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Providing cutting edge-ucation

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Providing cutting edge-ucation

Mote Marine Laboratory’s informal science education programs reached more than 32,317 people this fiscal year. With 30 in-person and 21 virtual programs, our skilled teams shared Mote research in Sarasota Bay and Florida Keys ecosystems with all ages, connected with classrooms and youth-serving organizations, linked up virtually with audiences around the world, and more.

  • Something for virtually everyone: Our virtual programs and events educated people from more than 40 states and 20 countries. Our 10th-anniversary Youth Ocean Conservation Summit, held as a virtual event, had a record 350  participants from a record count of more than 20  countries. In addition, 1,600 participants joined Mote for a virtual summer camp in partnership with Loggerhead Marine Life Center.
     

  • The Keys to enhancing education: Mote’s campus in the Florida Keys, the Elizabeth Moore International Center for Coral Reef Research & Restoration (IC2R3), significantly expanded its educational offerings for Keys communities this year, with:

    • Six new onsite residential programs, four new teacher resource kits, a daytime summer camp program for middle school and high school students, and an expansion of Mote’s Monroe County School District outreach program through new classroom programs, field trip experiences, and afterschool program partnerships. Mote’s team also developed a new community outreach program named "Mote on the Boat," in which Mote educators and scientists join Blue Star Operators' snorkel and dive charters to educate guests about Florida's Coral Reef and Mote's research and restoration efforts. 

    • 3,231 participants educated this year through our Florida Keys programs.

    • Mote programs delivered to seven schools in the Monroe County School District and to participants in the U.S. Virgin Islands including St. Croix, St. John, and St. Thomas.

  • Sarasota Bay success:  In partnership with The Bay Park Conservancy, Mote developed the first kids’ education program focused on The Bay Park. The park is currently being developed to improve public access and ecological health along 53 acres of Sarasota Bayfront land. Mote’s program involved a virtual connection between Mote educators and first graders, with follow-up materials for their teachers to use in the classroom and resources for families to use while visiting the Bay. Mote’s team educated the students about  the estuary systems at The Bay site, along with the new human-made improvements like bioswales that capture stormwater runoff.
     

  • Sharing knowledge is in our nature:
    Mote educators are leaders within the education and training program Project Nature Bridge, with Selby Gardens, Conservation Foundation of the Gulf Coast and support from Barancik Foundation. Through this important community effort, Mote’s team conducts workshops and training sessions to help staff of local youth-serving organizations, such as Boys and Girls Club and Girls Inc., to integrate nature explorations and conservation messages into their missions of educating and mentoring youths. Whether we’re sharing knowledge on watersheds, wildlife or the food webs that connect many living things, Mote’s team aims to help youth-serving organizations educate the next generation of environmental stewards.
    Read a Sarasota Magazine story on Project Nature Bridge: https://www.sarasotamagazine.com/news-and-profiles/2021/06/proect-nature-bridge

200 undergraduate interns and two graduate students got valuable hands-on experience in marine science with Mote mentors this year. Those included:

  • 10 interns in the prestigious, National Science Foundation (NSF)-funded Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) program.

  • 22 in Mote’s own REU program, which has philanthropic support and is based on the NSF model.

  • 15 interns in the NSF-funded, Mote-led program MarSci-LACE—The Marine Science Laboratory Alliance Center for Excellence—which focuses on broadening the participation of underrepresented minority students in marine science.

  • 153 other undergraduate-level college interns 

  • 2 Research Experience for Graduate Students program participants

Expanding our commitment to diverse, inclusive marine science

  • 22* research internship positions were filled by underrepresented minority students in the second year of internships offered by the Mote-led Center for Excellence known as MarSci-LACE. Of those internships, 17 were supported through MarSci-LACE funds and five more by philanthropic funds secured for Mote’s local Research Experiences for Undergraduates internships. 

    The Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation (LSAMP): Marine Science Laboratory Alliance Center of Excellence (MarSci-LACE) works to reduce barriers between underrepresented minority communities and marine science disciplines that need their insights.

    MarSci-LACE was founded in 2019 through a three-year National Science Foundation (NSF) grant to Mote, the only non-academic institution to receive one of seven LSAMP Center of Excellence awards in the U.S. It is co-funded by the NSF Inclusion across the Nation of Communities of Learners of Underrepresented Discoverers in Engineering and Science (NSF INCLUDES) initiative. MarSci-LACE partners include The College of the Florida Keys (CFK), State College of Florida, Manatee-Sarasota (SCF), Smithsonian Marine Science Station, and Perry Institute for Marine Science (PIMS).

    Many scientific fields—particularly marine science disciplines that require bachelor’s degrees—have low diversity along racial, ethnic, gender and cultural lines, so they’re missing out on worthwhile perspectives. While 31% of the U.S. population comprises underrepresented minorities, they only receive 20% of degrees in STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) disciplines and 12% in marine STEM. In turn, many minority scientists struggle to feel a sense of belonging in the culture of science, which offers few role models of similar backgrounds. To address these challenges, the MarSci-LACE team has assembled and implemented a curriculum and mentor-education program designed to help the incoming interns excel in experiential science based on Mote’s model of Research Experiences for Undergraduates.

