image: Shedd Aquarium's R/V Coral Reef II
Credit: Shedd Aquarium
Shedd Aquarium announces the successful completion of a three-year collaborative education initiative with University of The Bahamas (UB) and The Bahamas Agriculture and Marine Science Institute (BAMSI), bringing dozens of Bahamian students aboard Shedd's research vessel, the Coral Reef II, for hands-on marine ecology training in their home waters.
Made possible with support from Builders Vision Philanthropy, partners designed a for-credit field course that gave students direct, in-water experience with the ecosystems they had previously studied in textbooks. Using the Coral Reef II as a floating classroom, faculty from UB, BAMSI, and Shedd research scientists worked together aboard the vessel to host 52 students for a combined 22 days at sea over the course of the grant.
"This immersive experience on board the Coral Reef II delving into the marine ecosystems allowed our students to transform classroom theory into real-world scientific expertise. We thank the Shedd Aquarium for the opportunity, which empowered our BAMSI scholars to lead the future of Bahamian marine conservation,” said Dr. Raveenia Roberts-Hanna, President, The Bahamas Agriculture and Marine Science Institute.
"Connecting a name in a textbook to a living, swimming animal is improved with opportunities to share the same environment with the animals," said Dr. Mattias Johansson, Assistant Professor, University of The Bahamas. "Our hope is that our students who receive training with a blend of local knowledge and outside expertise will result in enhanced learning outcomes that would benefit them as the Bahamian decision makers of tomorrow."
During the course, participants lived aboard Shedd’s vessel during four-day, three-night voyages around Grand Bahama and Andros, rotating through boat duties, snorkeling seagrass beds, mangroves, patch reefs and offshore reefs by day and night, and completing a final exam that anchored the for-credit course. Along the way, students and faculty documented more than 150 species of fish, invertebrates and algae.
After learning in Bahamian waters, four students traveled to Florida, where they joined Shedd scientists during research cruises to study queen conch and reef shark populations, which provided direct exposure to long-term field conservation methods not always accessible in The Bahamas. The three-year structure of the grant was designed intentionally to give UB and BAMSI faculty room to co-develop and refine the curriculum across multiple course cycles rather than a single one-off trip.
"This program was never meant to be a single expedition — it was meant to be the start of a lasting partnership," said Dr. Andy Kough, a research biologist at Shedd Aquarium. "We're proud of what these students accomplished in the water and are excited to where this experience might take them."
Several Bahamian students who took part in both the field course and a Florida research cruise reflected on their experiences:
- Tatyana Lockhart shared that the program deepened her hands-on research skills, from learning to properly measure queen conch to using a hydrophone to track tagged conch and running a small boat during field missions. She also pointed to night dives as a personal highlight, describing the reef after dark as both thrilling and peaceful, and a reminder of why she fell in love with the ocean.
- Lashaunna Williams said the opportunity to work alongside a range of specialists, including learning how to operate the vessel's dive compressor during a research trip in Florida, opened her eyes to marine science career paths she hadn't previously considered, and reinforced the importance of strong academic performance in earning access to opportunities like this one.
- Britney Basden described how applying classroom knowledge in a real-world research setting in the Florida Keys helped strengthen SCUBA, teamwork and scientific skills while evening lectures were an unexpected bonus that exposed her to new career considerations and research techniques.
- All three students said they hope more Bahamian students will have access to similar opportunities, describing the experience as a rare, early window into the range of marine science career paths available to them.
Shedd Aquarium hopes to continue working with UB, BAMSI and Bahamian conservation organizations to expand access to research and field training opportunities for Bahamian students in the years ahead.