16. Grantees Make Major
Contributions to Their Fields
William Saturno: Oldest Mayan Calendars Found
in Guatemala (Science, May 2012)
Matt Finer: Hydroelectric dams in the Andean
Amazon (PLoS ONE, April 2012)
Daniel Streicker: The ecology of habitat loss to
predict disease transmission in vampire bats
(Science, August 2010)
23. University of California Santa Cruz University of Miami
University of Washington University of California San Diego
Duke University University of Virginia
Harvard University Southern Methodist University
Georgetown University Montana State University
University of Colorado McGill University
Cornell University—October 13
24.
25. To date, 220 Young Explorers Grants
awarded, totaling more than $990,000
26. Young Explorers Grants support a range of
scientific fields and types of exploration:
ANTHROPOLOGY ♦ ARCHAEOLOGY
ASTRONOMY ♦ BIOLOGY ♦ CLIMATOLOGY
CONSERVATION ♦ GEOGRAPHY ♦ GEOLOGY
MOUNTAINEERING ♦ PALEONTOLOGY
POLAR EXPLORATION ♦ OCEANOGRAPHY
ADVENTURE ♦ TREKS/JOURNEYS
PHOTOGRAPHY ♦ FILMMAKING ♦ JOURNALISM
27. National Geographic funds
Young Explorers from
countries worldwide
78.9% N. America 3.8% Asia 9.2% Europe 3.8% S. America 2.2% Africa 1.6% Oceania 0.5% Middle
America
28. YEG fieldwork has been
conducted in 61 countries:
Asia Vietnam
Africa Russia Cambodia
Cameroon Spain China Oceania
Egypt Sweden Georgia Australia
Ethiopia India French Polynesia
Gabon Middle America Indonesia Kiribati
Ghana Belize
Jordan Micronesia
Kenya Costa Rica
Kazakhstan New Zealand
Madagascar Guatemala
Lebanon Palmyra
Mozambique Honduras
Papua New Guinea
Namibia Mexico Mongolia
Samoa
Rwanda Panama Nepal
Indo-Pacific Ocean
South Africa Trinidad & Tobago Oman
Sudan Philippines South America
Uganda North America Russia Argentina
Canada
Syria Bolivia
Europe Greenland
Tajikistan Brazil
Iceland United States
Turkey Ecuador
Ireland Peru
Norway
Venezuela
29. Young Explorers have been featured in:
National Geographic Magazine
National Geographic Adventure
National Geographic Television
NG Radio
nationalgeographic.com
NG Live! Lectures
NG Channel’s Expedition Week
30.
31.
32. Projects Funded by Young
Explorers Grants
Clare Fieseler (CT)
• Parrotfish Conservation in Belize:
• An investigation of the
• social-ecological systems that
• influence compliance
33.
34. Projects Funded by Young
Explorers Grants
Greg Goldsmith (CRE) and Drew Fulton (EC)
Canopy in the Clouds: Connecting Climate Change to Plant Ecology
50. National Geographic and National Park
Service: 10 Years of BioBlitz
• 2007: Washington, DC
• 2008: Los Angeles
• 2009: Chicago
• 2010: Miami
• 2011: Tucson
• 2012: Denver
• 2013 New Orleans May 17
51. BioBlitz Goals
• Identify species
• Celebrate biodiversity
• Unite citizens and
scientists
• Get city dwellers into
nature
• Promoted protected areas
• Inspire the next generation
of stewards
54. Rocky Mountain Bioblitz 2012
Species Count:
489 species at the closing ceremony:
•89 species of birds
•12 mammal
•1 fish
•1 reptile
•289 plants
•12 fungi
•78 insects
•7 other invertebrates
To put the CRE in context, it is by far the largest grant program but was recently augmented by the EC in 1998 which funds high profile projects of media interest across NGS divisions, and the CT in 2001, which funds conservation projects that are not hypothesis driven science. The Young Explorers grant program was started last year and funds 18-25 year olds with career-starting small grants of less than 5K across all three programs.
