K-12 Outreach Coordinators for SEFS, Brian and Stephanie, attended the Science by the Shore symposium hosted by UF’s Whitney Laboratory for Marine Biosciences in St. Augustine on September 21st.  The well attended event was a gathering of scientists from a spectrum of scientific and non-scientific fields.  The agenda included a keynote address by Dr. Sandra Loesgen, a recent addition to the Whitney Laboratory from Oregon State University.  The day unfolded with 10 minute spark style presentations on an array of topics from micro-CT scanning to visualize light organs in fireflies, to submarine volcanoes acting as windows into Earth’s mantle, to changes in saltmarsh-mangrove vegetation and the effects on predator-prey interactions, to the role of religion in healing Florida waters. 

 

Scientist in Every Florida School was pleased to have the opportunity to present a poster during the poster sessions for the chance to highlight the program’s mission. The team directly spoke with over twenty visiting scientists at the event.  Scientists were very receptive to the importance of K-12 outreach and the significance for sharing scientificresearch.  Since the event, the SEFS scientist registration database has seen over 10 new scientists join the efforts to connect teachers and scientists.