Outreach

CIMAS and the Rosenstiel School are active in education and outreach at the undergraduate and high school level. Many of these activities take place in cooperation with the local NOAA laboratories. Here we present a brief overview of outreach activities at the School. (For an overview of all School outreach activities, see the Rosenstiel School Outreach page). CIMAS plays a part in many of these activities to varying degrees and in various capacities.

The MAST Academy

Starting in 1984 CIMAS has participated in a high school apprenticeship program that is made possible through NOAA funding. Students participate in a summer internship program at AOML and SEFSC. The program began as an "inner city" program. More recently the program is carried out through a Miami-Dade County "magnet" school, the MAST Academy (Maritime and Science Technology High School) which is located on Virginia Key, only a few hundred meters from CIMAS and the NOAA laboratories.

The MAST Academy curriculum is organized around a marine theme. The school has been recognized by the U. S. Department of Education with a Blue Ribbon School of Excellence (1994-96) and by Business Week magazine (1993) as one of seven most innovative schools of choice in the nation. The total enrollment is 550. The school has a broad cultural-ethnic mix of students: 36% Caucasian; 32% African American; 29% Hispanic; 3% Asian. Approximately 94% of the students enroll in college. MAST students excel according to traditional measures of student performance, exceeding national averages on the PSAT, SAT, and ACT. In 1998-99, MAST had one National Merit Scholar, two National Merit Finalists, two National Merit Hispanic Scholars, two National Achievement Scholars, one Intel Science Talent Search (formerly Westinghouse) semifinalist, and fourteen Advanced Placement Scholars.

RSMAS participates in education-related activities at MAST where RSMAS faculty and graduate students teach courses. Every summer, 12-18 students are selected to participate in the summer program supported through CIMAS; the students assist in programs at AOML and SEFSC as well as at RSMAS. In addition to the summer program, CIMAS hires MAST students during the course of the year. As a result of these activities MAST students have co-authored papers with RSMAS and NOAA scientists; students have attended national conferences and presented the findings of their research. They have participated in field programs, for example in a comprehensive study of Biscayne Bay. In this way, we have developed a solid working and teaching relationship with the MAST Academy. We expect that this program will grow under the next Cooperative Agreement. To this end the budget in this proposal provides requests support for the support of 20 MAST Academy students.

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University of Miami, a Minority Serving Institution

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has established a set of new research and education centers to advance the community of under-represented minority scientists in the US and, especially, in the NOAA workforce. The four centers address different thematic areas of research in support to NOAA: environmental sciences, marine sciences, remote sensing, and atmospheric sciences. The Rosenstiel School is partner with two of these centers, led by Florida A&M University (FAMU) and the University of Maryland Eastern Shore (UMES).

The FAMU-led center is called the Environmental Cooperative Science Center (ECSC), and consists of partner institutions FAMU, Delaware State University, Jackson State University, Morgan State University, South Carolina State University, and UM-Rosenstiel. The objectives of the ECSC are:

The Rosenstiel School's roles are:

  • to provide two full fellowships for minority students for MS and PhD studies at RSMAS in environmental science and policy fields;
  • to provide ship and other field experiences for undergraduate students;
  • to assist in developing distance-learning classes in environmental sciences;
  • to assist in the capacity building at partner institutions; and,
  • to serve as the linkage to Florida Keys Sanctuary.

The central research themes of ECSC are:

  • human-environment interactions involving the coastal environment, and
  • the development of conceptual models of those interactions.

The UMES-led center is the Living Marine Resources Cooperative Science Center (LMRCSC). Partner institutions include Hampton University, Savannah State University, Delaware State University, and UM-Rosenstiel. The mission is similar to the ECSC, but the focus is on marine sciences, including fisheries and aquaculture. There are an additional two minority graduate fellowships under the funding from LMRCSC to Rosenstiel.

An important outcome of the association of RSMAS with the network of minority serving institutions is that it will greatly improve our ability to recruit minority graduate students.

GLOBE

GLOBE (Global Learning and Observations to Benefit the Environment) is a worldwide network of students, teachers, and scientists who work together to investigate and understand the global environment. Students and teachers from over 7,000 schools and 83 countries are working with research scientists around the world to learn more about our planet. The School and NOAA AOML actively participate in GLOBE as a part of Florida GLOBE International (FGI). Within the tri-county area of Miami-Dade, Broward, and Monroe Counties in South Florida (which together have a population of over 3 million) there are currently 44 registered GLOBE schools. The Florida franchise began in January 1998 and the first GLOBE training activity was held May 1998. The short-term objectives are to train teachers in the tri-county area and to develop a Mentor Program involving electronic and school-site visits to support teachers after training. The long term goal is to increase GLOBE Franchise partners to cover central and northern Florida and Caribbean.

RSMAS and the NOAA laboratories in Miami are playing an important role in GLOBE. The School has a faculty member who acts as a coordinator for GLOBE activities. It is clear that this activity will grow in the future and it will provide a good vehicle for outreach in conjunction with other programs.

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Project INSTAR

INSTAR (Investigating Nature Through Science Teacher Active Research) is an Earth Systems Science Teacher Institute focused on marine science education and technology training. INSTAR provides an innovative approach to teacher professional development. The Institute, developed by a team of scientists and educators, began in 1998 at RSMAS. The INSTAR mission is to enhance the geoscience knowledge of middle school and high school teachers by offering laboratory, field, and technology training in coastal marine science themes. Teachers can directly use a majority of these activities and lessons in their classrooms. Training takes place during an 8-day summer program. Two more follow-up days are schedule during the following academic year. The program is built around four themes:
Coral Reefs and Nearshore Ecosystems
South Florida Hydrogeology
Marine Microorganisms
Quantifying Marine Animals and the Ecosystems Around Us
Information on these themes can be found on the INSTAR web site.

Undergraduate Employee Program

CIMAS hires undergraduate students from the University who work part time on projects at AOML and SEFSC. This program has been effective in exposing bright students to the scientific working environment. Some of these students have subsequently been hired as full time employees. In support of this program this proposal requests support for 10 undergraduate students each year under the Cooperative Agreement.

In-Service Volunteering

This program provides a mechanism to enhance volunteerism at the University of Miami. This program enables high school students to meet their required 50 hours of community service, by working on one of the campuses of the University of Miami, including the RSMAS campus.