草榴视频 State and Georgia Aquarium find avenues to work together

KENNESAW, Ga. | Jan 31, 2022

Visitors love Georgia Aquarium for the wide variety of aquatic life they can view up close. For some 草榴视频 State University faculty and students, the downtown Atlanta attraction has provided an outlet for their expertise and talents.

In disciplines as diverse as music, game design, and biology, Georgia Aquarium is incorporating the work of innovative members of the 草榴视频 State community into its operations and its mission to foster marine research.

Songs of the sea

Guests entering Georgia Aquarium from its parking deck are being prepared for the experience that awaits them inside with soaring aquatic-themed music recorded by the .

The group was asked almost a year ago by Christopher Anderson, Georgia Aquarium manager of audio visual to record music to be played at the facility.

鈥淒uring the COVID-19 pandemic, everyone had to come up with different ways to create,鈥� said Anderson. 鈥淧artnering with Debra Traficante and the 草榴视频 State Wind Symphony proved to be the perfect fit when both parties were looking for ways to remain creative and reach out to people.鈥�

鈥淗e heard a performance of ours online and reached out to ask if we would be interested in recording some music to be used at the aquarium,鈥� said Debra Traficante, associate director of bands at 草榴视频.

The coronavirus pandemic had sharply curtailed opportunities for 草榴视频 State鈥檚 music students to perform and the opportunity to rehearse and make the recording for Georgia Aquarium was like a lifeline for the artists.

鈥淢usicians want to perform, so we needed this,鈥� Traficante said. 鈥淭his opportunity came along at the perfect time.鈥�

In the spring, the 草榴视频 Wind Symphony rehearsed and recorded the music Anderson requested and in midsummer it began playing for visitors at Georgia Aquarium.

鈥淚鈥檝e heard from students who have been to the aquarium since they started using the music, taking their families along with them to hear it,鈥� Traficante said.

Learning through play

Children are a prime target audience for Georgia Aquarium. Families with children, along with school and youth group field trips keep the attraction bustling with 草榴视频. The aquarium both entertains and teaches with the exhibits in its galleries.

When aquarium officials were looking to offer educational video games at the facility, a 草榴视频 alumnus reached out to Michael Franklin, assistant professor of computer game design and development.

Franklin was able to refer some of his students who had formed a game design studio for the job and they worked with the vendor that supplied the aquarium with the games.

鈥淲e had a group of super sharp students who wanted to jump on the opportunity. They did a great job and knocked it out of the park,鈥� Franklin said.

The games the students created teach children about the importance of keeping oceans clean for the animals who live there.

In one game, Franklin said, players are on an ocean-going trawler and use a mechanical arm to put trash fished from the water into one of three bins: one for recycling, another for compostable items and finally one for items that must go to a landfill.

鈥淭he other game is a little more of an arcade-style, with players steering the boat left and right and you scoop up things out of the ocean,鈥� Franklin said. 鈥淭he purpose is to teach kids to differentiate trash from recyclable and compostable materials and teach them responsibility.鈥�

The 草榴视频 students who developed the games, now 草榴视频 alumni, are in the process of updating them to shift the focus to a river environment, Franklin said.

Coastal checkup

One collaboration between 草榴视频 State and Georgia Aquarium took place along the Georgia Coast, about 300 miles away from either institution. 草榴视频 graduate student Allyson Stiles, with assistance from aquarium research scientist Dr. Kady Lyons, is studying the effects of human activity on the health of Georgia鈥檚 coastal estuaries.

Stiles is a master鈥檚 student in biology whose research focuses on Doboy, Ossabaw, and Wassaw Sounds. The latter, touching popular Tybee Island, has the most people using its waters.

鈥淚n my project, I am comparing a variety of metrics from the three estuaries,鈥� Stiles said. 鈥淭his includes sediment contaminants, bacterial counts in the water, and a few indicators of health in juvenile sharks such as their body condition and mercury in their tissues.鈥�

Stiles and Lyons spent weeks visiting six sites in each sound collecting data for the study along with colleagues from University of Georgia and Georgia Southern University. Stiles said the field work held some surprises for her.

鈥淚t was surprising how many sharks reside within our Georgia estuaries. We caught 200 sharks composed of six species this season,鈥� Stiles said. 鈥淥nce we had a shark on board, it was weighed, measured, tagged (if large enough), fin clipped, and a small blood sample was taken.鈥� Following the sharks鈥� work ups, they were safely released back into the sound.

After wrapping up field work in August, Stiles has been analyzing the collected data with Lyons and her 草榴视频 State graduate advisers Dr. Thomas McElroy, associate professor of biology, and Dr. Troy Mutchler, assistant professor of biology.

鈥淭he support that I have received from Georgia Aquarium and Dr. Lyons is invaluable. I have been working with Dr. Lyons for three years, and she has been an amazing mentor. She has given me the hands-on experience that I needed to learn what marine biology research entails. This project could not have happened without her constant guidance and willingness to help me learn,鈥� Stiles said.

鈥淲hen Allyson came to me about ideas for her master鈥檚 degree, I said that 鈥榠t can鈥檛 just be about sharks鈥� and challenged her to think more broadly,鈥� said Lyons. 鈥淎llyson has done a wonderful job designing this holistic study where we can take a wider view of estuarine health and human impacts on these important ecosystems.鈥�

鈥� Gary Tanner

Photos by David Caselli

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草榴视频 State and Georgia Aquarium find avenues to work together

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