Alongside more than a century of research in ocean and atmospheric science, BIOS has a rich history of education programs that foster an understanding of the island’s marine resources and promote stewardship of the ocean environment among Bermuda’s youth. In addition to school-based programs offered throughout the year, BIOS also collaborates with local organizations to support their ocean-focused education initiatives.

Beginning this fall, ocean exploration enthusiasts will have a new window into the deep sea and its inhabitants through the virtual world of subROV: Underwater Discoveries, a PC-based simulation video game. Developed with input from researchers at BIOS and the Schmidt Ocean Institute (SOI) in Palo Alto, California (U.S.), subROV allows players to assume the controls of a remotely operated vehicle (ROV) and pilot it on a variety of scientific missions.

The Bermuda Program, part of BIOS’s Ocean Academy suite of local education programs, has been providing internship opportunities to Bermudian students, aged 18 and older, since 1976. In that time, more than 250 summer internship placements have been provided to young Bermudians. The program pairs students with BIOS faculty and scientific staff, who serve as mentors for participants while they conduct research projects in the fields of marine and atmospheric science.

Melissa Hicks is a professor at Onondaga Community College in Syracuse, New York where she teaches introductory courses in geology and oceanography, including a study abroad program in marine ecology of the Bahamas. For the last two years, she’s also been interested in finding ways of incorporating real-world ocean science data into her curriculum.

Growing up in Bermuda, Jessica Godfrey developed a fascination with the local corals and other sea life. While attending the island’s Saltus Grammar School, she studied oceanography, narrowing her interest to marine biology.

BIOS faculty members Leocadio Blanco-Bercial and Amy Maas study tiny zooplankton, essential to the marine food web, and fondly refer to students and researchers in their Bermuda lab as members of their “Zoop Group.” Three new student members have joined their ranks, including two who will complete their internships in the months ahead and another who will continue their work through mid-2022.

BIOS oceanographer Amy Maas received $75,000 in June from the National Academies Keck Futures Initiative to continue her research examining the swimming patterns and movements of sea butterflies.

An interdisciplinary team of scientists joined forces in July for their first annual research cruise dedicated to revealing how specific microbes take up and transform organic matter within a web of ecological interactions in the waters southeast of Bermuda.

A new research facility under construction at BIOS will allow researchers to collect tiny organisms on coral reefs and in the open ocean, then monitor their growth, development, and community structure in temperature-controlled rooms at BIOS that simulate conditions found at sea.

While working on board a research vessel positioned 240 miles offshore Ireland in the Atlantic, BIOS zooplankton ecologist Amy Maas announced this month the publication of three new papers in science research journals. Maas, who has spent May at sea with 26 other scientists for the multi-year EXPORTS project (EXport Processes in the Ocean from Remote Sensing), used Instagram to promote the just-released science publications.