Students from across US to visit New Zealand through Georgia Southern-led NSF grant program
Tyler Cyronak, Ph.D., an assistant professor at Georgia Southern University’s School of Earth, Environment and Sustainability, is leading a group of 20 students from universities across the U.S. on a trip to New Zealand. The trip is the conclusion of a multiyear National Science Foundation (NSF) grant program that has enabled students to do hands-on coral reef research. This final trip will take students to the International Coral Reef Symposium this month where they will learn from top experts and share their own discoveries.
“This is quite a large conference with thousands of attendees,” said Cyronak. “It is the place where everybody goes who works on coral reefs every four years, so the students will get to network with scientists from around the globe.”
Georgia Southern environmental science doctoral student Alejandra Daniel is looking forward to taking part in the adventure. Having joined a previous trip to Australia that focused on field research, Daniel is excited for a new travel opportunity that focuses on presenting findings.
“These will be two completely different experiences,” said Daniel. “The first one in Australia was all about going to this incredible research station and learning field techniques from some of the best researchers in the world. This New Zealand trip will allow us to share our own research, watch others present their own, and then have the opportunity to talk to them about it and ask questions.”
In addition to formal presentations, Cyronak says students will gain invaluable perspective from immersing themselves in a new place while they learn.
“They will come home having seen how broad the scope of science can be and expand their own horizons,” said Cyronak. “There will be people at the conference from every country you could imagine, so they will get to meet experts from all over the planet who share their interest in science and build a professional network.”
Cyronak says he knows exactly how important it is for students to get outside of the classroom because of the impact field research made on his own journey.
“I was able to do a three-month course on coral reef science in Curacao going from my undergraduate to my master’s degree,” said Cyronak. “It opened my eyes to doing research in the field. Being immersed for such a long time gave me a better mastery of all the techniques of research. I wanted to give that opportunity back to students because it was so pivotal in my career.”
Daniel agrees that the experiences offered through grant programs give students opportunities to grow that they cannot get anywhere else.
“It’s so incredible to step outside of the classroom and see places truly on the opposite side of the world,” said Daniel. “Everything I have done through the program has been a beautiful reminder of why I want to be part of this field and it has gotten me through the hard parts of the degree. There’s no way I would have been able to have these experiences without it.”