First Year Highlights... Earth Day 2015!

A Great First Year!

This year, we were inspired by our students.  Exceedingly passionate, intelligent, and driven, they met all challenges, and showed us there is certainly much to look forward to in the coming years.  We hope you will join us as we watch the BURECS program grow. 

 

Hitting the Lab Bench

This semester, students hit the lab bench, developing techniques to operate and conduct experiments on brand new, state-of-the-art equipment.  With high-powered microscopes, including a scanning electron microscope, and arrays of 4K monitors on the surrounding walls, they learned how to visualize important features of rock and ash from Antarctica, and developed the skills necessary to prepare and image samples of Antarctic volcanic ash.  Ultimately, they will use this information to date the ash, as well as the ancient Antarctic ice upon which it fell.  Marchant  and the BU Antarctic Research Group have used this very technique to determine the age of 8.1-million year old ice -  the oldest in the world.  

Sharing Knowledge

At the end of this semester, the students took their knowledge out of the laboratory. With the help of local media professionals, they learned to communicate their scientific knowledge to the incoming BURECS class through exciting multimedia projects. Their video projects will be coming soon...

Earth Day 2015!

One of the biggest highlights this year came on Earth Day. It was a great opportunity to showcase the science and communication skills the students had developed so far in this program. BURECS students showed off their new climate science knowledge at the BU's 2015 Earth Day Festival at the GSU.  Equipped with HD monitors displaying panoramas of Antarctica, field samples of Antarctic rock, ash, and even 8 million year old ice, the students shared their enthusiasm about science with the BU community.  A big thanks to BU's Office of Sustainability for including us in the festivities.

We shot this 360 degree panorama to capture the excitement. Drag the image around to look in all directions and see the students in action!

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