Program Description
seaHarmony aims to connect ocean scientists and educators to provide opportunities for scientist participation in outreach, and expand community participation in science. seaHarmony is an online collaboration network connecting ocean scientists wanting to become involved in broader impact education activities, and formal or informal educators and organizations who want to bring science to their students and communities. We do this by matching members with partners based on collaboration opportunities, preferences, common interests, and availability. Ocean scientists can look for education and outreach projects with which to collaborate, and likewise ocean science educators or community groups can find scientists that are willing to give classroom or public presentations, guide student or community research, or collaborate on projects. seaHarmony uses simple algorithms to align compatibility criteria and collaboration preferences for the best possible matching of scientists and community/education/outreach partners.
Scientist seeking a community partner? Educator looking to invite a scientist to your classroom? Traditional practitioner searching for a research collaborator? Resource managers wanting to connect with community organizations? All of the above? This site is for you! A primary goal of seaHarmony is to help ocean scientists interested in broadening the impacts of their research find potential collaborators in education, management, or community engagement. Members are only visible to other members who match their collaboration preferences, and initial contacts are mediated through the seaHarmony website, so contact information of members is protected. seaHarmony is also a place to post specific projects or opportunities for collaboration, such as ideas for grant proposals, internships, workshops, or public events. These opportunity posts will be visible to all other members of seaHarmony, but the author will also be able to see members that are specifically compatible with that opportunity. A third feature of the site is an open discussion forum for posting announcements, resources, questions, or comments about any of the nearly 30 ocean science topic areas listed on the site. And we're always interested in improving the site, so there's an option to add more ocean science topics.
COSEE Center
COSEE Island Earth is a collaborative initiative among university, government, research, and community partners to improve connections between scientists and educators, inform ocean science educational practices, and enhance ocean literacy in Hawaii.
Contact Information
Judith Lemus Hawaii Institute of Marine Biology
University of Hawaii
