Breaking Waves

Oregon Sea Grant is advertising a new professional faculty position to coordinate K-12 marine education programs at the Hatfield Marine Science Center in Newport, on the central Oregon Coast. The person hired will manage a team of marine educators, coordinate k-12 classroom instruction at the HMSC visitor center, and work with faculty to design, promote, implement, and evaluate the center’s marine education programs. The application deadline is July 11, 2008.

Read the position announcement and apply on line through Oregon State University’s Job Search site

Read more about HMSC education programs

People come to Oregon from all over the United States each year to learn about - and try to spot - the gray whales that migrate past our coast. Now’s your chance to join the host of volunteers who take up stations at prime whale-watching spots each winter and spring to teach people about these majestic marine mammals.

Oregon Sea Grant, the OSU Hatfield Marine Science Center and Oregon State Parks and Recreation team up Nov. 17-18 to offer training for volunteers in the Winter Whale Watch Week “Whale Spoken Here” program. Dr. Bruce Mate, OSU marine mammal specialist, and John Calambokidis, research biologist and co-founder of Cascadia Research, will lead the Newport training.

Pre-registration is required; sign up through Whale Spoken Here, the Oregon State Parks & Recreation whale-watching site.

This year’s Winter Whale Watch Week is Dec. 26-Jan. 1.

(Additional training will be offered in January and February for those interested in volunteering for the Spring Whale Watch Week, March 22-29, 2008).

(photo of surf scoters and breeching gray whale courtesy of the Oregon State Parks Whale Watching Center, Depoe Bay)

What does it cost to charter a Russian ice-breaker? How do you keep camera batteries charged in frigid antarctic temperatures?

Portland-area science buffs can learn the answers to these and other questions on Nov. 26, when OMSI’s Science Pub hosts Bill Hanshumaker, Sea Grant Extension’s public marine educator at OSU’s Hatfield Marine Science Center.

Hanshumaker will present an informal talk, with slides, about his experiences on Antarctic research expeditions in 2005 and 2006. As part of the “Sounds from the Southern Ocean” research team, Hanshumaker took part in a two-phased project to observe sounds - and sights - of the seafloor in the Antarctic Bransfield Strait and Drake Passage in an effort to learn more about tectonic and volcanic activity at the bottom of the world. He posted same-day reports of the adventure on his blog, Sounds From the Southern Ocean.

OMSI’s Science Pub is an informal get-together where you can interact with experts and where there’s no such thing as a silly question. No scientific background is required - just curiosity, a sense of humor, and an appetite for food, drinks, and knowledge. While the Science Pub is intended for adults, minors are welcomed at Bridgeport until 10 p.m. No reservations required (but the event has been drawing big crowds, so get there early!)
What: OMSI Science Pub, Sounds from the Southern Ocean
When: Monday, Nov. 26, 7 p.m.
Where: bridgeport brewpub + bakery, 1313 N.W. Marshall, Portland, OR
More information

Sea Grant programs in Oregon and Maine are collaborating on a two-year effort to help the nation’s coastal communities understand and prepare for climate change.

The project is supported by a $290,000 grant is from NOAA’s Sectoral Applications Research Program .

Leading the project is Joe Cone, assistant director of Oregon Sea Grant and head of its communications team. The project aims to develop and test a model of public outreach about climate change that may ultimately be used by Sea Grant programs in all US coastal and Great Lakes states.

 Read more …

NEWPORT - Sea Grant Extension’s Sam Chan and Oregon Public Broadcasting’s Ed Jahn team up on Monday, Aug. 20 for “Scenes of a Changing Coastal China: How Oregon and China are connected through a desire to control invasive plants and animals,” a presentation that starts at 12:30 p.m. in the Hatfield Marine Science Center’s Hennings Auditorium.

The presentation is based on a recent trip Chan led to China’s Fujien Province, where he and other invasive species and natural resource education and communications specialists from Oregon, Washington, and Florida got a first-hand look at how the Chinese are dealing with invasive marine grasses that threaten vital coastal mangrove forests.

The presentation is free and open to the public.

It’s not too early to sign your child up for this summer’s marine science day camps at Oregon State University’s Hatfield Marine Science Center in Newport. The four-day, age-appropriate summer camps on the Central Oregon coast are designed for youngsters 8-12 and 13-17 and cover a variety of marine-science topics. Hands-on classes and outdoor field adventures cover topics ranging from marine biology to geologic processes, marine mammals and oceanography. Classes and field trips are led by experienced educators from Oregon Sea Grant’s marine education program.

Registration fees range from $120-$140, and cover all instructional materials, field-trip transportation and a camp T-shirt. Lunches are not included.

Our day camps are extremely popular and fill fast - register early to assure your child a place!

• Read more, and download registration forms here.

What: Ocean Science and Exploration, a professional development workshop
When: Saturday, June 30, 2007, 8 a.m. - 4:30 p.m.
Where: Oregon State University, Corvallis, Ore.

Classroom science teachers (grades 6-12) are invited to join NOAA education specialists Bruce Moravchik and Cindy Renkas for a day-long workshop on using the agency’s Discovery Center and Ocean Explorer Web sites to connect and engage students on subjects ranging from ocean careers to the watery realms of estuaries, coral reefs, and deep ocean volcanos. Stipends are available for teachers who commit to follow-up activities and evaluations.

Pre-registration (by June 11) is required, and space is limited. For more information contact Melissa Feldberg at Oregon Sea Grant, (541) 737-2758.

Sorry, but teachers who have participated in previous Discovery Center/Ocean Explorer workshops are not eligible to take part.