Niceville Students Present Research to Scientist from Sloan Foundation
Filed under: News & Resources,Understanding
NICEVILLE – Students preparing for a trip to the island of Crete to lead teams studying marine biodiversity presented an overview of their project to a representative of their most supportive agency Friday.
The Niceville High School students will travel across the globe teaching other high schools how to conduct the marine census as part of a 50-year coastal study of marine biodiversity through the Natural Geography of In-Shore Areas (NaGISA) program.
After learning about the project, the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation of New York has donated thousands of dollars to help the students continue to contribute to and expand the worldwide study.
Through grants, the foundation supports original research and broad-based education related to science, technology, and economic performance.
Scientist Dr. Jesse Ausubel with the Sloan Foundation and Rockefeller University visited the high school and gave a presentation on the 10-year Census of Marine Life that began in 2000. Students Cami Fletcher, Alyssa Kittell, Kyle Fontaine, Jonathan Lemoel and Cyndi Milum made explained to him how the school got involved in the program it since has helped expand.
Students also completed simulations of collection and analysis procedures.
“The whole edifice of science is built on people being careful doing this type of analysis,” Ausubel said.
In March, 15 students and three faculty members will travel to Crete to help expand the project to other high schools around the world.
It isn’t their first trip. In 2006, students traveled to Japan to present the results of their first three years of data-collection and analysis as the first participating high school group in the world at the NaGISA world conference. After wowing those at the conference, the students went to Tanzania to aid in the development of a high school NaGISA program in Africa.
“In Tanzania, the students became the teachers,” Lemoel said.
As part of the study, about 60 students collect and analyze coastal specimens, which are then sent to Kyoto University in Japan. South Walton High School, Navarre High School and the Academy of Environmental Sciences in Crystal River have followed Niceville’s lead and joined the NaGISA project.
Although the Sloan Foundation has been a major part of the success of the program and its expansion through Niceville, the students still need money to go to Crete. They are available to make presentations to local organizations and donations are being accepted.
For information contact Rick Hernandez, NaGISA project coordinator, at 833-4114.
