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CofC
Students Get Their Hands on Oceanographic Research By Rachel McEvers, Program Manager, Project Oceanica @ The Cistern, click here for a link to the article ![]() Five days at sea offered challenges for some, as rough seas were encountered at the onset. On day two, however, the seas calmed and everyone found their sea legs. From that point on, the cruise ran smoothly and was very productive. Several students felt right at home on a ship and didn’t want to get off at the end. Meghan Chafee, a marine biology major who’d never been on a cruise wrote on her student survey, “I honestly loved it. All of it. Nothing ever got boring.” She added that she hoped to see herself as an oceanographer in the future….”forever.” Along with
the collection of sand and organisms, students sampled the water chemistry
and measured In the spring semester, each student will enroll in Sancho’s and Sautter’s course, Oceanographic Research. They will analyze most of the 280 samples collected, while conducting individual research projects. By the semester’s end each will present their results in a public forum and post their results on the Project Oceanica website at http://oceanica.cofc.edu. Sancho emphasized that, “Our objective is to prove that students can collect, process, and analyze research-quality data while they learn oceanography first-hand.” All of the data collected will be posted on the website on a growing database for anyone to use for educational or scientific purposes. “We hope that there will be additional Transects Programs along other parts of the southeast coast,” Sautter added.
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