

Our final scheduled visit was the fish lab where we got to see diverse fishes, and how the fields of biology and engineering intersect. The researchers at this lab were studying bone structures using a CT scanner.

We saw one final lab where we observed University of Washington students conducting their own experiments and projects, with invertebrates and other marine life looking on.

We are looking forward to an engaging conversation over dinner with Dr. Billie Swalla, an expert in Marine Genomics and the first female Director of UW Friday Harbor Laboratories from 2012 – 2019.

Signing off,
Olivia, Silas, and Kashi.