Hello!  You have reached Garrett's individual web site for the MIT class 12.000, Solving Complex Problems.  The web site for this class can be viewed by clicking here or the "Mission 2008" link on the left panel.  In 12.000, we were presented with the challenge of creating a preservation strategy for the Galápagos Islands, 1,000 kilmoeters off the coast of Ecuador.  To tackle this assignment, we worked in five teams, each focusing on a separate geographical region of the islands, as depicted above.  I worked on team 1, which had the northern islands of Marchena, Tower, Pinta, Wolf, and Darwin.  After the first half of the semester, the five teams combined their research efforts and developed the class solution to the three main assignments of the course:

(1) To develop a new preservation strategy for the Galapagos that builds on the current management plan for the Galápagos National Park and Galápagos Marine Reserve by designating the two as a "World Scientific Preserve" that would be managed by an international commission and funded by a multinational trust.
(2)  To design and deploy a network of environmental sensors to support a comprehensive program of ecosystem monitoring on the islands and surrounding waters.
(3)  To design an idealized "village" for permanent residents and visitors that would ensure the lowest possible human impact on islands ecosystems.

    On the left panel, you can view my journal for this class and learn of the activities that I did throughout the semester.  Following this, I have posted meeting minutes from various team meetings, class coordination meetings, and information sessions held from the beginning of the semester until November 1, when the class shifted from the research phase to the design phase.  A selective bibliography details the most important sources that I utilized during the semester.  The "personal" page provides some information about me and my interests.  The team 1 site can only be viewed with MIT electronic certificates, but the section site and final presentation have been archived and are available to view by the public.  If you have any questions or comments, feel free to contact me at gmarino@mit.edu.  Thank you for visiting my web site.

    I would also like to take this space to thank all of the individuals who have contributed to my and my peers' success in this class.  Special thanks goes to our professors, Kip Hodges and Rafael Bras; team one's alumni mentors Bob Gurnitz and Jessica Lin; our specialty advisors; Howard Silver, team one's library liaison; our teaching assistant Jeremy Boyce; our administrator, Maria Shkolnik; team one's Undergraduate Teaching Fellows, Ruchi Jain and Carly Buchwald; and also our six review panelists, who all volunteered their time to come critique our ideas.  Thanks again!