NOAA’s Teacher at Sea Program alumna, Cristina Veresan (TAS 2015), and NOAA’s Alaska Fisheries Science Center (AFSC) Research Fisheries Biologist, Denise McKelvey, helped celebrate World Ocean Day on June 4, 2016 at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History’s Qrius Education Center. Museum ocean activities reached over 1,000 people and focused on the World Ocean Day theme “Healthy Ocean, Healthy Planet”. Cristina Veresan and Denise McKelvey shared “Sounds of the Sea” – easy to understand, hands-on activities that explored how scientists use sound to learn about fish populations.  

For over 15 years, McKelvey has sailed on NOAA research vessels in the Bering Sea and the Gulf of Alaska studying fish populations using acoustics. In 2015, Veresan was aboard NOAA ship Oscar Dyson with McKelvey on an acoustic–trawl fisheries survey. Veresan’s experience as a science educator in Hawai’i, and McKelvey’s research experience was a great match during this ocean–themed event. Cristina Veresan is currently an Albert Einstein Distinguished Educator Fellow serving as an education policy fellow in the Washington, D.C. office of Senator Al Franken.  

Special thanks to Jen Collins, Ocean Education Specialist at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, for inviting Teacher at Sea to participate in this event. Thank you also to NOAA AFSC, who continually supports the Teacher at Sea Program during outreach events and by mentoring numerous teachers on research surveys.