UPCOMING CLASSES
> R/V Kittiwake Expedition to search for Pacific Spotted Ratfish nesting sites
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If you have any questions about classes, please email us: silhseducation@gmail.com
Click here to see PAST CLASSES.
R/V Kittiwake Expedition to search for Pacific Spotted Ratfish nesting sites
Monday, August 19th
9:30 am – 12:30 pm
$40 / person
(Minimum age for this trip is 18.)
We will gather in the parking lot at the Ellis Preserve and then walk down together to the dock to board the R/V Kittiwake and head out!
You’ll be out on the water for approximately two hours, helping characterize the biodiversity of potential ratfish sites with two net deployments. Each haul will bring up fish, invertebrates, and kelps that we’ll identify — and you’ll help contribute to groundbreaking research.
This expedition is led by Karly Cohen, PhD. Karly is a research scientist at Friday Harbor Labs and is excited to have Shaw community members aboard the R/V Kittiwake for an exciting expedition in search of the lost nursery sites of the Pacific spotted ratfish! Known for their distinctive rat-like beak, these fascinating creatures are abundant throughout the Pacific Northwest waters. Over the past five years, Karly and her team have discovered that these fish migrate through the San Juan Channel, leaving eggs along the way.
Karly is a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Florida in the Fraser lab looking at the evolution and development of teeth, denticles and odontodes. These are some of the earliest vertebrate traits (over 500 million years old)! Using an arsenal of bioimaging techniques, she asks questions about fundamental laws acting on phenotypic evolution through the tools and adaptations of fishes; she asks how different lineages have solved common mechanical and ecological problems. Karly received her Ph.D. from the University of Washington and Friday Harbor Labs in 2022 and graduated from The George Washington University with a Masters in Science in Biology in 2019.
THIS EXPEDITION HAS A HARD LIMIT OF 12 PEOPLE.
CLICK HERE TO REGISTER.
CLASSES that have already happened this year
Ellen Bass: Mutual Awe — Science and Poetry
A SMALL WORKSHOP
Saturday, July 13, at noon in the library
FREE
This will be a classroom-format discussion designed for those who love poetry, to explore the harmonious relationship between poetry and science, emphasizing their shared curiosity, rigor, and capacity for wonder.
(At 4pm on the same day, Ellen Bass will give a reading/talk — “A Life of Poetry” — at the Community Building. All are welcome.)
This is a small group — with a limit of 14 people — and registration is required. REGISTRATION HAS CLOSED FOR THIS CLASS.
(Images above: Blue Morpho butterfly by William Warby, used under a Flickr Creative Commons license; “Cosmic Cliffs” in the Carina Nebula produced by NASA and the Space Telescope Science Institute.)
Intertidal Zone Exploration at Cedar Rock Preserve
July 20th, 9 am – 11am (low-tide time!)
FREE!
This intertidal walk will introduce participants to the many fish, invertebrates, and algae that call rocky shores home. Participants will learn about:
- the challenges these ocean critters face spending part of their time out of the water
- the strategies these critters have developed to stay alive
- how scientists have been using all sorts of clever (and crazy) methods to study these ecosystems for over a hundred years
- what makes the San Juans an extra-special place to study the intertidal zone!
Exploration leader: Rebecca Hansen is a marine ecologist and a lifelong resident of the Salish Sea. Growing up on Vancouver Island, she fell in love with temperate oceans at a young age, and she began working as a marine educator in her teens. Rebecca went on to complete both a Bachelor’s and a Master’s degree in marine biology, with her Master’s research examining the effects of climate change on the intertidal communities of Juan de Fuca Strait. Currently she is a scientific diver and researcher at Friday Harbor Laboratories, where she studies bull kelp and the challenges facing kelp forests along Washington’s coast.
Limited to 15 participants.
Registration has filled for this class — but PLEASE CLICK HERE if you are interested in a repeat of this class. When you click, please fill out the form so we can learn if there is enough interest to schedule another Intertidal Zone Exploration. We hope to offer additional explorations, based on feedback we receive from you. THANK YOU!
Kids are welcome, if accompanied by an adult.