Our Leaders Programs engage young people along a pathway to college and career to ensure students who want to become science and conservation leaders are provided the tools to get there.
These programs engage over 100 middle school, high school, and college-age young people per year in a series of interconnected after-school and summer programs and support services. Leaders offers a pathway for underrepresented students to progress from secondary school through university and on to careers in science and conservation.
We prepare students – our Ocean Leaders – through a unique approach that engages students in authentic science experiences which build on their talents, passions, and intellect; sets high expectations; and use mentoring and coaching. This approach empowers students and provides the opportunity to build the skills needed to overcome challenges on their own.
Engaging students in authentic scientific research has demonstrated remarkable results in helping students to achieve previously unthinkable goals, including the pursuit of higher education. With a team of scientific advisors that develop and lead research efforts both in Baja California and in San Diego County, Ocean Discovery Institute students work to develop their knowledge, skills and self-confidence through the exploration through studies in these key areas:
Turtles and Fisheries
Developing strategies to reduce the accidental capture of sea turtles by fishermen, while maintaining capture rates of fish for a viable fishing economy, is a priority for policy makers, conservationists, and fishers and is a critical component to the recovery plan for sea turtles. Ocean Discovery Institute, working in collaboration with the National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration, are conducting experiments in Baja California to identify strategies that can be used worldwide to reduce the accidental death of sea turtles. Already these methods have demonstrated 40%-60% reductions in sea turtle captures.
Land and Sea Connections
Understanding how biological communities change through space and time is a frontier issue in ecology. Research in the archipelago of Bahía de los Angeles conducted by the University of San Diego in partnership with Ocean Discovery Institute is revealing strong connectivity between highly productive marine and desert terrestrial ecosystems. Understanding these principles is critical to developing management strategies for the conservation of coastal areas, which include some of the most threatened habitats in the world.
Wetlands are among the most threatened habitats on earth, disappearing at an alarming rate due to human impacts. The wetlands of Bahía de los Angeles are still relatively pristine compared to those in the United States. Research by Ocean Discovery Institute and scientists with the California Sea Grant Extension Program at Scripps Institution of Oceanography are creating a first-ever quantitative study of the biodiversity of these wetlands. These data provide a baseline from which future changes in ecological health can be detected, while informing conservation strategies for wetland management throughout the world.
Our students’, staff, and partner scientists’ research has been presented at conferences and published in national scientific and education journals. Explore some of their research: