This a complicated question without a single answer – but there is no question that we need to do everything we can to get all the young’uns hooked on science. It is especially important to make science accessible (and fun!) for underrepresented groups – African-Americans, Latinos, Native Americans, LBGTQ youth, first-generation college students…the list goes on. “Diversity” means a lot of things, and all of those definitions are important. I speak from personal experience here, as a first-generation college student coming from a literal blue collar family (my dad wears a blue jumpsuit with a name patch to work – and he is not wearing it in the ironic hipster way).

Today I write with a simple request: Help low income, rural students experience the joy of marine science, with a donation to the LUMCON scholarship fund.

Here at Deep Sea News we have a strong tradition of raising money (and awareness!) for worthy causes. For a time we ran annual campaigns to fund ocean education in K-12 classrooms through the Donors Choose program – Kevin Zelnio and our friends at Southern Fried Science helped us raise over $4800 in 2009 to support >1500 students in classrooms across the country.

Its high time we reach out again, and this time I personally want to highlight the amazing programs at LUMCON (The Louisiana Universities Marine Consortium, a marine station located at the tip of the boot in Louisiana). LUMCON is the wonderful institution where Dr. M. has just taken the reins as executive director, and they are doing a big push to establish a scholarship fund for field programs aimed at K-12 students and undergraduates (again, these are rural, low-income students without the financial capability to experience the joy of the ocean).

Why is the LUMCON fund so important? Because it is the literal field course that transformed our own Dr. M from a rural Arkansas kid to a fancy executive director and badass marine scientist.

To reiterate: By supporting the LUMCON fund, you can directly help transform this scraggly youth (Dr. M when he had hair)

Our Executive Director, Dr. Craig McClain @DrCraigMc #FlashbackFriday #deepsn #LUMCONscience pic.twitter.com/eTJCzuFNoO

— LUMCON (@LUMCONscience) February 3, 2017

Into this high-powered marine scientist:

Any amount will help support a student – $10, $20, $100 or whatever you can spare – donate for a friend, donate because you love the ocean, donate because you wish you had this opportunity when you were younger!

So help get these students out on a boat, help them stick their hands in the mud! It just might transform them into a scientist! (…again, speaking from experience here. I love mud so much.)

Please fund a student and break barriers! #LUMCONscience #summerprogram https://t.co/A6enHR8ZdD pic.twitter.com/ksEhFnyMh3

— LUMCON (@LUMCONscience) February 24, 2017

Disclaimer: I have written this post solely under my own volition (without any influence from Dr. M, apart from our undying blog family love). He has had no input or editorial control over what I have written, and is very proper about keeping his official LUMCON duties separate from DSN. But I cannot be controlled! Mwahahaha.

The post Support LUMCON ocean scholarships, and get rural, low-income kids hooked on marine science! first appeared on Deep Sea News.

Traditionally, “commodore” is the title for any officer assigned to command more than one ship at a time, even temporarily, much as “captain” is the traditional title for the commanding officer of a single ship even if the officer’s official title in the service is a lower rank. As an official rank, a commodore typically commands a flotilla or squadron of ships as part of a larger task force or naval fleet commanded by an admiral.

If you’ve not been following me along on either Twitter or Instagram, you may not be aware of my great news.  As of July 1^st and a rather eventful drive, I am now the presiding director for the Louisiana University Marine Consortium (LUMCON).  LUMCON is both a collaborative network for marine science among Louisiana universities and colleges and an oceanographic laboratory on the southern Louisiana coast.

The W. J. DeFelice Marine Center is located in Cocodrie, Louisiana, approximately 85 miles southwest of New Orleans.  You know that part of the map of southern Louisiana where you’re not sure is water or land? The DeFelice Marine Center is located in the part of Louisiana…outside the seawall.

Part of my responsibilities in my new position is overseeing our fleet of vessels.  The two largest vessels are the 116’ RV Pelican, aptly named the “Workhorse of the Gulf”, and the 58’ RV Acadiana.  LUMCON’s fleets also includes several small boats ranging from a 38’ catamaran to a 14′ Jo Boat lovingly named the RV Swamp Thing.  And then there is fan boat, because Lousiana, the RV Marsh Bug.  Fan boat! Have I mentioned yet how much I love my new position?

So technically since I am the Director and I oversee this fleet of vessels, does that make me a commodore?  Joking aside, the ships are amazing platforms for all kinds of amazing science throughout the Gulf of Mexico.  This is largely due to the amazing captains and crews that operate these ships and I am honored to be now be working with them.

The post Wait, did I just become a commodore? first appeared on Deep Sea News.