Around here, the end of January brings the end of a month of crazy classes, community outreach, and not-enough-time-for-research. During the month of January, my university holds the Winter Enrichment Program which is like a mini-term used to "broaden our horizons." I took classes like Lab to Film: Storytelling in Science, Improvisation for Beginners, Animation through 3D Motion Capture, and I also attended lectures by some interesting people such as Mike Horn, Jorge Cham, and the CEO of Aramco. Now, whether or not my critical thinking skills were really enhance or not is yet to be determined, but getting paid to learn about random stuff for a month is not a bad gig.
One community outreach project that my lab hosted during WEP was Meet Your Red Sea Friends. My supervisor gave a short lecture about coral reefs, complete with clips from Finding Nemo, and then we had visual and touch displays for the community to come and see creatures gathered from the Red Sea. Minus the logistics of getting animals and water from the sea to an auditorium, it was a good time.
But speaking of the sea and such, today I am headed on a boat for the next two and a half weeks! We are cruisin' down to the southern Red Sea to collect some data and hopefully not get too seasick. I might have a few posts lined up while I'm gone, but other than that, I'll see you in 18 days!
Photos in this post were taken by the ever-talented Tane Sinclair-Taylor.
Ha! I love that boy's facial expression. Have fun on your research trip!
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