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Partnerships with the Yellowstone Division of Interpretation (YNP
DOI). We are conducting many kinds of activities with the
YNP DOI, which provides in-place venues, expertise in the science of
education and a built-in audience of 3 million annual visitors
interested in new lessons in science, as well as 28 million annual
visitors to its websites. These efforts are divided into two
main thrusts in association with the funding sources for various
endeavors, but all activities are linked to the same themes.
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Left: screen shot of the Electronic Field Trip
Hot Colors: Windows into Hidden Worlds.
Click on the submarine door on the right to view the
EFT.
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Camp Wildness curriculum.
The Ward Lab and the YNP DOI designed a new curriculum on the
microbiology of YNP. The Ward Lab designed and implemented
a four-day module that involved one day of field collections
followed by a three-day research experience at MSU for Upward
Bound high school students. 9 students made collections at
a hot spring microbial mat in a spring with highly fluctuating
temperatures, then extracted DNA, performed PCR amplification of
the 16s rRNA gene, then ran a DGGE reaction to determine whether
such fluctuations might select for different microorganisms than
are found in springs with more stable temperatures. A
subset of students is preparing a paper and powerpoint
presentation for an oral presentation of their research
experience. This module is being formalized and
generalized for use by other TBI faculty. During July
2004, the McDermott Lab (MSU TBI) also taught 10 students in a
similar Camp Wildness module that patterned after ours.
Dave Ward with Camp Wildness
students taking temperature measurements at a Yellowstone hot
spring, Summer 2004.
2004 Camp
Wildness Curriculum & Data
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ParKids curriculum. YNP DOI developed a
microbiology curriculum for students in grades 3-12 from gateway
communities surrounding YNP. Eight three- to five- day
courses are being taught to groups of about ten students per
course in the summer of 2004. TBI faculty and students
participate in one field day during each course.
Ph. D. Student Melanie
Melendrez teaching Yellowstone ParKids, Summer 2004
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NASA Astrobiology Institute
(NAI) Outreach Team:
NAI Outreach Team members, left to right: Dr. Baruch
Blumburg, Fox-Chase Cancer Research Institute (former director
of NAI); Catherine J. Tsairides, Ames Astrobiology; Linda Young,
Yellowstone National Park Department of Interpretation; Dr. Jack
Farmer, Arizona State University; Dr. David Ward, Montana State
University; Dr. David DesMarais, Ames Astrobiology; Dr. Nancy
Hinman, University of Montana. (Not pictured: Dr. Tori
Hoehler, Ames Astrobiology; Dr. Rocco Mancinelli, SETI
Institute/NASA; Dr. Lynn Rothschild, Ames Astrobiology)
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Chapter in
the
2004 Yellowstone Resources and Issues Guide. This guide is used by Yellowstone National Park as a
reference to inform park managers and to train seasonal
interpretive rangers, who then interface with the public.
The 2004 edition contains a new chapter on Thermophiles
(Chapter 4) created by the NASA Ames Astrobiology Outreach
Team in collaboration with the Yellowstone Division of
Interpretation. Funding for the first-ever color
version of this manual was provided by The Agouron
Institute, the American Society for Microbiology,
Lockheed-Martin Corporation, and the Montana State
University Thermal Biology Institute.
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Wayside sign plan.
A sign plan, including eight individual signs to be placed
on boardwalks in YNP is in review by the YNP Resources
Council. Scripting and collection of graphics will
soon be underway for the first signs, which we hope will be
completed before the end of the 2004 summer season.
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Old
Faithful Visitor Education Center. As Science
Advisory Board member, I am working to include thermophiles
in the exhibits. A thermophile exhibit is one of the
five main themes to be exhibited in this new venue.
Funding for exhibits is being sought by the
Yellowstone Park Foundation (YPF).
View the plans for the new Old Faithful Visitor Education Center
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FIBR Cross-training workshop.
As a part of our NSF Frontiers in Integrative Biological
Research (FIBR) grant, "Do species matter in microbial
communities?", the Ward Lab hosts a workshop to cross-train our
own participants, members of the Montana State University
Thermal Biology Institute, and participants from the scientific
community. The purpose of the workshop is to consider
ecological, physiological, genomic and evolutionary perspectives
that bear on the question our project addresses. Details
about the first workshop, held on July 21-24, 2004, can be found
on the
FIBR project website. Details of future workshops will
also be posted there.
Group photo from July 2004 FIBR cross-training
workshop taken at Mushroom Spring. Kneeling, L to R: Natasha
Khuri, Devaki Bhaya, Ashlee Earl (guest, Harvard), Ilina (Devaki and
Arthur's daughter), Anne Stenou, Jesse Trudeau (MSU undergraduate
intern to Museum of the Rockies), Kathleen Duncan (guest, U.
Oklahoma). Standing, L to R: Clare Simpson, Sue Rhee, Arthur
Grossman, Rick Meinersmann (guest, USDA, Athens), Hinsby Cadillo
(guest, Cornell Univ.), Alex Koeppel, Holly Skolones (guest, CSU
Sonoma), Jeanne Poindexter (guest, Barnard College), John Peters (MSU
TBI) and Anatoli Naumov (MSU TBI).
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