Jan Newton
newton@ocean.washington.edu

As chair of the Student Activities Team, I'd like to assure all students that making the ERF conferences student-friendly and informative continues is a strong priority that will be upheld in Seattle, for sure! The following student activities (and their leaders) are planned for ERF 2003.

Student Travel Awards
First, let's work on trying to get you to ERF 2003! Paul Carlson, Florida Fish and Wildlife Department, and Flo Thomas, University of South Florida, will be once again chairing this effort to select students for travel assistance awards. See this newsletter for the announcement and details.
Paul Carlson (Paul.Carlson@fwc.state.fl.us)
Flo Thomas (fthomas@chuma1.cas.usf.edu)

Student Volunteer Coordination
Now, once you are there, you can work for a day to offset your registration. Cheryl Greengrove, University of Washington -Tacoma, will lead the effort to coordinate students wishing to volunteer their time for tasks like running A/V equipment, helping with events, and other needs. Keep watching the webpage to sign up for this opportunity. The number of spaces for volunteers will be limited, so be sure to sign up early.
Cheryl Greengrove (cgreen@u.washington.edu)

Student Presentation Judging
But of course, a major element of the student experience is telling us about your science. We hope you'll present your research. If you sign up to be part of the student presentation competition, your oral or poster presentation will be reviewed and scored by several judges.
The judges' score sheets will be returned to each student to provide feedback on how to further improve your presentation skills.
The student presentation judging will be led by Suzanne Strom and Gisele Muller-Parker, both of Western Washington University. Keep your eye out for announcements of the great prizes that will go to the top winners in several categories. When submitting your abstract you'll see the spot to check for this option. And those of you non-students reading this, we'll be asking for volunteers for judges too!!
Suzanne Strom (stroms@cc.wwu.edu)
Gisele Muller-Parker (gisele@biol.wwu.edu)

Student Career Event
Now, how about networking? Joy Bartholomew (ERF Executive Director) and Linda Blum (University of Virginia and ERF Education Committee Chair) will be organizing a Student Career Event.
These events at previous ERF conferences have featured free food, many student-friendly scientists, and chances to share questions and find answers to help you take the right steps in launching your post-university career. This event should be a hit!
Joy Bartholomew (jbarth@erf.org)
Linda Blum (lkb2e@virginia.edu)

Educational Outreach
We are also working on outreach to undergraduates (especially at local community colleges), graduate students, and others, as appropriate. Fritz Stahr and Christian Sarason of the Ocean Inquiry Project will be coordinating this effort.
Fritz Stahr (stahr@ocean.washington.edu)
Christian Sarason (cpsarason@oceaninquiry.org)

If you have any ideas or concerns regarding student activities at ERF 2003, please email me. Please put "ERF Student Activities" in your subject line.

See you in Seattle!