When assistant professor and oceanic researcher Dr. Chad Hammerschmidt announced last May that he would take three students on an 11-day research expedition in the Atlantic Ocean over the summer, College of Science and Mathematics technical writer/editor Suzy McGovern presented him with but one simple question… “Wouldn’t it be great to have your students create a blog about your trip at sea?"
Atlantic Cruise ’08 went live on August 11 when it was created by Lisa Romas, one of the graduate students on Dr. Hammerschmidt’s research team. Lisa, along with undergraduate student Katlin Bowman, had enthusiastically agreed to blog about their upcoming trip when Chad posed the question just weeks before. Although their cruise would not begin until August 17, Lisa set out to create the blog days earlier, successfully setting the research stage for potential visitors and bloggers.
While the blog was being created, excitement began building for Suzy who was planning to announce the research blog and its link to the campus community via e-mail. Never before had such an initiative been advertised by the college nor, for that matter, by any other unit on campus that members could recall. Once “CoSM Students to Blog from Sea” was posted to the university listserv, it didn’t take long for an enthusiastic response. Department of English lecturer Brady Allen was the first to reply with this message to the WSU community:“Now, this is really cool!… I'll read this blog as it goes on; I can vicariously be that‘deep-sea’ explorer I dreamed of being as an Ohio country boy! I never could have imagined a ‘blog’ from way out in the Atlantic as a boy in the 1970’s—or, thanks to Ray Bradbury, et al., I could have imagined it, but who’d’ve thunk it’d be real. It may not be Atlantis, but this is something, Hoss.” In addition, a story and link to the blog was featured on the CoSM website. |
The first person to post to the blog was CoSM Dean Michele Wheatly who wished the students bon voyage and added that she would follow their daily travels with great interest. Soon, other posts, written by WSU faculty, staff, and students, as well as family members of the student researchers, appeared on the blog.
With each passing day, the students chronicled their experience at sea, posting fascinating details of their work, as well as spectacular photos of their research activities and beautiful seascapes. The research ship traveled a designated path in the Atlantic and made stops at 16 stations, where the researchers would carefully collect and examine water, zooplankton, and sediment samples to study the behavior of mercury in the ocean.
Of the samples collected, some were examined in the ship’s laboratories while others were frozen for later study in campus labs. From what the students shared, it was meticulous work; however, there were also times to enjoy the beautiful marine life and to have fun. For some readers, the blog quickly became a daily ritual; keeping up with the students’ daily activities stirred the imagination, yet provided deep appreciation for the excitement and hard work that comes with oceanic research. For the students, it was a rare, educational, and unforgettable experience. For those of us on land, it was a captivating journey…one we would never have made if it weren’t for the students. Thank you for taking us with you, Lisa, Katlin, and Will! 
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