SEA Currents: featured
June 27, 2019
Study by SEA Collaborator & Boston Univ. Biologist Randi Rotjan Finds Microplastics in Coral
SEA Semester in the NEWS
“BU Researchers Find Another Threat For Corals: Plastic”
WBUR
By Barbara Moran
“Boston University biologist Randi Rotjan has been studying coral reefs for more than a decade. A couple years ago, she started to notice tiny bits of plastic ‘in all of our samples from everywhere,’ she says. To understand how corals grow, she decided she was going to have to study how plastic gets into their bodies, how much is there and how it affects them.”
June 26, 2019
Elsaesser Fellow Jonathan Harris Explores Historic Structures, Fortifications along Gulf Coast
The expedition continues! Jonathan Harris, C-112, winner of the 2019 Armin E. Elsaesser III Fellowship, has added a number of blog posts and photographs chronicling his ongoing research project, “Pirates, Blockades and Commerce: an expedition to explore the maritime history, fortifications, and lighthouses of the Gulf Islands National Seashore.”
June 24, 2019
SEA Semester is Popular Choice for Oberlin Students
SEA Semester in the NEWS
“Oberlin Students Engage in Experiential Learning at Sea”
by Erin Ulrich ’18
Oberlin News
Founded in 1971, Sea Education Association (SEA) is a nonprofit organization that provides college students with interdisciplinary learning opportunities through its study abroad program, SEA Semester.
Students enrolled in SEA Semester programs study ocean-related themes within the broader context of humans’ impact on the natural world.
This past spring semester, Mechteld (Mecky) Kuijpers ’20 conducted research aboard the SSV Robert C. Seamans, a 134-foot Pacific research brigantine. Through SEA Semester: Oceans and Climate, Kuijpers and a group of students from the United States and international colleges and universities sailed from New Zealand to Tahiti over the course of six weeks.
June 17, 2019
High School program alumna raises plastic pollution awareness
A great experience at SEASCape: SEA Science on the Cape, SEA’s high school summer program in Woods Hole, inspired one recent alumna to share what she learned about plastic pollution in the ocean, and in doing so, to give back to SEA!
June 14, 2019
MBC Alumni Share Insights at UN
On Wednesday, two of SEA Semester’s most recent alumni, Cecilia Howard (Johns Hopkins University) and Andrew Meashaw (SUNY College of Environmental Science & Forestry), who sailed this spring on the Marine Biodiversity & Conservation Program (C-285), joined their professors, Dr. Kerry Whittaker and Dr. Porter Hoagland, to serve on a panel and make a presentation at a meeting of the Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development at the United Nations in New York.
May 29, 2019
The War of 1812 and Pirate Jean Lafitte: Elsaesser Research Continues along Gulf Coast
Jonathan Harris, C-112, winner of the 2019 Armin E. Elsaesser III Fellowship, continues his research along the Gulf Coast as part of his project, “Pirates, Blockades and Commerce: an expedition to explore the maritime history, fortifications, and lighthouses of the Gulf Islands National Seashore.”
May 28, 2019
Robert C. Seamans Visits the Cook Islands
SEA Semester in the NEWS
Cook Islands News
Tall Ship Call In
Registered in the US, the vessel is dedicated to oceanographic science research –that entails the sampling of seawater and marine life for close study – which teaches people about the ocean and traditional sail training.
The ship is one of two tall ship scientific research vessels operated by the United States-based Sea Education Association (SEA).
May 24, 2019
Grinnell College Student Experiences Natural Wonders, Natural Tragedy in New Zealand
SEA Semester in the NEWS
“Student Experiences Natural Wonders, National Tragedy in New Zealand”
by Phuc Huynh Le ’22
Grinnell College News
Standing watch on a 134-foot-long sailboat from 1 to 7 a.m., Isaac Ferber sighted what appeared to be a fast line of light traveling near the ocean surface off the coast of New Zealand.
“It was cloudy that night. I heard what sounded like something breathing in the water, which is somewhat alarming in the pitch dark,” Ferber says. After scanning the water, he spotted a dolphin maneuvering in such a way as to cause water-suspended bacteria to glow brightly due to fluorescence. He figured they were likely from the Vibrionaceae family of bacteria because he had learned about their fluorescent properties in his classes aboard ship.
May 23, 2019
A Hitchhikers Guide to the Sargasso Sea
Researchers study the isopod parasite infecting slender Sargassum shrimp
Known as the slender Sargassum shrimp, Latreutes fucorum plays a critical role in the Sargasso Sea ecosystem, but could a common parasite be a threat? Students of SEA’s Marine Biodiversity and Conservation program recently returned from a six-week voyage sailing north through the Atlantic aboard the tall ship ocean research vessel SSV Corwith Cramer.
May 22, 2019
SEA to Host Ned Cabot Marine Biodiversity & Conservation Symposium
This one-day symposium is the capstone experience for students from SEA Semester class C-285 Marine Biodiversity & Conservation. The event includes oral presentations of the students’ science, policy and conservation research to a panel of invited experts, and contributes directly to international effort to protect the Sargasso Sea. Student presentations will be interspersed with related talks given by some of the invited participants. The public is invited to attend. Space is limited.