TITLE 
VI-EPSCoR –supported activities open unprecedented research 
experiences for K-12 students in the Virgin Islands 
Nicolas Drayton, Assistant Director, VI-EPSCoR, University of the Virgin Islands.  
OUTCOME 
Virgin Islands students are being given unprecedented opportunities to 
conduct high-calibre levels of research. This is providing them with early 
exposure to the wonders of systematically seeking answers to the 
unknown, and to the possibilities of science as real academic and career 
options. 
 
IMPACTS/BENEFITS As a result of VI-EPSCoR’s investments and partnerships, more under-
represented minorities are channelling their interests to STEM disciplines, 
particularly marine sciences in the Virgin Islands. This is creating a larger 
cadre of “home-grown” marine scientists engaged in research and 
adaptive management of the Territory’s coral reef resources upon which 
the territory’s economy is heavily dependent. 
EXPLANATION 
VI-EPSCoR seeks to strengthen the K-12 STEM pipeline in the Virgin 
Islands through a number of initiatives. These include supporting the 
Virgin Islands’ Network of Environmental Educators’ (VINE) Adopt-A-
School program, partnering with the Friends of the Virgin Islands National 
Park on their summer Science Camp program, and supporting the St. 
Croix Science Teachers Association’s Mathematics and Environmental 
Science Academy (MESA) summer program. Through these partnerships 
VI-EPSCoR facilitates high school students’ access to researchers-in-the 
-field, high-grade technical equipment, and mentorship by college-level 
STEM student-interns who work with instructors in the summer programs. 
The students are experiencing ‘real’ research for the first time, in ways 
that have them coming back for more. The Friends of the Virgin Islands 
National Park documented a steady increase in repeat participants to 
their Science Camp, to an all-time high of 47% in 2011, while the MESA 
program boasts of 83% of the (2011) students indicating that they wanted 
to be part of the program again in the following summer. The recent 
opening of a VI-EPSCoR-funded Environmental Analysis Laboratory at 
UVI further increases the opportunities for academic growth and 
development of the Territory’s future leaders in research. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Credit: Nicolas Drayton VI-EPSCoR; Images provided by: ndrayton@live.uvi.edu 
Form 1515 Grant No: 0814417 VI-EPSCoR RII 09/01/2008 – 08/31/2013 PI: Henry H. Smith Ph.D. 
 
High school students participate in sediment 
studies at the Friends of the VI National Park’s 
Science Camp 
 
 
MESA students present their research findings to 
UVI, Federal and local Government officials at the 
opening of the new UVI Environmental Analysis Lab.