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News Archive (March 2000 - June 2008)
Seymour Center Docent Training 2010, share your passion for the ocean Santa Cruz, CA — Do you have a passion for the ocean? Would you like to learn more about marine science? Make a difference in the world, have fun, and get involved while you spread the importance of ocean science and conservation. The Seymour Marine Discovery Center at Long Marine Lab has a rewarding volunteer experience to offer you. 2010 Docent Training Classes begin Wednesday, January 13, 2010 and continue every Wednesday evening and most Saturday mornings through March. This class is offered only once a year––don’t miss out! Applications are now being accepted for 2010 Docent Training and must be received by Friday, December 4, 2009. To join the docent team, you must be at least 18 years old by the day training begins in January, and willing to commit to one four-hour shift, one day every other week, for a year. All suitable applicants will be interviewed prior to the training start date. As a docent at the Seymour Center, you will interact directly with our human visitors as well as with the marine invertebrates who inhabit our seawater table. You will lead guided tours throughout the exhibit hall and to spectacular teaching locations around the marine lab, including the marine mammal overlook. Most importantly, you will join in our efforts to teach the public about the innovative research and conservation work happening right here at Long Marine Lab. This intensive marine science interpretation course will give you the knowledge and skills you need to inspire curiosity in visitors from across California and around the world about ocean conservation and marine science. Visit our website at http://seymourcenter.ucsc.edu for more information and to download your application or call (831) 458-3800. Let our dynamic team give you an amazing learning opportunity in ocean science. Join us today! The Seymour Marine Discovery Center at Long Marine Laboratory is located at the end of Delaware Avenue, Westside Santa Cruz, on the bluffs overlooking Monterey Bay. The Seymour Center provides exciting and engaging ocean education programs for the visiting public and for students of all ages. It is dedicated to educating youth, families, and the general public about the role science plays in the understanding and conservation of the world’s oceans. The Seymour Center is open six days a week, year-round, and serves more than 55,000 people each year.
2009 Ken Norris Memorial Lecture Series; Sea Otters ~ Barometers of Ocean Health Santa Cruz, CA — What is happening to the California sea otter, and what does it mean to us? To help answer these questions, the 2009 Ken Norris Memorial Lecture Series at the Seymour Center at Long Marine Lab features six prominent marine scientists who will broaden our understanding of why sea otters serve as a barometer of ocean health. These free public lectures will take place Thursday evenings from 7 to 9 p.m. on October 1, October 22, and November 12. Few marine mammal species are as charismatic and beloved as the sea otter. Their frequent sightings and near-shore antics have made them an iconic symbol of the Monterey Bay and a poster “child” for the Endangered Species Act. Once hunted to near extinction for their fur and, more recently, accidentally captured and drowned in fishing nets, the sea otter has been a protected species since the enactment of the Marine Mammal Protection Act in 1972. The California sea otter population has recovered from fewer than 50 animals near Big Sur in the early 1900s to more than 2,600 animals along the California coast today. Despite this good news, recent data indicates static or declining population. WHY? We don’t hunt them for fur. We don’t trap them in nets. They are a protected species. Three distinct lectures—The Human Factor, Blooms and Bugs, and Exxon Valdez: Oil to Olive—will cover the new obstacles facing sea otters today, what their declining population tells us about the health of our oceans, and what we are doing to prevent further decline of this compelling and important “keystone” species. Lectures are free to the public. Seating is limited. For more information, please call (831) 459-3800 or visit our website at http://seymourcenter.ucsc.edu. Lecture schedule and speakers: October 1: The Human Factor October 22: Blooms & Bugs November 12: Exxon Valdez: Oil to Olive The Seymour Marine Discovery Center at Long Marine Laboratory is located at the end of Delaware Avenue, Westside Santa Cruz, on the bluffs overlooking Monterey Bay. The Seymour Center provides exciting and engaging ocean education programs for the visiting public and for students of all ages. It is dedicated to educating youth, families, and the general public about the role science plays in the understanding and conservation of the world’s oceans. The Seymour Center is open six days a week, year-round, and serves more than 55,000 people each year.
Seymour Marine Discovery Center Open Seven Days a Week in August SANTA CRUZ, CA—The Seymour Marine Discovery Center will be open seven days a week during August 2009 to better serve the visiting public. Typically closed on Mondays, this year the Seymour Center will throw open its doors for five additional summer days. “A big chunk of our visitation comes during the summer months and these extended hours give us a better opportunity to share ocean science and conservation with people both locally, and from around the world,” says Julie Barrett Heffington, Seymour Center Director. Overlooking the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary, the Seymour Center is a “living classroom” featuring aquariums, exhibits, touch tanks, blue and gray whale skeletons, full-scale elephant seal models, the Ocean Discovery Shop, and unsurpassed ocean vistas. Aquarium and exhibits feature the everyday tools of ocean exploration and focus on research conducted by scientists locally and around the world. Interactive stations provide hands-on learning experiences, and docents lead tours and bring marine science to life. Tours are offered from 1 to 3 p.m. daily (last tour ends at 4 p.m.). Admission: Location: Directions from Santa Cruz: Information:
Friends of Long Marine Lab's Annual Whale of an Auction, a Benefit for the Seymour Marine Discovery Center, set for Saturday, June 20 SANTA CRUZ, CA--The Friends of Long Marine Lab (FLML) will hold its 24th annual "Whale of an Auction," the group's popular annual fundraiser, on Saturday, June 20. The event will take place in a new location this year, the newly refurbished Cowell College on the beautiful University of California, Santa Cruz campus. Festivities begin at 6 p.m.
