A newsletter from the Prince William Sound Science Center

December 5, 2023

Last month, the Prince William Sound Science Center was honored with a Cordova business award at the Cordova Chamber of Commerce inaugural gala. The award was for community outreach and reads, “For your generous outreach which enriches our community and benefits Cordova.” Our education team poses with the plaque before running a kitchen chemistry Fun Friday program on December 1. Left to right: Cristina Reo, Kate Trudeau, Lauren Bien, and Esa Mayo-Pitts.

Donate to Double Your Impact!

PWSSC board member Scott Hicks and his wife Paula Mountjoy have joined former PWSSC board members John Garner and Meera Kohler to raise the match for our end-of-year giving campaign to $25,000.

There has never been a more critical time to invest in a more resilient future. The actions we all take now will have lasting impacts for generations. We need your support to succeed.

What happens here in the world’s richest waters influences the globe. Thanks to your generous support, our staff have boots on the ground, boats in the water, and students in the field 12 months a year.

Please join us by making your tax-deductible year-end gift today. And remember, your gift will be matched dollar-for-dollar.

The probability of Pacific herring age, based on length, for Prince William Sound and Sitka Sound. Ages 3 through 7 are indicated in the column headers. Years from 2007 to 2019 are indicated on the right of each row. Colors indicate unique year-classes. (Graphic and text obtained from the publication.)

Former PWSSC Principal Investigator, Dr. Maya Groner recently published a paper in the ICES Journal of Marine Biology about research she conducted while at PWSSC. Maya studies the prevalence of Ichthyophonus infections in Pacific herring populations and how they may impact population decline and recovery.

Click here to read the publication: Temporal, environmental, and demographic correlates of Ichthyophonus sp. infections in mature Pacific herring populations.

Photo credit: Todd Blaisdell

We extend a profound “thank you” to three departing board members: Dan Hull, Board Chair, who served from 2020-2023; Laura Meadors, 1st Vice Chair, who served on the board from 2014-2023; and Betsi Oliver, who served from 2020-2023. All three contributed their time and talents significantly to the Science Center—especially during the triumphs and struggles of running a capital campaign and facility construction during a worldwide pandemic. We owe them tremendous gratitude for their commitment, generosity, and perseverance.

At our fall board meeting, we welcomed six new board members. Two returning members are Lt. Gov. Mead Treadwell, who served from 1994-2003 and 2004-2010, and Doug Causey, Ph.D., who served from 2012-2021. Scott Hicks joins our board of directors after serving on our facilities committee. Robin Reich, Walt Wrede, and Jacques White are new to the organization. We are excited about the expertise and enthusiasm these new and returning members bring as we move into the Science Center’s next growth phase.

We hope you can join us this month for some educational fun! Different programs are intended for specific ages, noted below. Younger participants need to be accompanied by a caregiver. All are welcome to attend. A current calendar of events can be found on our website. If you want to receive email notifications for upcoming community education programs, subscribe here.

December 5 (7-8 pm) Tuesday Night Talk: Kelp Hatchery Innovation

Tamsen Peeples of UAF will present current research on testing novel fertilizers and fibers used in commercial kelp hatcheries.

December 10 (7-8 pm) Nature Yoga: Flexible Flippers

Join Jess for a nature yoga session where we will learn about seals, sea lions, and walruses, and what they can teach us about adaptability and transitions. Open to all.

December 12 (7-8 pm) Tuesday Night Talk: Christmas Bird Count

Prince William Sound Audubon Society will present information about the annual Christmas Bird Count.

December 15 (2:30-3:30 pm) Fun Friday: Pinnipeds!

Learn with us as we explore the world of seals, sea lions, and walruses. The intended audience is kids in grades K-4 and their caregivers.  

December 19 (7-8 pm) Tuesday Night Talk: The L-Pod

From Cordova High School, Lance Westing's marine science class will present on the southern Alaska resident killer whale pod.

Holiday Shopping at the PWSSC

During Discovery Room, Mrs. Ammerman's third grade class designed and built nests while learning about bird nests and nesting behaviors. Photo credit: PWSSC.

November was packed with programs for all ages! Full details are on our news page.

Sea Squirts used their five senses to explore and describe rocks.

Little Dippers hiked, explored, and played in heavy rain, strong winds, ice, and snow. They investigated patterns found in nature using inquiry, observation, and teamwork.

Fun Friday had kids exploring the world of oceanography. Participants got to see and touch scientific equipment, tested our wave tank, and learned about ocean currents and density.

Astronomy Night focused on learning about our neighboring planet. Children pretended to fly to Mars and explored what it might take to survive on the Red Planet by building rovers, mining candy bar cores, and experimenting with gravity.

The education team took the ROV challenge to the Sitka Sound Science Center’s Whale Fest. Students around the state learned about the Exxon Valdez oil spill and engineered a remotely operated vehicle (ROV) out of PVC pipes. They tested their ROVs in a pool and maneuvered them through obstacles simulating oil spill recovery. 

Nature Yoga was inspired by tides and currents. Aviva took participants on a relaxing journey as they learned to let the currents run through them.

Trivia Night at the Reluctant Fisherman tested everyone’s knowledge of mariculture. Hosted by Dr. Alysha Cypher, questions ranged from oyster anatomy to mariculture pop culture.

Tuesday Night Talks from November can be viewed on our YouTube channel.

• Bands, Swabs, and Feathers: Experiences from Twenty Years of Waterfowl Fieldwork throughout Alaska, presented by Brandt Meixell of the U.S. Forest Service, on behalf of the PWS Audubon Society.
• Monitoring Alaska’s Ocean Chemistry presented by Natalie Monacci of the University of Alaska Fairbanks, Ocean Acidification Research Center.
• Bats: Biology, Research, and More presented by Jesika Reimer of Taiga Wildlife Research.
• The Magic of Alaskan Coastal Wetlands presented by Eden McCall, a former intern with the U.S. Forest Service, who debuted three of her southcentral Alaskan films. The film highlighting the Copper River Delta and Cordova can be viewed here.

Discovery Room at Mt. Eccles Elementary School was filled with exploration: 

• First graders explored animals' ear shapes and how those shapes can help different animals hear different things. They took an unusual field trip through a giant-sized, interactive human ear.
• Second grade’s hydroponic lettuce got so big that we just had to eat it! Everyone indulged in a salad party, learning that veggies taste better when you grow them yourself. 
• Third graders discussed bird nests and nesting behaviors. They used their engineering and problem-solving skills to build nests to hold three eggs and withstand stormy winds.
• Fourth graders started their energy unit. Students learned about kinetic and potential energy and created a current from wires and magnets.
• Fifth graders explored the cryosphere. They made models of glaciers out of ice cream and learned about data sonification. Students uploaded data on ‘glacier mass’ and ‘freshwater flux in the ocean’ and set that data to music. 
• Sixth graders took an immersive field trip aboard the Science Center’s research vessel New Wave. They looked for bioluminescent plankton, watched Dr. Rob Campbell perform a plankton tow, and enjoyed a beautiful night on the water. Later in the month, they learned about thermohaline circulation and practiced their map plotting skills. Building off this lesson, they learned about marine debris and how ocean currents move trash over the world’s oceans.