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TREX 2018 Day 13: Science Talk

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TREX 2018 Day 13: Science Talk
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By Ju Chulakadabba ‘19

Today was the last day before our science talk to the public.  We had been crunching in the past few days working on data analysis and presentation. We had our last run-through at 11 AM, and everything made more sense. We were more confident than ever.

After the last run, we stopped almost everything related to the presentation except for combing through pictures to create an introduction video of all of us, and we created one last figure to simplify our correlation map. To de-stress before the presentation, our Professor, TAs, and some of us went to the beach. We saw a whale. Well, it was not an actual whale, but it did cheer us up a little bit.

Whale made out of sand

Around 3:45 PM, we left our cabins and headed to the Kona Science Cafe at Natural Energy Laboratory of Hawaii Authority (NELHA.) We met MIT alums who moved to Hawaii. The conference room had a capacity of around 80 people, and about 20 people showed up for the talk. These people had various backgrounds, ranging from retired citizens and oceanographers, to doctors, high school teachers and high school students.

Everyone was so welcoming and supportive! We received good comments and questions from the audience, especially the high schoolers, who wanted to get involved with our sensors project. I got them in touch with our TA, Ben Crawford, who is going to spend a year and a half on the Big Island.

After a success on the presentation, our professor brought us to a nice restaurant in Kona. We had a good time and got a chance to actually eat “True Hawaiian Pizza.” From now on, we can relax a little bit before heading back to MIT.

 

Every year, a group of MIT students and professors travel to the Big Island of Hawaii to gain fieldwork experience through TREX (Traveling Research Environmental EXperiences). The first TREX trip was held in 2000, and since launching has taken students on research activities in domestic and international settings. For more undergraduate opportunities, click here.