We do our best to keep in touch with all the awesome students who participate in our programs here at the Museum. Some particularly exceptional students, like Barbara Escobar, make that easy for us. Barbara, a student at North Miami Senior High School, previously participated in the Digital WAVE Summer Academy, where she studied the effects of climate change on South Florida’s coral reefs. During the program, Dr. Andrew Baker, Associate Professor of Marine Biology and Fisheries at the University of Miami, spoke to Digital WAVE participants about his research on corals and the impacts of the terrible Deepwater Horizon oil spill. After that talk, Barbara was inspired to start her own environmental science research. With help from Museum staff, Barbara got in touch with Dr. Baker and worked with graduate student mentors at the Coral Reef Conservation Research Laboratory. She concentrated on studying the use of dispersants, which are used to mitigate the effects of crude oil on corals. This past year, she entered her project in her school’s science fair and won first place. Congratulations Barbara!