    MarSci-LACE was highly successful in its first year of internships—particularly in encouraging students to develop a sense of belonging in science—and continued its exciting progress this year.

  • Two more science institutions opened up internships for MarSci-LACE students this year. After the first year of internships offered at Mote, additional internship positions opened this year at PIMS (in person) and Smithsonian Marine Science Station (virtual), and Mote’s in-person internship opportunities continued. 

    • The resources for interns and mentors expanded as well. Mote produced a new intern resource guide that walks MarSci-LACE participants through each week of their internship, based on feedback from the earliest participating interns and mentors. New mentor briefings at the start of each MarSci-LACE semester were developed to help set mentors up for success.

  • Students shared how meaningful the internship experiences were for them, through anonymous surveys designed to assess the impacts of MarSci-LACE:

    • “This was 100 percent above and beyond my expectations. I was hands-on and learning every second I was in the lab.” 

    • “This has been one of the most transformative learning experiences I have ever encountered. Being a Freshman in college, this internship has allowed me to jumpstart my career in research by letting me open my first study.”

    • “It gave me a real idea of what science looks like and now I want to continue in this field.” 

    • “I learned to be more confident in my ability to work in the scientific field.”

    • “I gained valuable lab and writing skills in research as well as confidence in conducting research.”

    • “New skills like R, scientific writing, understanding of what I really want to do and a fantastic mentor”

    • “I had an amazing internship experience and I got to learn and do things I never thought I’d be able to. I learned so much about sea turtles and biology and have been inspired to pursue a science degree and career.”

  • Student highlight: Gracia Rojas
    Gracia Rojas participated in year 1 of MarSci-LACE internships and valued the experience so much that she returned for year 2. In both years, Rojas—a student at The College of the Florida Keys—excelled in coral reef restoration-focused research with Mote mentors.

    Rojas said: “My experiences with the MarSci-LACE Program helped prepare me for my current and future projects by allowing me to gain vital hands-on experience within coral restoration, discover and practice new research techniques and methodology, participate in scientific conferences and refine my public speaking skills, apply the scientific method to a desired area of research, and jump-start my career and passion for research as an undergraduate student.”

    After her time with MarSci-LACE, Rojas was selected to become a scholar for the Educational Partnership Program of Minority Serving Institutions (EPP/MSI) for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), where she would participate in two years of undergraduate research experience throughout the rest of her educational journey at TheCollege of the Florida Keys.

    “Furthering my experience and interests within  coral restoration, I worked as an intern for NOAA’s Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary on the project ‘Development of Monitoring and Maintenance Protocols for Mission: Iconic Reefs.’” Mission: Iconic Reefs is a massive, NOAA-led coral reef restoration effort, with Mote as a core partner, focused on intensive efforts to restore seven high-priority sites on Florida’s Coral Reef. “I applied my current local knowledge and experience as a Mote REU intern to the foundational buildout of this project, due to the MarSci-LACE program providing me an educational hands-on experience tailored to coral restoration.”

    During her NOAA internship, Rojas had the opportunity to review a Monitoring & Maintenance Pilot program for The College of the Florida Keys. And lately she has also excelled as Vice President of the Southernmost Coral Conservation Club (SCRC).

    “Without the experiences gained through MarSci-LACE, I would have not been able to discover my passions for research and be as prepared for the opportunities I have now as a NOAA EPP/MSI Scholar & Vice President of the SCRC, and for the many more milestones to come.”

    Mote and its MarSci-LACE team are incredibly proud of Rojas’ dedication and grateful to learn from her experiences, as we are for each MarSci-LACE intern and mentor.

 

  • We’re sharing what we’ve learned, and STEM communities are listening. 

    • MarSci-LACE’s inspiring outreach video Won Facilitator’s Choice and Presenters’ Choice award in the STEM for All Video Showcase organized by the nonprofit TERC, which is funded by the National Science Foundation. This showcase was one of the many ways that MarSci-LACE staff raised awareness this year for underrepresented minority students in science and valuable knowledge MarSci-LACE has gained for supporting these students. Watch the video:  https://stemforall2021.videohall.com/presentations/2060
       

    • The Association of Zoos & Aquariums published this feature article on the progress of MarSci-LACE in their magazine, AZA Connect. https://www.aza.org/connect-stories?xmod-2919-pp-349922-item=139461
      Connect has an estimated, pass-along readership of 12,000 people across the country.
       

    • To disseminate their findings to other research and education institutions, MarSci-LACE leaders are analyzing data from their efforts for an upcoming peer-reviewed publication.
       

  • In keeping with the mission of MarSci-LACE, Mote served as a Gold Sponsor for the POSea Conference, a first-of-its-kind marine science conference focused on the work of minority scientists. The virtual conference, which had more than 360 attendee registrations, featured a keynote address from MarSci-LACE’s Jasmin Graham, presenting on behalf of her nonprofit Minorities in Shark Sciences, and a career panel including Mote Aquarium Biologist Amanda Hodo.
     

*These numbers overlap partially with those shared in Mote’s 2020 Annual Report, which extended its MarSci-LACE coverage into 2021 to provide a cohesive picture of the program’s results.

MarSci-LACE is supported by NSF Award Number 1922351.