304 Canadian grantees at $4,490,000
Bingham: The legendary Inca mountaintop city of Machu Picchu in Peru is pictured shortly after Yale archaeologist Hiram Bingham began excavations in 1911 with funding from a National Geographic grant. "This part of Inca culture was completely unknown to most of Western society, and it was one of our first significant ventures into archaeology at the Society," Francis said. "It was otherworldly and exciting and has become emblematic for National Geographic exploration in the century to follow." Byrd: Admiral Richard Byrd checks a sun compass from an aircraft in Antarctica (Watch a video on the Byrd expedition ). In 1929, carrying both the compass and a National Geographic Society flag , Byrd and four companions became the first to fly over the South Pole. In the process they photographed 60,000 square miles (155,400 square kilometers) of Antarctica from the air. "The fact that the Poles were much harder to reach than other parts of the planet made them obvious categories for exploration," Francis said. "There is this concept of exploration where you're filling in the white spaces on a map ... and [Byrd] was doing just that. Of course, now exploration takes many new forms—including a variety of remote sensing devices—beyond the photographs that Byrd used in his reconnaissance." Cousteau: Ocean explorer Jacques Cousteau poses with one of his underwater research vessels—a rudderless diving saucer that could maneuver with thrusting nozzles like an underwater airplane—in an undated photograph. "Besides being a very charismatic communicator about the beauties of the ocean world, Cousteau was also instrumental in establishing the Aqua-Lung"—an underwater breathing device—"as a technology that expanded the realm of ocean exploration.“ Starting in 1952, Cousteau received a total of 37 grants from National Geographic and took its magazine readers along on a dozen expeditions via stories and photography. Marine ecologist and National Geographic explorer-in-residence Enric Sala continues Cousteau's legacy by conducting research that helps explore and conserve the ocean's last pristine places. Leakeys: Paleontologists Louis and Mary Leakey examine fossils at a field site in Kenya. The search for evidence of early humans by a succession of Leakeys—Louis and Mary, their son and daughter-in-law Richard and Meave, and their granddaughter Louise—has received a total of 76 grants from the National Geographic Society, beginning in 1960. "We've given a long string of grants" to the Leakey family, Francis said. "They have had a legacy impact on the advancement of our understanding of human origins, which continues to this day.“ Goodall: Beginning in 1961, primatologist and grantee Jane Goodall, seen in an undated picture with a wild chimpanzee, used her National Geographic support for pioneering research on chimps, including the discovery of toolmaking—long seen as a behavior unique to humans. (Photos: Being Jane Goodall.) "One thing that many people don't know about Jane Goodall is that, compared to today—where we tend to focus on people who have strong records as academics for our science grants—Jane was untested. But she came forward with an enthusiasm and curiosity that really ignited the interest of the leaders at National Geographic at the time," Francis said. "We're doing more of that today," he added. "We have a Young Explorers grant program, and we identify emerging explorers and celebrate them at a yearly symposium. We are constantly looking for the new and the untested, not just of people but also ideas." Ballard: Oceanographer Robert Ballard used a 1977 National Geographic grant—and the Alvin submersible (file picture)—to help discover hydrothermal vents deep in the Pacific Ocean's Galápagos Rift, which contained the first known life-forms not dependent on photosynthesis. (Watch video of hydrothermal vents.) National Geographic's Francis said, "The idea that there are still unique life-forms on the planet that have yet to be discovered is something that most people don't fully appreciate." (Also see "Deepest Volcanic Sea Vents Found; 'Like Another World.'") In 1985 Ballard made headlines again as leader of the expedition that found the wreck of the H.M.S. Titanic. (Join a live video chat with Ballard on the National Geographic Facebook page, December 14 at 3:30pm ET [20:30 UT].) The first National Geographic grant was awarded in 1890, when the two-year-old National Geographic Society decided to launch an exploration program to increase geographic knowledge of Earth. That grant was given to a team to explore Canada's Mount St. Elias. The explorers had to turn back because of menacing weather and avalanches, but they returned with a wealth of scientific information, including the first documented sighting of Mount Logan, Canada's highest peak. The combined total of National Geographic's grants awarded since 1890 is U.S. $153 million. Several committees, consisting of experts in their fields, review more than a thousand grant applications every year and give awards to about a third of them. "We like to think of ourselves as a risk-taking enterprise," Francis said. "We like for people to come to us with their new ideas and to give them an opportunity to test things that perhaps others wouldn't take a risk on."
