17 July, 1998

Fellow enthusiasts of Extreme Science!:

Though it may be a long way off in some sense, preparations have commenced at a furious pace to prepare for the April/May 1999 excursion to the Antarctic Peninsula.

I am teaching a special class right now that is an industry focused internship. I have 35 students who I co-lead with Mr. Dennis Wilson (a social studies teacher). We have written the curriculum for the course to simulate a Research and Development Department of a major electronics firm. The scenario has the students receiving a research grant to develop a remote weather station for the antarctic. The students have written resumes and applied for various positions in the company. These positions fall within the company's major departments:

* Hardware and software engineering,

* Web Page editing (we are setting up our own),

* Web Camera/Video Conferencing,

* Marketing (to locate educationally promotional opportunities)

* Communications (for dealing with several agencies involved in attempting to provide for video conferencing and extended web access to the station) * Leadership - the students are running the company with minimal interference from Mr. Wilson and myself

We have taken several field trips to observe remote sensing in the industry, including a tour aboard NOAA's RV Ronald H Brown, a research vessel almost as big as the Palmer. The latter was quite interesting because it allowed us to visualize how the station might be affixed to the Palmer, as well the chance to see their own remote sensors. We've taken many pictures and will be sending them soon.

If you are interested in linking up with us either by email or by video-conferencing, email the students at Polarscience@hotmail.com or email myself at Beights@mail.firn.edu

See you online!

Mr. Shawn Beightol