In early April, when schools closed to in-person learning in Bermuda due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the BIOS Ocean Academy education team began offering virtual classroom support to teachers and students through the Institute’s Curriculum Enrichment Program. As the closure continues, they encourage teachers island-wide to utilize these science programs taught by BIOS staff.

The BIOS Bermuda Program has been a cornerstone of the Institute’s local educational programming for more than 40 years. Since 1976, this unique program has given Bermudian students aged 18 and older the opportunity to gain valuable experience by working alongside BIOS faculty and scientific staff in hands-on internships that cover a range of topics in the marine and atmospheric sciences. Bermuda Program students have the opportunity to work in both field and laboratory settings, learning skills such as data analysis, communication, and problem solving that are crucial for success in a variety of careers.

This fall, BIOS will again welcome U.S. undergraduate students to its campus as part of the National Science Foundation (NSF) Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) program. But this year, there will be an exciting new twist to the internship experience.

Bermudian Claire Fox joined BIOS this month as a science education officer, bringing to the job her experience as a BIOS intern, and as a former employee and volunteer for a variety of island-based science education outlets, plus university-level science training.

Adult corals that survive high-intensity environmental stresses, such as bleaching events, can produce offspring that are better suited to survive in new environments. These results from a series of experiments conducted at BIOS in 2017 and 2018 are deepening scientists’ understanding of how the gradual increase of sea surface temperatures and other environmental disturbances may influence future coral generations.

While working on board a research vessel positioned 240 miles offshore Ireland in the Atlantic, BIOS zooplankton ecologist Amy Maas announced this month the publication of three new papers in science research journals. Maas, who has spent May at sea with 26 other scientists for the multi-year EXPORTS project (EXport Processes in the Ocean from Remote Sensing), used Instagram to promote the just-released science publications.

Two years ago, after nearly 20 years of living and working in the reinsurance industry in Bermuda, Stephen Weinstein joined the BIOS board as a trustee. Passionate about the island, committed to business development, and keen to promote initiatives and solutions related to the global risk of climate change, he strives to combine these elements. BIOS, he said, is a key player.

On June 8, seven BIOS employees will take part in a virtual career fair hosted by the Bermuda Underwater Exploration Institute (BUEI) in honor of World Oceans Day. The event’s theme, “The Ocean: Life & Livelihoods,” is designed to help local high school and college students explore the wide variety of career opportunities that exist in fields related to ocean science.

A two-year research project led by the Bermuda Institute of Ocean Sciences (BIOS) aimed at increasing understanding of highly migratory and mobile predatory fishes, including sharks, in Bermuda’s deep-sea waters was one of 31 projects chosen this month to receive funding through the Darwin Plus program. The program, also known as the Overseas Territories Environment and Climate Fund, is administered through the U.K. Government’s Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and provides funding for the “conservation of unique and globally significant environments found in U.K. Overseas Territories.”

Primary and secondary students at Warwick Academy, a private school in Bermuda, now have the opportunity to participate in ongoing scientific research thanks to a partnership between BIOS, the school, and the Living Reefs Foundation (LRF), a Bermuda-based non-profit organization. The project is one of the first at the Academy’s newly-constructed waterfront Marine Science Center, allowing students to learn valuable laboratory skills and play a role in restoring coral reefs in Castle Harbor that were damaged by the development of the airport in the 1950s.