News Release: Valdosta City Schools
Valdosta Middle School teacher, Cody Moncrief, worked with Dr. Manning, a VSU Chemistry professor, over the past two summers through the Georgia Tech/UGA Georgia Internship Fellowship for Teachers (GIFT) program. The GIFT program places teacher into real world STEM environments for a summer to gain and implement new experiences into the classroom. Last year, Moncrief was able to work with ROVs (remotely operated vehicles) with Dr. Manning. ROVs are a cheap way to explore different bodies of water and collect samples to study. During the past summer, Moncrief and Manning developed a way to explore the ocean floor with an environmentally green and cost effective system. The ROV system is filled with water, sinks to the ocean floor, collects a sample, has a chemical reaction releasing hydrogen gas, and then floats back to the surface. The ROV concept idea will be published in an upcoming issue of the Chemical Educator and a provisional patent for the ROV system has been issued. In November, Moncrief and colleagues presented the research and patent titled Stimulating the Imagination: A Green Tech, Deep Ocean Retrieval System in Atlanta at the regional SERMACS Chemistry Conference.