USC students explore conservation careers on Catalina Island

On Catalina Island, USC students gain hands-on experience in marine science while exploring how their interests can lead to careers in conservation. (Photo: Nick Neumann/ USC Dornsife Wrigley Institute.)

USC students explore conservation careers on Catalina Island

With The Macfarlane Foundation support, students learn from environmental leaders and discover new ways to turn their interests into careers.

ByTaline Rumaya August 21, 2026

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Over lunch at the USC Wrigley Marine Science Center on Catalina Island, JD Black found himself talking about reptiles and amphibians with a conservation professional.

Black, who is pursuing a communication major at the USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism along with a minor in psychology from the USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences, was working as a summer education intern when a team from the Catalina Island Conservancy visited campus. As he spoke with them about the island’s wildlife and their careers, conservation began to look less like an abstract interest and more like a possible future.

“I have always thought conservation was cool, but this experience made me seriously consider it as a career path,” says Black.

It was the kind of encounter the David H. Meid Visiting Mentor Program was created to foster.

The post appeared first on USC Dornsife.