Team: 49
School: Melrose High
Area of Science: Biology
Proposal: Our Project: In our Biology class we have learned about bioluminescent algae, and how it responds to stimuli to cause it to glow. On recent vacations, two of our team members have seen this actually occur, and we all decided that this would be an interesting project to work on. After doing some research on how this natural lighting occurs, we found that disturbances cause the algae to give off light, and that it fades out after a short amount of time. We plan to do research on this by raising a small amount of algae in our school's lab and studying how various amounts of disturbances cause differing amounts of light production. As we get data from the living algae, we will design and build a NetLogo model that simulates information. We think that kind of a simulation can help build systems that use and show the beauty of bioluminescence.
Our Mentors: We have contacted the Aquarium in Albuquerque to see if they have anyone on staff that can help us with our research. We are also planning to see if the ENMU Biology Department might help.
Team Members:
Skyla Wicker
Hally Draper
Jalee Snipes
Aubrey Goddard
Sponsoring Teacher: Alan Daugherty