This page is dedicated to news concerning the Fairchild Challenge, including information about visiting educators, new staff joining our team, field/site trips, awards and grants, attendance to professional meetings, publications, and other exciting developments happening here.

June 2011

Fairchild Challenge High School Students Join Summer Research Internship Program at FIU and CTPC

• Starting in June 20 and during eight weeks, five high school students from the Fairchild Challenge will be participating in a USDA-funded internship with FIU's Agroecology Program to study biofuels. The students will be learning the core techniques with which one can extract fuels from different biological materials, as well as visiting local research and agricultural centers, exploring the environmental costs and consequences of biofuel development and intensification, and thinking about ways to expand the biofuels potential of South Florida. Image on the right: Top row from left to right: Andrew Jungman (FIU Graduate student), *Cathernine Roen (Carrollton School of the Sacred Heart), Prof. Krish Jayachandran, Prof. Mahadev Bhat, Dr. Eric von Wettberg, *Amy Diaz (South Miami Senior High School), Kennan Zolfaghari (Coral Reef High School). Bottom row from left to right *Karli Pulido (American Senior High School), *Hope Wilcox (Miami Lakes Educational Center), *Johamary Pena (Homestead Senior High) *Fairchild Challenge student

May 2011

Fairchild Challenge Alumnus Joins Research Teams of FIU-Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden, Montgomery Botanical Center, and USDA

• Our welcome to Nicolas Espinosa, Fairchild Challenge Alumnus and sophomore student of Florida International University who will be working with us as a research intern during this summer. Nicolas is majoring in Environmental Studies and during his High School years at South Plantation High School he was an active participant of the Fairchild Challenge. His internship is being funded by a NSF project on "Caribbean Cycads Biogeography, Conservation, and Systematics". During this internship Nicolas will be hosted by the Montgomery Botanical Center (in May, mentored by Dr. Patrick Griffith and Dr. Chad Husby), the herbarium of Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden (in June, mentored by Dr. Bret Jestrow and Dr. Javier Francisco-Ortega), and the Subtropical Horticulture Research Station of USDA (in July, mentored by Dr. Dayana Salas-Leiva and Dr. Alan Meerow). His research at Montgomery Botanical Center will focus on ex situ conservation methods. During his internship at the Fairchild Herbarium, Nicolas will gain experience in herbarium management and the use of optical microscopy techniques for systematics. Finally, his studies at USDA will be based on the use of DNA techniques to address phylogenetic questions. Nicolas joined this research team on May 9th. The image on the right shows Nicolas spraying soapy water on Caribbean Islands taxa of Zamia to control mealy bugs at the Montgomery Botanical Center.

April 2011

• On April 16, the Departmant of Environmental Resources Managament of Miami-Dade County recognized our Fairchild Challenge Students by awarding them with the first, second, and third place for the 2011 Baynanza Biscayne Bay Clean Up Day T-Shirt. Congratulations to the students and teachers of Homestead Senior High (1st place), Ronald Reagan/Doral Senior High (2nd place), and Alonzo & Tracy Mourning Biscayne Bay Senior High (3rd place).

January 2011

• The 9th annual Fairchild Challenge debate focused on the Gulf Oil Spill and Energy Policy. During this event Everglades and Dry Tortugas National Parks Superintendent Dan Kimball presented an overview of the US Department of Interior response to the spill. A final report (see link on the right) from the National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and Offshore Drilling is available now.

• Juan Rivera, Sara Vatland, and Javier Francisco-Ortega had an active participation in the recent "Science, Technology , Engineering & Mathematics Fair". The major educational event took place on Saturday January 22, 2011 at the Miami-Dade College (North Campus) and it was organized by the Division of Mathematics, Science, and Advanced Academic Programs of the Miami-Dade County Public School District. Juan Rivera and Sara Vatland delivered informative talks about the scope and aims of the Fairchild Challenge. Javier Francisco-Ortega acted as judge for the "Fairchild Tropical Garden's Budding Scientist Award". Jake Larson and Ricardo Martinez-Cid (Belen Jesuit Prep) obtained this award for their project entitled "Effect of pH and Salinity on Photosynthetic Rate". Congratulations to Jake and Ricardo!!

