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January, 2010
COSEE Alaska awards first Alaska Marine Literacy Award For the first time, Alaska ocean scientists and educators recognized "ocean heroes" at a marine gala and fund-raiser for the the Alaska SeaLife Center. The gala and awards ceremony kicked-off the Alaska Marine Science Symposium. The award went to Kenai Fjords Tours in Seward, Alaska. Tours operate daily during the summer, but spring time is reserved for their outstanding Marine Explorers school field trip program onboard. Students from throughout Alaska are given a five-hour onboard experience to analyze seawater properties, capture and view plankton, and learn about seabird and marine mammal adapations to a fjord ecoystem. The award included a $1,000 cash award.

COSEE Alaska at the 2010 Alaska Marine Science Symposium COSEE Alaska sponsored workshops and luncheon speakers and activities at the 2010 Alaska Marine Science Symposium held in Anchorage, Alaska from January 18-22. The annual symposium, which draws the entire Alaska marine science community, had a record-breaking attendance of more than 800 scientists, educators, and coastal community members. More than 200 of these participated in two half-day workshops co-sponsored by COSEE Alaska to kick off the conference - Communicating Ocean Science and Ocean Acidification. George Matsumoto, COSEE Advisory Council, Craig Strang, COSEE California, and Annette deCharon, COSEE Ocean Systems, were invited presenters at the Communicating Ocean Sciences workshop to bring successful tools and programs to Alaska from the COSEE Network. Other presentations featured research and communication of science in Alaska Native communities by Vera Metcalfe, a Director of the Alaska Eskimo Walrus Commission, and a collaborative project between researcher Andrew Trites and a teacher on St. Paul Island in the Pribilofs that provided outreach and education about fur seal ecology and cultural importance to the school and the community.

COSEE Alaska sponsored luncheon programs, including an organizational meeting of the SEANET networking group attended by more than 100 scientists, educators, and science media and outreach specialists from throughout the state. On other days, they sponsored a mock National Ocean Sciences Bowl competition between a student team and a team of scientists and a presentation about Google Ocean by Charlotte Vick, Google Earth (Ocean) content manager. A final COSEE-sponsored workshop provided hands-on experience for 70 scientists and educators to work with Charlotte Vick to learn how to post their own content.

As a follow-up to the symposium, highlights of presentations about Alaska ocean climate change, the Bering Sea ecosystem study, sea ice, and ocean acidification were posted on the SEANET networking site: http://oceanseanet.ning.com.

September, 2009
COSEE-Alaska Management Team members participated in an all-COSEE workshop on evaluation and in a "Best Practices in Teacher Professional Development Workshop" at Rutgers University, R.I. The workshop reports will guide the evaluation of COSEEs and the design of COSEE professional development workshops nationwide.

October, 2009
COSEE Alaska launched a listserve for Alaska SEANET, a network of ocean scientists, educators, communicators, and community members interested in communicating about research in Alaska's seas.

COSEE Alaska participated in the Alaska Math Science Teachers Conference in Juneau, Alaska. Marilyn Sigman and Dr. Ray Barnhart will provide a two-part presentation on the overall COSEE Alaska project and ocean climate change science (Part 1) followed by the strategies for integration of Alaska Native knowledge, with an emphasis on planning for ocean science fairs (Part 2). (See related news story on this website.)

COSEE Alaska co-sponsored a teacher workshop, "Salmon in the Classroom: connecting local to global," in Fairbanks, Alaska. 4-H Natural Resources & Youth The target audience for the workshop are Alaska rural teachers currently involved in a program that involve raising salmon in aquaria in the classroom. Marilyn Sigman will provide instruction.

January, 2010
COSEE Alaska will co-sponsor a Communicating Ocean Science Workshop with the Alaska Ocean Observing System (AOOS) and the North Pacific Research Board (NPRB) and will sponsor a training workshop to add content to Google Earth (Ocean) as part of the Alaska Marine Science Symposium to be held in Anchorage on January 18-23, 2010. They will also co-sponsor and provide an education and outreach strand for an Ocean Acidification Workshop convened by the AOOS, NPRB, and the Alaska SeaLife Center. COSEE Alaska has also organized two symposium luncheon programs, one featuring the National Ocean Sciences Bowl and the second showcasing Google Earth (Ocean) as a communication tool. The Communicating Ocean Science workshop will include presentations on the activities of other COSEEs, including George Matsumoto, COSEE Network Advisory Committee; Annette deCharon, COSEE-OS, and Craig Strang, COSEE California. A Monday lunch meeting will be the organization meeting for SEANET.