Into the woods: Thermo Fisher JIC finalists take on their final challenge
The 2024 Thermo Fisher Scientific Junior Innovators Challenge (Thermo Fisher JIC) brought together 30 of the nation鈥檚 brightest young scientists to Washington, D.C. for a week of friendly 91导航 competitions and team collaboration.
After putting their engineering, biology, and coding prowess to the test in challenges facilitated by JASON Learning, Pennsylvania Biomedical Research Society, and OpenWise Learning, and sharing their original research with the public at the Project Showcase (as well as the Virtual Project Showcase), the finalists headed east for their final challenge of the week at the (SERC).
Spanning 3,000 acres and 16 miles of scenic shoreline on the Chesapeake Bay, SERC is home to over 20 research laboratories specializing in fields ranging from carbon sequestration to ecosystems ecology to cataloging the 鈥溾�� of species across the Chesapeake. Against this fitting backdrop of real-world science, SERC鈥檚 Education Director welcomed the finalists and introduced the day鈥檚 challenge, focused on biodiversity.
Karen began by providing a primer on the meaning of biodiversity and its importance to ecosystems of all types and sizes. She then outlined the day鈥檚 task: each of the six teams would take on the mantle of being expert ecologists in one of three distinct ecosystems 鈥攅astern woodlands, woodland鈥檚 edge, or freshwater pond. Though each setting was unique, the teams shared the goal of documenting as many species as they could identify in their assigned locale, while drawing broader conclusions about the area鈥檚 biodiversity.
As Karen explained, finalists wouldn鈥檛 merely be documenting species for the challenge. Equipped with iPads to record their observations, the finalists would upload photos of local wildlife to a database used by professional scientists working with the . Just like SERC鈥檚 scientists, the finalists鈥� fieldwork would be in the service of ongoing research initiatives.
The teams set off, traveling across SERC鈥檚 campus, into the woods, along the woodland edge and down to the water. As they went, the teams began to formulate ideas and strategies for documenting the biodiversity of their surroundings.
At the freshwater pond, the Silver Team could be seen with magnifying glasses carefully pipetting water samples, on the lookout for microorganisms. In addition to identifying the smallest of swimmers, they also happened upon some not-so-tiny inhabitants of the ecosystem, with one team member exclaiming after a notable finding, 鈥淭hat鈥檚 the BIGGEST bug I鈥檝e ever seen!鈥�
At the site on the woodland鈥檚 edge, the Green Team worked to identify a rare and unique organism whose identification briefly stumped even the experienced SERC team鈥攂ut after some quick cross-referencing with the tool, they positively identified the little crawler as a hedgehog slug.
The Orange Team conducted their investigations at the edge of the woods, where they found an abundance of life, sometimes startlingly so, like when they uncovered a large group of scuttling spiders. Rather than retreat, the team zoomed in for a closer look, working to identify the arachnids by their distinctive spotted patterns.
In the dense thicket of the eastern woodland site, the Blue Team carefully strategized to eliminate potential biases in their observations. After pinpointing 聽an area, they worked meticulously鈥攏ot only to document the biodiversity of the plot, but also to minimize any disruption on the homes of the organisms they hoped to identify.
On their search for biodiversity, the Gold Team was very deliberate in its efforts to capture the highest quality images they could, slow and steady鈥攅xcept when they had to act quickly to document a wasp that buzzed through their area for a moment.
In addition to exploring biodiversity through the challenge, the finalists had the opportunity to experience the Chesapeake鈥檚 marine life up close through a seining activity鈥攁 fishing method that involves gently dragging a large net through water. Wading into the bay in pairs, the finalists tried their hand at seining and carefully transferred the organisms they found into categorized bins labeled 鈥渟wimmers, hoppers, floaters and crawlers.鈥�
The Purple Team showed a particular aptitude for the seining activity, collecting an impressive collection of shimmering swimmers, which they identified as silverside fish鈥攊n addition to an array of other fish, grass shrimp and even a few jellyfish.
After completing their work in the field and presenting their observations and analysis to the judges, Karen congratulated the finalists for doing a 鈥渞eally wonderful job.鈥� She also informed the group that, over the course of the challenge, the finalists logged nearly 100 observations, while cataloging at least 27 different species鈥攅ach of which would be documented for future reference by scientists studying the Chesapeake region.