November 2010

• On Monday, November 1 we joined forces with members of the Horticulture and Biological Conservation teams of Fairchild. We focused on conservation ecology project dealing with endemic grasses from A. D. Barnes Park. Participants of this environmental activity are shown in the photo. From left to right: Jennifer Possley (CTPC), Jason Lopez (Horticulture Department), Thaddeus Foote (Fairchild Challenge), Juan Rivera (Fairchild Challenge), Mary Collins (Horticulture Department), Sarah Vatland (Fairchild Challenge), Devon Powell (CTPC), Sam Wright, Tiffany Lum (Horticulture Department), and Emily Warschefsky (CTPC).

October 2010

• On Saturday October 2 we had our first student workshop. It focused on freshwater ecology with an emphasis on Everglades National Park and the current project that Fairchild is undertaking in its 11 lake system. This was a joint enterprise between the Education, Horticulture, and Research Teams of Fairchild. The workshop was taught by fish biologist and water ecologist, Dr. William Loftus. Our gratitude to our graduate students, Robert McElderry, Jason Downing, and Wuying Lin; and to Fairchild Challenge Alumni, Sam Quintero and Mike Meyer. Undergraduate students from FIU and Dr. Hong Liu also joined this event. Our special thanks to the Southeast Environmental Research Center (SERC) of FIU for conducting analyses of water quality, and to Dr. Josette LaHee also from SERC for her help with the Algae work station. Finally we would like to thank the Fairchild Challenge Volunteers and Fairchild Interns for their help. Refreshments were generously provided by Wholefoods. We also collaborated with A. D. Barnes County Park.

• Congratulations to Mary Keppler, our Elementary Programs Coordinator who has just published a portion of her Master of Arts in Botany Thesis [Miami University, Ohio under the supervision of Dr. Elisabeth E. Schussler] in the lastest issue of Plant Science Bulletin. This is one of the official publications of the prestigious "Botanical Society of America". Mary's research demonstrates the importance of field trips to teach botany to school students. Click here to read the full article.

September 2010

• As part of our commitment to reach as many schools as possible from the Miami-Dade Metro area our coordinators have been visiting several schools during September 2010. The High School team made two visits to Ramson Everglades (approx. 500 students and 60 teachers and administrators) and one visit to Miami Beach (approx. 60 students and three teachers). The Middle School Team visited two schools: Jose de Diego (approx. 60 students and four teachers) and W. R. Thomas (approx. 20 teachers and one assistant principal).

• Our welcome to Thad Foote, our new Fairchild Challenge High School Program Coordinator. After growing up in South Florida, Thad left the red mangroves for the red oaks of New England. He earned an M.S. in Environmental Education and taught in a variety of settings from the classroom to the seashore. Thad is very excited to join the Challenge team.

• Many thanks to Bank of America for a gift of $10,000 that will help us continue to expand our Fairchild Challenge program.

August 2010

• As part of the celebration of the 35th anniversary of the prestigious "Instituto de Ecologia" at Xalapa (Veracruz, Mexico) Dr. Javier Francisco-Ortega was invited to deliver a research lecture on "Molecular Perspectives for Plant Biodiversity on the Caribbean Islands." Javier stayed in Xalapa between August 17th and 19th and was hosted by Dr. Andrew Vovides. The "Institute of Ecologia" hosts the "Jardin Botanico Francisco Javier Clavijero" (JBFJC), a center that is the repository for the national cycad collection of Mexico. Fairchild and JBFCJ have a long and active tradition of collaboration. During this visit JBFC expressed interest in being part of the Fairchild Challenge Satellite program. The Head of its Education Department, Norma Corona Callejas, will attend the next Fairchild Challenge Satellite Partners Training Workshop (January 26-29).

• John Malloy, President of the Fairchild Palms, our organization for young professionals, presented the Fairchild Challenge with a check for $15,000 to support on-going and new program efforts. This gift was presented during our recent Teacher's Information Brunch that took place on August 28th, 2010.

• Our welcome to Barbara Martinez-Guerrero, our new Fairchild Challenge Middle School Coordinator. Barbara has been a teacher for the last 10 years, working in New York and South Florida. She received a B.S. at Florida International University and a M.A. at Columbia University’s Teacher’s College. Barbara has also worked internationally teaching English while in the Peace Corps and she is very excited about bringing to our program her international experience.

Last updated May/4/2011