Met at IHS again yesterday. We had problems with internet connections, but a few students are still getting hooked up with the blog through their own resources. We're meeting next week in an internet cafe to help other students get started.
Right now the local students are just getting grounded in the project. It appears we'll be able to make trips through May to the farms so hopefully we can post some results by the end of the school year. Fall semester will probably be the bigger push, but we're getting in good ground work now, especially these preliminary experiments with substrates.
Let us know how the substrate experiments are going and take some time to meet the new bloggers from IHS. I'll post new information on Aquamats and a couple of recent experiences from the lagoon.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Cool, I am very exited that things are working out on that end, and we might hear from them soon!
ReplyDeleteVery recently we submitted a 1st draft proposal to the Lemelson-MIT grant. We had a positive review. They understood what we were trying to do, but they wanted to know more about how this idea came about and who we might be collaborating with, and also what "local businesses" might be interested in supporting us. The group here will talk about it next week, so if you have any suggestions or thoughts, or would like to see the proposal, just say.
E. Russell is still continuing the substrate experiments, I will talk to her about it.
-E. Allen
Glad to know the first reviews on the grant were positive. Some of the IHS students are following the blog now. They should begin posting soon.
ReplyDeleteLet's see...Lemelson questions...
1. Where did the idea come from? The experiment ideas came from your work and our discussions plus the research into aquamats etc. The idea of including high school students in the shrimp farm environmental mitigation work was mine. The idea of using the substrates to recover nutrients has been generally discussed by biologists and is an active area of research.
2. Businesses that will be supporting us: AquaMar Belize (a local shrimp farm) has donated the use of the 30,000 Aquamats plus experimental tanks and some logistical help (when available). Royal Maya (another shrimp farm) has give us complete access to their sedimentation ponds and is open to anything we want to try there (within reason). The Southern Environmental Alliance, Belize has provided office space and technical assistance. Independence High School teachers have been supportive and are interested in participating as is Placencia Citizens for Sustainable Development (PCSD). We have about 20 students signed up to work on the project. The World Wildlife Fund Belize has also signed on as a "sponsor" with the project.
2. Please do send the final copy of the Lemelson-MIT proposal to my email at t_brooksmith@hotmail.com. I also submitted a UN SEEDS grant a week or 2 ago. We'll see how things go.