American university student, Kristin Douglas will be spending her holidays fossicking through local salt flats as an intern student with Central Queensland University. Kristin applied to study with CQU Gladstone’s Centre for Environmental Management through education abroad specialist AustraLearn (www.australearn.org/), an organisation that provides university students with study abroad opportunities in Australia and New Zealand.

The internship program will allow Kristin to complete her own research project, providing her with invaluable real life experience to complement the university studies she is completing through the prestigious College of William and Mary.

William and Mary is America's second-oldest college and Kristin said she is noticing that things are a lot quieter at the much younger CQU Gladstone campus.

“I like the small town feel of Gladstone. I live just outside of Washington D.C. at home so it’s a big change to go from a bustling metropolis to such a tiny little town, but it’s a refreshing change,” said Kristin.

Kristin said she chose to come to Gladstone for a number of reasons, including wanting to live on the coast and the chance to work on her own project.

“Some of the other internships didn’t really offer the same opportunities as I will have here. I’m getting to do the research myself rather than observe someone else doing all the work, which is what I wanted,” said Ms Douglas.

Kristin has chosen to research Gladstone’s salt flats, an area that she believes remains relatively unknown.

“To most people they are just barren land and often ignored, but I hope to find out that there is a little more to them than that,” said Ms Douglas.

Kristin will finish her project with the CEM in August.

Details of CEM-hosted Professional Development for Academic Credit internship placements for American students are available via:.

http://australearn.org/Programs/Internship/PDACDescriptions.htm#science .

Photo Left : Kristin Douglas will be researching Gladstone's salt flats for her internship with the Centre for Environmental Management.

Photo Above: CEM research worker Kelly Jacobs shows Kristin around the CEM Benthic lab.