(acoustic guitar music)
- [Dr. Stillman] Being
able to go to Moorea
and do research right onsite,
right on a coral reef,
is an amazing opportunity
for students to engage
in being scientists in
an incredible location,
a tropical island in the South Pacific.
(upbeat music)
(laughter)
This Moorea class is, by far,
my most favorite class to teach.
The students go and spend
nine weeks in Moorea.
First, they go and learn
all about the island,
learn all about the natural history,
learn all about the
culture of French Polynesia
and then, they choose
a project to work on.
This is Cook's Bay.
This is amazing.
You can just jump out of your bedroom
and essentially, walk
right into the water.
This is the traditional
Polynesian gathering hut.
It's where I like to hold
office hours with students
and we talk about their projects.
- Hi, my name's Liam.
I'm here on Tomai Reef, looking at coral
and the structure they
provide for all the organisms.
- I actually took a marine
biology course in undergrad.
Getting to see the ocean
and actually be in the water
with these animals was, really,
kind of an eye-opening experience for me.
I study a species of clam
which is found in French Polynesia.
The way that it generates
energy is actually
by it collecting light,
and that might help up
modify solar panels,
that we collect light more efficiently.
By the end of the nine weeks,
you've really seen them
mature into scientists
and to have a really
strong research project
that ultimately, can be
published afterwards,
so it's a really great experience
being a TA in the course
and seeing that transition.
- [Dr. Stillman] I love
getting to know the students,
getting to understand
them as people
(laughter)
and helping them to see
how they connect as people
to the way that they conduct
research as scientists.
It is, by far, one of the coolest things
you could do as an undergraduate student
and I really encourage students to look
at this opportunity as a
really, really special one
through UC Berkeley.
(atmospheric music)
