Jeff Brown will go on his first cruise next week when he boards the Exploration Vessel Nautilus for a five-day mission to help scientists map the ocean floor.
The Lockport Township High School teacher and Robotics Club sponsor gets to participate in the trip as a 2018 CITGO Nautilus Ambassador. He will join the Corps of Exploration aboard Nautilus June 6-10 as the ship launches a six-month scientific exploration mission in the Eastern Pacific Ocean.
“It is an honor, a surprise,” said Brown, who was nominated for the trip by current and former students. “It’s nice to be recognized. This is an opportunity for me to do something I wouldn’t ordinarily get to do.”
Brown said the ship will set sail June 6 from Los Angeles and spend five days updating or filling in gaps on seafloor maps in an area near northern California and Vancouver Island called the Cascadia margin before coming into port in San Francisco.
He said he will be transmitting a live feed of his activities back LTHS on June 8, the day before school ends.
“There is live stream capability with cameras on board. We also set up with different organizations to have a live interaction, basically like a Google hangout,” he said. “Through that kids can sit in a classroom at the school and ask me questions. So we can have conversations.”
The purpose, he said, is to give students real-life experiences in the field, even if they happen virtually.
“They get to see things in action. You can learn all about things in a classroom or in a lab setting inside a school, but to see me actually go out there, and to see those concepts and technology actually being used for something as high tech as this — that’s a great experience.”
He also plans to share the experience with his future engineering, architecture and computer-aided design classes, as well as his Robotics Club members.
Next school year, he said, “I can talk about the technology and science they used on the Nautilus. I can share the experiences. I think that will be more powerful because I can tell them I was there.”
Brown, whose specialty is technology — the “T” in STEM education, said the ship has two remotely operated vehicles that will be put in the water during his trip.
“So there will be ROV engineers and operators who I’ll be able to talk with about that and their robot versus the robot we use,” he said.
In addition, one of the three other teacher/ambassadors also is the robotics sponsor at his high school.
“It will be neat to share some knowledge,” Brown said.
Megan Cook, spokesperson for Ocean Exploration Trust, which owns and operates the Nautilus, said, “Embedding educators into the ocean exploration team truly showcases real-world connections for classroom curricula and highlights the many ways cutting-edge technology can be integrated into student learning.”
Ocean Exploration Trust was founded in 2008 by Robert Ballard, known for his discovery of RMS Titanic’s final resting place and as a National Geographic Explorer in Residence.
The organization, Cook said, works “to inspire a new generation of explorers and STEM professionals across the country. Providing at-sea experiences for educators empowers them as role models to share all they learn with students and their hometown communities. We aim for Ambassadors to help young people spark interests in ocean exploration and see pathways for them to careers in science, technology, engineering, mathematics, and education fields.”
Brown, a Lockport resident who is married and has three children, is not the first LTHS educator to be named a CITGO ambassador.
Each year, the company selects at least one ambassador to represent each of the four areas where it operates a refinery. In addition to Lemont, CITGO has refineries in Lake Charles, La.; Houston, Tex.; and Corpus Christie, Tex.
In August, 2016, Lockport teacher Sarah Steinke was chosen one of seven education ambassadors to sail on the Nautilus.
“We participated in ship to shore broadcasts with our schools and science museums,” said the chemistry teacher. “We worked as data loggers in the control van during an unmanned ROV dive. We also participated with Nautilus Live broadcasts sharing information about the summers discoveries.”
“The entire experience was eye opening,” Steinke said. “I really enjoyed seeing the variety of jobs that the scientists held as part of the expedition. I loved the excitement that the public had for the interesting creatures that were spotted during dives.”
High school students, she said, can have narrow views of science fields. “I was able to bring back some first hand experience about other possible fields of study for my students. This experience kept science fresh and was able to spark some additional interest for my students.”
Brown said because he’s never been on an ocean liner, he doesn’t know if he’s prone to sea sickness.
Just in case, he said, “I have an appointment for the Dramamine patch.”
According to its website, https://www.nautiluslive.org/, after the ambassadors debark in San Francisco on June 10, the 2018 expedition will continue on to November, with the Nautilus documenting and surveying unexplored regions from British Columbia, Canada, along the West Coast of the United States, and for the first time, west to the Hawaiian Islands.