New this year is an online auction, offering 31 fabulous trips and treats for early bidding! Go to http://seymourcenter.ucsc.edu to view and bid, or to preview the live auction items. Auction highlights this year include an adventure to the North Coast with Gary Griggs and Sandy Lydon, private photography workshop with National Geographic’s premier photographer Frans Lanting and acclaimed videographer Christine Eckstrom; “extreme” birding with falcon expert Glenn Stewart; behind-the-scenes trips to Año Nuevo, Long Marine Lab’s sea lion and seal research lab, Monterey Bay Aquarium, Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute, and the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History; exotic getaways to Costa Rica, Hawaii, and Mexico; rare opportunities such as poker lessons with a pro or Stem Cell treatment for your dog; private parties including the Crow’s Nest lobster and clambake for 20, Boardwalk bumper car for 50, and sailing on the Chardonnay for 49; or dazzling trips to San Francisco, Desert Springs, Laguna, and Washington D.C.! This charity auction provides crucial support for the Seymour Marine Discovery Center, the community education hub at Long Marine Lab in Santa Cruz. Although part of UCSC’s marine science campus, the Seymour Center remains primarily self-funded. While the economic downturn has made funding more difficult for many museums and related organizations––including the Seymour Center––the institution has served a record number of children and families during the past year, helping them discover why ocean science is important, both immediately, and for the future of our planet. Community support has never been more important. The Whale of an Auction raises funds directly for K-12 and community education programs, the care and feeding of more than 400 aquarium animals, and the volunteer program. Last year's successful auction raised $80,000 for the Seymour Center. The 2009 Whale of an Auction is sponsored by Nordic Naturals, Santa Cruz Sentinel, Michael's on Main, and Pacific Publishing/Community Printers; many generous table sponsors; and advertising sponsors Good Times and Santa Cruz Weekly. The Seymour Center is located at the end of Delaware Avenue on the west side of Santa Cruz. Regular public visiting hours are Tuesday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Sunday, noon to 5 p.m. For more information, call (831) 459-3800 or visit the Center's web site at http://seymourcenter.ucsc.edu.
Friends of Long Marine Lab will honor alumnus Brent Constantz with Global Oceans Award SANTA CRUZ, CA--The Friends of Long Marine Lab will honor entrepreneur and UCSC alumnus Brent Constantz at the group's annual Global Oceans Awards Gala on Saturday, February 28. The award recognizes Constantz for developing technology to make "green" cement that could slow global warming and ocean acidification. When Constantz invented a revolutionary product for healing broken bones, he was inspired by the research on coral reefs he had conducted as a UCSC graduate student in the 1980s. Now, drawing on the same source of inspiration, he has come up with a new process for making cement that sequesters carbon dioxide. The standard manufacturing process for the cement used in concrete releases huge amounts of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. Constantz's process not only eliminates a major source of greenhouse gases, it actually captures carbon dioxide emissions from power plants, trapping the carbon in the cement. The company he founded to make this "green cement," Calera Corp., was recently profiled in the San Francisco Chronicle. Calera's subsidiary, Moss Landing Cement Company, is operating a pilot plant at Moss Landing, just down the coast from Santa Cruz. Constantz earned his Ph.D. in Earth sciences from UCSC in 1986. He was honored with the campus's Alumni Achievement Award in 1998. UCSC graduate students Kristine Okimura (ocean sciences) and Brenna Mahoney (ecology and evolutionary biology) will also receive awards at the dinner. They had the top-ranked proposals among the 15 students who received research support from the Friends of Long Marine Lab Student Research Awards this year. The Global Oceans Awards were established in 2004 to recognize individuals who make outstanding contributions to the understanding and conservation of our oceans. The event, hosted by the Bittersweet Bistro in Rio Del Mar, is a benefit to support the education programs of the Seymour Marine Discovery Center at Long Marine Laboratory. For more information about the Global Oceans Awards Gala, contact Lisa M. Rose at (831) 459-3694.
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Over the past 24 years, the auction has grown from humble beginnings into a lavish affair featuring both silent and high-energy live auctions. A delicious feast adds to the excitement––caviar, oyster bar, catered buffet, fine wines, champagne––and it’s a green event with all seafood chosen in accordance with Monterey Bay Aquarium Seafood Watch guidelines. Tickets for the live event are $85 for FLML members and $95/public if purchased by June 16; $100 at the door. For tickets and information, call (831) 459-3800.