Students' End of Quarter
Presentations
Jazz at the Labs. June 6, 2009
Illg Distinguished Lectureship:
Dr. Edie Widder
Ocean Research and Conservation
Association
Three groups of undergraduate and post-baccalaureate students will present short talks which summarize their research. These talks will be held in the Commons, and the public is invited.
The Marine Benthic Ecology research apprentices conducted diverse short (2-week) research projects of local marine zoological or botanical interest. 9:00 a.m. Commons.
The Beam Reach Program students have investigated orca vocalizations aboard the Gato Verde sailing vessel over a 10-week period. 1:00 p.m. Commons.
The Dynamics of Cellular Morphogenesis apprentice team investigated the cellular machinery associated with embryonic cells as they build and elaborate tissues and organs. Modern techniques in genetics allow scientists to perturb the cellular machinery to shed light on how it works. 3:00 p.m. Commons.
Supporting SJI's K-12 Programs through its Science Outreach Program
On Saturday night, June 6th, Friday Harbor Laboratories will hold its 9th annual ‘Jazz at the Labs,’ an evening of food, fun and great music at the Labs. As in the past, proceeds from ‘Jazz at the Labs’ will benefit the Friday Harbor Laboratories K-12 Science Outreach Program in the San Juan Island Elementary, Middle and High Schools and the Spring Street School.
This year’s program will begin with dinner from 6:00 – 7:00 P.M. During dinner, music will be provided by Dennis Willows and the San Juan Jazz Sextet.
Starting at 7:00 P.M. Jay Thomas and Jazz Coalescence, the outstanding jazz band from Seattle will perform featuring jazz standards with their own special edge. These guys can play! That's what people said about last year's Jazz at the Labs. And they were right about both the San Juan Jazz Sextet and Seattle's Jazz Coalescence, two groups featuring some of the Pacific Northwest's most prominent jazz musicians who play terrific jazz. And they're back again.
Best of all, Jazz at the Labs raises money to support a great cause. The Friday Harbor Laboratories K-12 Science Outreach Program which partners students with scientists and offers hands-on encounters with science. In the current school year, the Science Outreach Programinvolves more than 900 students and will log more than 5,000 science/student contact hours.
So be sure to save the date for an unforgettable evening on Saturday night when Friday Harbor Laboratories will hold its 9th annual ‘Jazz at the Labs’ - an evening of food, fun and great music at the Labs.
Reservations are required. (Last year was sold out!)
We are actively seeking Jazz at the Labs co-sponsors for 2009. If you'd like to help, please contact Bob Schwartzberg. We gratefully acknowledge the sponsorship of these outstanding organizations supporting FHL's K-12 Marine Science Outreach Program:
Friday Harbor Drug
Islanders Insurance
Island Petroleum Servies (IPS)
Chita Miller - Windermere Real Estate
San Juan Masonic Lodge #175
San Juan Propane
San Juan Vineyards
Spring Street Dentistry - Susan Kiraly, DDS
Alex Shapiro and Charles Richardson
Waterworks Gallery - Ruth Offen
Wells Fargo Bank
Wilson Motors of Bellingham
Dinner and music 6:00 – 9:30 p.m.: $30 per person.
Music only from 7:00 – 9:30 P.M.: $15 per person.
For reservations and information, call Friday Harbor Laboratories at 378-2165 ext 0.
Dr. Edith Widder has been selected at the 2009 Illg Distinguished Lecturer. Edie is a biologist and deep-sea explorer who combines expertise in oceanographic research and technological innovation with a commitment to reversing the worldwide trend of marine ecosystem
degradation.
She graduated Magna cum laude from Tufts University where she received her BS Degree in Biology and then went on to earn a Masters Degree in Biochemistry and a Ph.D. in Neurobiology awarded by the University of California in Santa Barbara.
Two years after completing her Ph.D., Dr. Widder became certified as a Scientific Research Pilot for Atmospheric Diving Systems. She holds certifications that qualify her to dive the deep diving suit WASP as well as the single-person untethered submersibles DEEP ROVER and DEEP WORKER and she has made over 250 dives in the JOHNSON-SEA-LINK submersibles. Her research involving submersibles has been featured in BBC, PBS, Discovery Channel and National Geographic television productions.
A specialist in bioluminescence (the light chemically produced by many ocean organisms), she has been a leader in helping to design and invent new submersible instrumentation, and equipment to enable unobtrusive deep-sea observations. Working with engineers, she has conceived of and built several unique devices that enable scientists to see the ocean in new ways, including HIDEX, a bathyphotometer which is the U.S. Navy standard for measuring bioluminescence in the ocean, and LoLAR, an ultra-sensitive deep-sea light meter. Most recently, Widder created a remotely operated camera system, known as Eye in the Sea (EITS), which, when deployed on the sea floor, automatically detects and measures the bioluminescence given off by nearby organisms. EITS has produced footage of rare sharks, jellyfish, and discovered a new species of large squid, all in their natural habitats. Edie and her unobtrusive camera system were recently featured in the Discovery Channel series Midwater Mysteries.
In 2005, Dr. Widder left Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institution where she worked for 16 years to co-found the Ocean Research & Conservation Association (ORCA), a non-profit organization dedicated to the protection of marine ecosystems and the species they sustain through development of innovative technologies and science-based conservation action. While translating complex scientific issues into engineerable solutions, Dr. Widder is fostering greater understanding of ocean life as a means to better, more informed ocean stewardship. In September of 2006, based on her work with ORCA, she was awarded a prestigious MacArthur Fellowship from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation.
This endowed lecture series is presented in honor of Professor Paul L. Illg, who made many important contributions as a scientist, teacher, mentor, and friend. Paul excelled as a faculty member of the UW Zoology Department from 1952 - 1982. An expert in the biology of crustaceans, he participated in many summer sessions at Friday Harbor Laboratories. He invited world-renowned scholars to FHL to join him in teaching invertebrate biology and thus greatly enhanced the quality of the graduate program and research at the Laboratories. The lectureship endowment was established through memorial gifts by Paul's family, many friends and colleagues.
Photo: Trish Morse
General Information