On any given day this past summer, you’d find Yannick Peterhans on Catalina Island off the coast of Southern California, snapping shots of researchers and students or splashing through the water capturing scientific divers and sea bass beneath the water line.
For six weeks, Peterhans, who graduated last May with a degree in international relations from the USC Dornsife College of Letters Arts and Sciences, was the designated photographer and videographer for the USC Wrigley Marine Science Center.
The opportunity came through the Environmental Communications Internship offered by the USC Dornsife Wrigley Institute for Environmental Studies, which pairs USC students with science labs that need a hand in communicating their work to the outside world. The program boosts students’ technical abilities and portfolios in skills like graphic design, helping prepare them for potential careers in scientific storytelling.