[SEMCO] Press Release- Sylvia Earle to speak at SEA Semester Symposium this Thursday

Tue May 27 17:10:03 EDT 2014

*FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:*

*Undergraduate students with SEA Semester: Marine Biodiversity &
Conservation program to host Sylvia Earle and other renowned
oceanographers, conservationists and policy-makers at May 29 symposium
highlighting recent Sargasso Sea research.*

*Woods Hole, MA, May 22, 2014—*Undergraduate students with the SEA
Semester: Marine Biodiversity & Conservation (MBC) program (
www.sea.edu/MBC_program) will host a symposium on May 29, from 9am until
5pm at the SEA Semester/Sea Education Association campus in Woods Hole,
Massachusetts. The 3rd annual symposium includes formal student
presentations and poster sessions on recently completed Sargasso Sea
conservation and biodiversity research projects.  Guest speakers include
Sylvia Earle from Mission Blue, Vera Agostini from The Nature Conservancy,
David Freestone with The Sargasso Sea Alliance, and John Hanning with
Archimedes Aerospace.  Representatives from Forest Trends Association,
Wildlife Conservation Society, New England Aquarium, International Union
for Conservation of Nature, Marine Biological Laboratory, University of
Rhode Island, Institute of Marine Research, Norway, University of
Connecticut, and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution will also be in
attendance. This event is open to the public and a full symposium schedule
can be accessed *at *www.sea.edu/MBC

As part of SEA Semester: Marine Biodiversity & Conservation (MBC), a
twelve-week study abroad program (www.sea.edu/MBC_Program), these fourteen
undergraduates—including nine women and two international students—have
formulated policy and science research projects focused on the Sargasso
Sea, a vast expanse of blue water situated in the mid-North Atlantic.
Projects are multi-faceted, dealing both with conservation and policy
strategies among fishing, shipping and biodiversity sectors as well as
biodiversity of ecologically and economically important groups of organisms
found in the Sargasso Sea. Student data and research also supplements
organized international efforts to study and protect the Sargasso Sea,
providing valuable information to stakeholders and creating outstanding
networking opportunities for these future scientists and policy-makers. The
MBC program began in early March at Sea Education Association’s campus in
Woods Hole, Massachusetts where students took classes in ocean policy,
biological oceanography and nautical science to establish a conceptual
framework in marine ecology, resource management and sailing. Students then
spent the next five weeks (beginning in mid-April) at sea, sailing aboard
the SSV *Corwith Cramer *from San Juan, Puerto Rico, to Bermuda, and on to
New York City. During this portion of the semester, in addition to learning
how to navigate and sail a tall ship and become members of a shipboard
community, students conducted twice-daily surface and subsurface net tows,
studying and cataloguing specimens for their science research projects and
worked with Sargasso Sea conservation stakeholders to understand the human
connections to the Sargasso Sea and develop policy recommendations relating
to their projects. The final portion of the program is now taking place on
campus in Woods Hole, where students are completing scientific data
analyses and preparing policy sector strategy recommendations for
presentation at the May 29 symposium.

*About SEA Semester® *SEA Semester (www.sea.edu) is the leading off-campus
Environmental Studies program focused on the oceans. SEA Semester creates
environmentally literate leaders who are prepared to address the defining
issue of the twenty-first century: the human impact on the environment. The
ideal SEA Semester student is highly motivated, passionate about learning,
willing to seek out new challenges, and eager to become part of a unique
learning community.

 Unlike any other study abroad program, SEA Semester programs include both
on-shore and at-sea components, wherein students spend the first portion of
a semester on SEA’s campus in Woods Hole, taking courses ranging from ocean
science to public policy, nautical science and maritime history. These
on-shore courses prepare students for the next portion of the program:
sailing aboard one of SEA’s sailing school vessels, where, in addition to
conducting hands-on, field-based research projects, students also work as
members of the ship’s crew.  Rigorous academics combined with the adventure
of sailing aboard a tall ship create a truly one-of-a-kind study abroad
program.  All SEA Semester programs are accredited by Boston University and
offer up to 18 semester credits.  While the program is renowned for its
excellence in the sciences, all SEA Semester programs are interdisciplinary
and welcome students from any major. Students also gain valuable experience
in leadership training, group dynamics, and team-building: all areas that
help students develop into well-rounded, confident, open-minded and
contributing members of society.

 *About Sea Education Association*
 Sea Education Association (SEA) www.sea.edu, is an internationally
recognized leader in undergraduate ocean education. For more than 40 years
and over one million nautical miles sailed, SEA has educated students about
the world’s oceans through its fully accredited study abroad program, SEA
Semester.
 SEA/SEA Semester is based on Cape Cod in the oceanographic research
community of Woods Hole, Massachusetts and has two research vessels: the
SSV *Corwith Cramer*, operating in the Atlantic Ocean, and the SSV *Robert
C. Seamans*, operating in the Pacific.

###

*Jennica Deely*
Marketing Coordinator
Sea Education Association
P.O. Box 6 • Woods Hole, MA 02543
*t:* 508.540.3954 x523
*f:* 800.977.8516
www.sea.edu
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://mailman.whoi.edu/pipermail/semco/attachments/20140527/a08d9108/attachment.htm 
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: Press Release-Symposium featuring undergraduate research work	.pdf
Type: application/pdf
Size: 884512 bytes
Desc: not available
Url : http://mailman.whoi.edu/pipermail/semco/attachments/20140527/a08d9108/attachment.pdf 