VI-EPSCoR INVOLVEMENT IN EARTH DAY ACTIVITIES 
 
 
 
VI-EPSCoR Shows Off at the 3rd Annual Pro-Enviro Fair 
 
As a part of the US EPA’s Earth Day Pro-Enviro Fair, hosted by UVI and co-sponsored 
by the Virgin Islands Network of Environmental Educators, VI-EPSCoR hosted a table 
with a variety of interactive, research related activities. VI-EPSCoR researchers were 
present to engage the students in science and explore some of the various ways that 
science is exciting and fun. The activities included a weather station model for the 
students to work with, as well as an activity demonstrating the mapping abilities available 
with Geographic Information Systems software (GIS). In order to demonstrate the 
relationships between the marine environment and people, the VI-EPSCoR table also 
included a sedimentation simulation. All activity areas were influenced by the research 
being done through several of the ongoing VI-EPSCoR incubator grants. The event was 
open to K-12 students in the district and was the third annual Pro-Enviro Fair funded by 
the US EPA. 
 
 
VI-EPSCoR Assists in Organization of Climate Change Seminars 
 
Additionally, VI-EPSCoR played a role in organizing the Earth Day Seminars on Global 
Climate Change. Presentations were made by UVI researchers and specialists on the 
impacts that climate change is having on natural resources in the Territory. The 
presentations included: “Global Climate Change – An Overview and Mitigation 
Strategies” (Professor Roy Watlington), “Coral Bleaching and Seawater Warming” (Dr. 
Tyler Smith), and “Climate Change and its Impacts on Reef Species Population 
Dynamics” (Dr. Nasseer Idrisi).