A research team based at the Marine Science Institute is leading an NSF project that is quantifying nutrient transport, utilization, and relationship to carbon drawdown in the sub-tropical gyres that is looking to recruit 6 science communication fellows to accompany his research team during their research cruise in Hawaii (!!) in summer 2021.

This project is part of the ‘Broader Impacts’ objective: This project addresses a cross-disciplinary question working at the interface of biology and chemistry. It will quantify biological contributions to upward nutrient flux, helping to further advance our understanding of the controls on the marine biological carbon pump. This proposal addresses NSF societal goals via incorporation of a postdoc and undergraduate students into the research program and provides sea-going research experiences to undergraduate students.  In addition, we propose to use our dedicated research cruise as a forum for training a set of 6 Fellows in science communication. They will accompany the cruise, receive active training in science education/communication and use the experience to create a range of products to transfer this information to non-scientists. The work and results of this project will be disseminated to the general public via a social media campaign, #SaveOur70, which releases a weekly post covering facts and topics related to the oceans and their conservation across the Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook social media platforms as well as a web blog, reaching 250+ unique followers.  The team is looking for undergraduate and graduate students in any discipline who are interested in science communication who would be interested in writing blog posts, producing social media content, and creating other outreach pieces during and after the research trip. If you’re interested, please reach out directly to the research team with a message explaining your interest, and they will follow up with an application process:

Tracy Villareal: tracyv@austin.utexas.edu

Sara Pelleteri: sarapel@utexas.edu

Kristin Evans: klevans@utexas.edu