They came with robots in their arms and dreams of undersea victories. On April 30, more than 100 Bermudian students met at the National Sports Centre pool to compete in the island’s second annual Mid Atlantic Robotics IN Education (MARINE) underwater robotics challenge, with lead donor support from HSBC.

Twenty-eight teams from nine schools and educational organizations will converge on the National Sports Centre on Saturday, April 30, for the 2016 MATE Bermuda Regional ROV Challenge. The program, hosted by BIOS, is part of the Mid Atlantic Robotics IN Education Program (MARINE), with lead donor support from HSBC.

BIOS training leads to diverse careers in marine and atmospheric sciences, and beyond

The 13th annual International Coral Reef Symposium (ICRS) convened in Honolulu, Hawaii in June with more than 2,500 scientists, policy makers and managers in attendance from 70 countries. The conference theme ‘bridging science to policy’ provided students and professionals with the opportunity to communicate their recent findings and ongoing research programs to an audience with the shared goal of improving coral reef conservation through the application of science. BIOS associate scientist Eric Hochberg co-chaired a session on remote sensing of coral reefs, during which he gave a presentation about the NASA-funded COral Reef Airborne Laboratory (CORAL) mission (of which he is the Principal Investigator). This symposium also saw three BIOS alums from the NSF Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) program. Michael Wooster, Naomi Huntley and Mia Thomas (pictured) presented their research in both oral presentations and poster sessions, demonstrating the positive impact this program has on the careers of young scientists.

BIOS welcomed the first student users of its new high-tech facility known as the MAGIC Room—a room designed to facilitate data analyses, scientific collaboration, and learning among students and visitors from Bermuda and abroad. Students sat at a large, U-shaped table in swivel chairs that pivoted for views of multiple screens, including a multi-screen video wall at the front of the room and an 84-inch high-definition touchscreen on an adjacent wall. As underwater gliders roamed the ocean 50 miles away, students discussed the gliders’ near-real time measurements of oxygen, salinity, current strength, and other incoming physical and chemical data.

In 1969, an educator near the town of Vernon, Connecticut began organizing one-week trips for local middle and high school students to visit BIOS, then the Bermuda Biological Station for Research (BBSR). The summer trips, known as the Vernon Bermuda Workshop, quickly gained a reputation among students as a magical chance to fly south, explore the island, take field trips into caves and to coral reefs, witness researchers in their laboratories and conduct small research projects on Bermuda wildlife.

When BIOS coral reef ecologist Samantha de Putron began tackling a project that required multiple, ongoing experiments to address a major portion of an overarching research question, she turned to a resource that scientists have long relied on: interns. And, much like the symbiotic algae in the corals that de Putron studies, this arrangement benefited everyone involved, including two Princeton University students who are using the opportunity to conduct their senior thesis research at BIOS.

Quinn Montgomery, 23, a senior at the University of San Diego, is one of eight students at BIOS this semester participating in the Institute’s annual Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) program. During their 12-week stay on Bermuda, students conduct independent projects under the supervision of BIOS faculty and staff, with the support of National Science Foundation funding.

Building on two years of successful programs within Bermuda’s schools, including professional development workshops for teachers and an annual design and piloting challenge for students, the BIOS Mid-Atlantic Robotics IN Education (MARINE) initiative recently announced a new partnership with the Bermuda Underwater Exploration Institute (BUEI).

BIOS’s Ocean Academy program has a new partner in delivering hands-on science education and learning opportunities to Bermuda’s students: The Chatmore Preparatory School.