Author: Sam Trail
Date: January 23, 2025
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2024 was a record-setting year for FAU Marine Lab and our Glenn W. & Cornelia T. Bailey Marine SEA Scholars Program! Below is our review of 2024 by the numbers, representing just a snapshot of the meaningful interactions we made throughout our community this year. 23 interactive outreach activities.In 2024, our team worked hard to really put the S (Science), E (Education), and A (Arts) in SEA Scholars! A bright and beautifully painted, in-house built & PlinkoTM-esque board entices guests to figure out “What Sea Turtle are You?” and informative coloring sheets teach learners of all ages how we monitor sea turtle health and growth in the lab, just to name a few. By bringing together student scientists, educators, and artists we were able to convey our science in a fun, inviting, and creative way! 41 Outreach events.From STEM camps and school visits, to local festivals and nature center presentations, our SEA Scholars nearly tripled our outreach appearances from 2023’s high. Through these purposeful and personal interactions, our SEA Scholars reached over 44,000 community members in 2024! |
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Through our newsletter and social media platforms, the FAU Marine Science Lab outreach efforts expanded far beyond our local community as well. With a combined 2,300+ followers on Facebook and Instagram, and 196 subscribers to our monthly newsletter, we have created a large and growing digital footprint. In fact, all of our platforms showed a significant growth from 2023, with followers increasing by 50% and 73% for Instagram and Facebook respectively, and our newsletter subscribers increasing by 24%.
We strive to provide our community near and far with more information on groundbreaking research, stories of the humans behind the science, and resources to teach our lessons to others. If you haven’t already, please join these 3,000 other clicks to see all the Marine Lab has to offer: https://biology.fau.edu/marine-lab/
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A preview of our downloadable “Sea Turtle ID: Whose Shell Could It Be?” interactive lesson and game. |
From the bird’s-eye-view of our Marine Lab Visitors’ Gallery, we had plenty of folks pay us a visit! We take great pride in sharing our science, not only with our academic peers, but with much broader audiences. As guests of all ages swing by the Gumbo Limbo Environmental Complex, students, faculty, and staff working in our wet lab and in the visitors’ gallery are always ready to answer your questions about our research!
The lab is already making a big splash in the new year! We look forward to adding to these numbers in 2025.
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A bird’s-eye-view from the FAU Marine Lab Visitors’ Gallery. |
Visitors at Frost Science Museum’s World Ocean Day Celebration play to figure out “What sea turtle are you?"
