From August 4-8, the newest cohort of graduate students from the Department of Marine Sciences at the University of Georgia’s Franklin College of Arts and Sciences gathered at the UGA Skidaway Institute of Oceanography (SkIO) for a weeklong course in basic oceanographic methods and data analysis.
Through a series of hands-on experiential learning activities, the annual course is designed to give graduate students new to the Department of Marine Sciences a glimpse into oceanographic field work and provide them with a better understanding of how the data they collect is obtained, processed and interpreted.
“The course was created to fill a perceived need for better communication between students based in Athens and in Savannah, and to help introduce students from a variety of backgrounds to Georgia’s coastal ecosystems,” said Jay Brandes, a professor in the Department of Marine Sciences based at SkIO, who led the course. “The course is also meant to help the newcomers connect with their peers, who may become their career-long colleagues.”
Three students with a recently-collected marsh core near the Ocean Sciences Instructional Center on the SkIO campus. (Photo by Jay Brandes.)
Throughout the week, students participate in field sampling and sample processing, meet with and listen to talks delivered by SkIO professors and graduate students, and bond through community events.
The pinnacle of the week is a daylong trip to Wassaw Island, an undeveloped barrier island off of Savannah’s coast that is only accessible via boat. This year, students had the opportunity to practice beach seining, a fishing technique using a long net, with weights on the bottom and floats on the top, that gets pulled through the water along a beach to catch marine life.
Dorothea Sanders, an educator at UGA Marine Extension and Georgia Sea Grant, co-led the trip to Wassaw and seining activity.
About SkIO
The UGA Skidaway Institute of Oceanography (SkIO) is a multidisciplinary research and education institution located on Skidaway Island near Savannah, Georgia. The Institute was founded in 1967 with a mission to conduct research in all fields of oceanography. In 2013, SkIO was merged with the University of Georgia. The campus serves as a gateway to coastal and marine environments for programs throughout the University System. The Institute’s primary goals are to further the understanding of marine and environmental processes, conduct leading-edge research on coastal and marine systems, and train tomorrow’s scientists. For more information, visit www.skio.uga.edu.