URIs_MOMENTUM_Research_and_Innovation_Magazine_Spring_2026_M

Lindsey Reimels ’25

Fitting a whale into a lab might sound impossible, but University of Rhode Island (URI) student Lindsey Reimels ’25 found a way to study a whale’s unique filtering system far from the ocean. Instead of a massive whale, she built a model using acrylic and palm tree wood fiber to investigate how baleen plates in a humpback whale’s mouth filter out microplastics—no whale required. “The program not only helps you grow as a scientist but also as a citizen.”

A model of acrylic and palm tree wood fiber used to investigate how baleen plates in a humpback whale’s mouth filter out microplastics

- Lindsey Reimels

SPRING | 2026 Page 29