Kevin Wong grew up in British Columbia, Canada, an area where snowy mountains, deep forests, and a nearby sea suit people like him with a love for the natural world.  He took his enjoyment of the outdoors to college at Carleton University in Ottawa, Ontario, where he intended to study environmental engineering. However, it was after changing majors in his second year—and an auspicious Internet search introduced him to BIOS—that he realized his true passion lay in research aimed at determining the impacts of human activities on the environment.

The gender disparity within science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) degree programs and the college-educated workforce is an issue that has faced colleges, universities, funding agencies, and employers for decades.

A group of BIOS researchers and educators had the opportunity to share their marine science knowledge and experience with nearly 10,000 young people around the world this fall, all without ever stepping foot off Bermuda.

Chloe Emerson initially came to BIOS in the fall of 2014 for the Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) internship program funded by the National Science Foundation.  As a Wellesley College senior working to complete her major in Biology and minor in Philosophy, Emerson already found developmental biology and stem cell research fascinating. At BIOS, these interests crystalized as she began to study sea urchins in Andrea Bodnar’s Molecular Discovery Laboratory, leading her down a path in regenerative biology that she hardly could have imagined two years ago.

Traditionally, sabbaticals are offered to faculty after seven years or more of tenured work at their home institution. The sabbatical allows faculty to take paid leave and engage in a variety of activities, such as research collaborations with scientists at other institutions; full-time writing for books or peer-reviewed journal papers; the pursuit of funding opportunities; travel for field research; or the development of new professional skills.

Since its beginning in 1903 as a field station for students and scientists at Harvard University and New York University, BIOS has hosted hundreds of students from colleges and universities around the world. Over the years, students conducting research at BIOS have used their experiences as springboards for acceptance into graduate degree programs, a variety of technical and research positions (both at BIOS and abroad), and—frequently—a scientific publication in a peer-reviewed journal.

Elevated ocean temperatures have threatened coral reefs around the world for over a year, but this October marked a tipping point.  NOAA scientists declared the onset of a global coral reef bleaching event impacting coral reefs in every ocean basin, and projected the bleaching will only intensify in 2016. This is the third such global bleaching event in history.

Although fall semester courses at BIOS had to be cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Institute’s University Programs department worked diligently over the summer months to ensure the annual Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) program, funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF), could still take place.

Last week three BIOS scientists – Tim Noyes and Dr. Eric Hochberg in the Coral Reef Ecology and Optics Lab [CREOL] and Andrew Collins in the Bermuda Ocean Acidification and Coral Reef Investigation [BEACON] Lab – presented their research at the 12th International Coral Reef Symposium [ICRS] in Cairns, Queensland, Australia.

Each year, as part of the ongoing Princeton University-BIOS collaboration, a group of undergraduate students in Princeton’s Ecology and Evolutionary Biology (EEB) and Princeton Environmental Institute (PEI) programs visit BIOS for a month-long course in marine biology. Co-taught by Dr. James Gould (Princeton EEB) and Dr. Samantha de Putron (BIOS), the course is designed to cover all aspects of marine biology, with a special focus on coral reefs.