• September 19
  
• September 18
  
• September 17
  
• September 16
  
• September 15
  
• September 14
  
• September 13
  

September 19, 2004

       Work in my other classes consumed by life today.
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September 18, 2004

        My interests are in creation of an improved monitoring network for the Galápagos ecosystem.  I will therefore be focusing on Galápagos climatology, geology, fauna, and flora.  It is my intention to be part of the group in November that develops our section's ecosystem monitoring network.  Today, I read chapter one of Galápagos Marine Invertebrates, entitled "The Galápagos Islands and Their Relation to Oceanographic Processes in the Tropical Pacific."  This chapter provided basic but vital information to consider when developing the monitoring system, i.e. knowing how levels of specific indicator variables for the health of the ecosystem (e.g. nitrates in the ocean as an indicator of marine productivity) fluctuate over the course of the year or years. 
        Click here for real-time Galápagos weather, courtesy of The Weather Channel online.   
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September 17, 2004

       Today we had our first team meeting.  Minutes can be read here.  For at least the next week, I will be doing some general reading on the Galápagos through my library loans. 
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September 16, 2004

       I reviewed some parts of Evolution's Workshop, fousing on the history of the Galápagos over the past 50 years.  I learned how the National Park was established in 1959 and of the circumstances that developed the Marine Reserve in 1984. 
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September 15, 2004

       Our first coordination meeting was today.  The purpose of these meetings is to collaborate among teams with our research and ideas for solving the three main assignments of the class.  We discussed as a group our defintion of an "A" for the team grade portion of the class.  This is what we decided on with input from all team members:

• Web site
• Accessible to everyone (with MIT certificates)
• Correctly referenced i.e. display research/literature that justifies our ideas
• User friendly
• Standards compliant
• Alternative solutions
• Addresses the three objectives and recommendations in a coherent manner
• Developing our preserve:
• Account for/understanding of/incorporation of the following
  
• Definition of a preserve
• UN Regulations/Rules and other international law
• Feasibility of the preserve
• Limitations of our design
• Making sure our preserve is realistic
• Environmental sensors 
• Climatology
• Wildlife
• Topography
•  i.e. looking for good spots in the water for buoys
• Environmental impact of the sensors
• Types of sensors
• Village
• Capacity of islands to host people
• Possibility of relocating residents
• Regulation of tourism
• Transportation
• Waste disposal
• Economy of island
• How our plan will benefit the people
• Quantifying the results
• Team Protocol
Follow the established group rules

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September 14, 2004

        Today we had our first of many weekly Tuesday Terrascope lunches.  These lunches not only provide us the opportunity to learn of interesting research endeavors being conducted by MIT faculty, but also to get the Terrascope students to know one another better.  A complete listing of all the lunches is below:

Tues. Sept. 14    Terrascope Co-director and Professor, EAPS, Kip Hodges:  “Building the Himalaya”
Tues. Sept. 21    Professor Harriet Ritvo, History:  “What Darwin Didn’t See in the Galapagos”
Tues. Sept. 28    Schuyler Senftt-Grupp, Sol Hsiang, and Holly Owens:  “Terrascope Beyond the Freshman Year”
Tues. Oct. 5       Dr. Matt Gardner, Program Administrator, ESI: “ Systems, Ecosystems, and Earth Systems Diagnostics"
Tues. Oct. 12     Professor Ed DeLong, CEE: “Exploring the Microbial World—from Genomes to Biomes”
Tues. Oct. 19     Professor Dan Nocera, Chemistry
Tues. Oct. 26     Professor Ole Madsen, CEE:  “Seawalls:  Are they Sons of Beaches or Not”
Tues. Nov. 2      Professor Kelin Whipple, EAPS: “Laboratory Experiments on River Incision into Rock"
Tues. Nov. 9      Seminar sponsored by Earth System Initiative: Professor Derek Lovley, Dept. of Microbiology, University of Massachusetts, Amherst
                         "Cleaning up with Genomics:  Applying Systems Biology to Bioremediation and Energy Harvesting with Geobacter,” in room 6-120
Tues. Nov. 16    The Environmental Management System at MIT
                           Bill Van Schalkwyk, Director, Environmental, Health and Safety Programs, MIT Environmental Programs Office and
                           Steve Lanou, Program Manager for Sustainability Initiatives
Tues. Nov. 23     No Speaker – Thanksgiving Week
Tues. Nov. 30     Penny Chisholm, Terrascope Co-director and Professor, CEE:  “How are the Galapagos, iron, and global warming connected?”
Tues. Dec. 7       Professor Lorna Gibson, Materials Science and Engineering:  “The Engineering of Trees: A Service Learning Freshman Seminar”
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September 13, 2004

       We had the web design principles information session today.  The brief minutes can be viewed here.  I learned how to place my web site on the MIT server.