Environmental Monitoring without Borders

Abstract:

Continuous monitoring of environmental variables is essential in most environmental projects. However, due to economic constraints, many students from underrepresented groups and developing countries often have limited access to “standardized” data logging and monitoring techniques. We assessed the student’s learning in rural settings and worked with student without strong science background to utilize various environmental sensors to conduct innovative projects. We worked with students in Namibia and a minority high school student in Indianapolis to conduct relative humidity monitoring in creative ways. This high school student is from Indianapolis Project Seed program (sponsored by American Chemical Society, http://www.indyprojectseed.org) and worked in Wang’s lab for two months in summer 2014. The experience showed us the potential of working with people with minimum exposure to modern scientific instrumentation to carry out innovative projects.