October 15, 2010
The National Park Service (NPS) and HPWREN hosted several booths
at the 2010 Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities (HACU)
conference in San Diego.
By Susan Teel, Director, Southern California Research Learning
Center, National Park Service
LIVE programs and sensor station exhibit
at booth function flawlessly thanks to diligent work of Hans-Werner
Braun, Kimberly Mann-Bruch, and James Hale (behind the scene at
Cabrillo NM). Living history LIVE interpreters Bob Munson, Nancy
Munson, and Louise Lucas, Cabrillo National Monument (Volunteer)
broadcasting LIVE from Cabrillo National Monument to the HACU
conference.
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HPWREN weather station and real-time data displayed on a laptop.
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Monika Braun, HPWREN staffs the bobcat
telemetry tracking station and demonstrated the Remotely Operated
Vehicle.
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Rangers from Santa Monica Mountains NRA, Griselda
Herrera and Razsa Cruz, hosted an interactive exhibit where HACU
students track a bobcat using telemetry equipment.
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At the invitation of NPS Southeast Regional Director, David Vela,
Cabrillo National Monument, the High Performance Wireless Research
and Education Network (HPWREN), the Southern California Research
Learning Center (SCRLC), Biscayne National Park, the Santa Monica
Mountains National Recreation Area designed and staffed interactive
demonstrations and booth exhibits which allowed HACU students to;
1) try their hands at tracking bobcats in the Santa Monica Mountains;
2) expand their understating of cultural history through participation
in Live Interactive Virtual Explorations (LIVE) distance education
programs and experiential learning sessions where students donned
16th century period dress; 3) examine a HPWREN weather station which
streams real-time data to a cell phone; 4) assemble SCUBA equipment
and identify sea creatures using dive masks; 5) Interface with the
Climate Change Ambassador students who traveled to Glacier National
park to participate in climate change research; and 6) gain
understanding of the ecology of wolves and conservation jobs. The
ultimate goal of the interactive exhibits and activities was to
demonstrate cool jobs in the Great Outdoors towards recruiting
promising Hispanic students.
16th Century Living History LIVE featuring
Kimberly Mann-Bruch, HPWREN and Emily Floyd, Cabrillo National
Monument, in 16th century garb at the HACU conference in downtown
San Diego and NPS volunteer Mike Love demonstrates the use and
firing of 16th century firearms via LIVE from Cabrillo National
Monument. Behind the scenes support of this LIVE program was provided
Rick Jenkins, Amanda Gossard, Nick de Roulhac, Joe Zev, and National
Park Service.
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Tavio Del Rio hosts a LIVE program from the tidepools
at Cabrillo National Monument to the HACU conference.
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Wolf howls recorded by HPWREN sensors located at the
California Wolf Center were played loudly from speakers at the NPS
booth to attract the attention of HACU conference attendees. Brandon
Everett and students from the Elementary Institute of Science shared
their experiences as Climate Change Ambassador with HACU attendees.
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Division Chief, Elsa Alvear, led LIVE
programs from Biscayne National Park and demonstrated SCUBA diving
as a cool National Park Service job in the Great Outdoors.
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The second goal at the HACU conference was to demonstrate and discuss
the use of LIVE as an experiential distance education tool affecting
higher education for Hispanics and Hispanic Serving Institutions
(HSIs). In addition the activities going on at the NPS booths staff
from Cabrillo National Monument, HPWREN, SCRLC, and Biscayne National
Park hosted LIVE presentations at a student session and at the HACU/
Department of the Interior (DOI) Leadership workshop. Following the
LIVE presentation, at the Leadership workshop, each representative
from DOI, NPS, USGS, FWS, Reclamation, and HACU voiced a vision for
the use of LIVE to suit the needs of their agency or University.
HPWREN, SDSU, and NPS led LIVE demonstrations
from Biscayne National Park and Cabrillo National Monument to HACU
and Department of the Interior leaders. Tommie Burton and Maria
Beotegui show the behind the scenes view at Biscayne National Park.
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Research Technology Manger, Pablo Bryant,
San Diego State University coordinated with the hotel staff, DOI
and HACU leaders to assure the LIVE demonstration was flawless.
Karl Pierce, Chief of Interpretation, Cabrillo National Monument,
Elsa Alvear, Chief of Natural Resources, Biscayne National Park,
and Susan Teel, Director of the Southern California Research Learning
Center jointly demonstrated the use of LIVE as an experiential
learning tool.
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