Michael Parker Pearson: Stonehenge Riverside Project (Caption: Stonehenge is silhouetted against night clouds set aglow by lights from nearby Amesbury town in an undated photo from a June 2008 National Geographic magazine article. Newly dated human remains from the tonehenge site suggest it was a burial ground from its beginning, about 5,000 years ago, to its zenith.) Martin Wikelski: Following individual dragonflies during their migration (Caption: Wikelski attaches a tiny radio transmitter to a dragonfly in Cape May, New Jersey. In 2005, this was the smallest available transmitter, custom-made by a specialist and weighing only 0.01 ounces (300 milligrams). Today, transmitters weigh a mere .006 ounces (170 milligrams)! Still, this one was light enough to attach with just a bit of eyelash glue and superglue. With this technology, Wikelski discovered that one dragonfly flew a whopping 100 miles (160 kilometers) in a single day.)
Grantee: Broad, Kenny , NGM August 2010 Fins blurred by the halocline—a thin layer where waters with different salinities meet—a diver negotiates the ornately decorated Cascade Room in Dan's Cave.
Grantee: Gail Hearn, Bioko Primates August 2008 NGM Feature, (Caption: Bioko’s bush-meat trade threatens animals like this young drill.) Bioko, one of Equatorial Guinea’s two Gulf of Guinea islands, has been identified as one of the world's "hot spots" for primate diversity (seven monkey species) as well as being a major nesting area for marine turtles (four species with up to 6000 nests per season). However, unsustainable commercial hunting has reduced wildlife populations, even in the island’s two nominally protected areas. This project is designed provide short term protection in the Gran Caldera/Southern Highlands Scientific Reserve, by re-instating the Bioko Biodiversity Protection Program's wildlife census patrols that were disbanded in May 2004.
Alton Byers, The Threat from Above: A Reconnaissance of New and Dangerous Glacial Lakes in the Mt. Everest and Makalu-Barun National Parks, Nepal, (Caption: Crossing the Mera La (5400 m) into the Hongu valley. )
Trip Jennings, Conservation through Exploration: Papua New Guinea
Borge Ausland
Click on a grantee, and link to news stories or other rich media describing their work. This also provides a link to the Missions development page.
Click on a grantee, and link to news stories or other rich media describing their work. This also provides a link to the Missions development page.
Click on a grantee, and link to news stories or other rich media describing their work. This also provides a link to the Missions development page.
- Bill Saturno: In 2010, an important new mural was discovered at Xultun, a once thriving Maya city located in the jungle of northeastern Guatemala. The fragile nature of this Late Classic mural, paired with the highly changeable humidity of the tropical environment, poses an imminent danger to this truly rare discovery. With the help of specialized archaeologists, a wall painting conservator, a multi-spectral imaging analyst and an XRF specialist and illustrator, our current project seeks to fully excavate and record the mural room before it is lost forever. - Matt Finer: The western Amazon is a region of primary global conservation significance due to its extraordinary biodiversity, largely intact forests, humid conditions, and rich diversity of indigenous groups. The threats facing this region, however, are far less understood than those of the much more analyzed eastern (Brazilian) Amazon. The objective of this project is to address this information void by producing the first comprehensive threat assessment for the western Amazon. The centerpiece will be creation of the first high-quality map illustrating the spatial dynamics of six principal threats facing the region--hydrocarbon (oil and gas) activities, logging concessions, illegal logging, mining concessions, oil palm plantations, and IIRSA transportation projects. - Daniel Streicker: My doctoral research seeks to understand the indirect impacts of environmental change on human and animal health through ecological studies of rabies in vampire bats. I will use a novel analysis of vampire bat blood meals to identify species that are attacked by bats and therefore potentially exposed to rabies across a land use gradient in Peru, ranging from the urban centers of Lima to the Amazonian jungles of Madre de Dios. This information will be synthesized with long-term surveillance of rabies in bats to determine how human activities shape both patterns of rabies transmission among bats and the risk of human infection.
429 projects 310 Pis,
Thank You Rebecca and students Little about intern program
One of the best parts of my job: working with young people doing important, beautiful amazing work and then helping them share their stories with the world I have the pleasure of introducing you to three of our Young Explorers who will tell you more about their projects Before introducing the Young Explorers, would like to offer a few facts and figures so you can get to know the YEG program a bit better
Since launching in 2006, the program has awarded almost a million dollars to 220 projects The program is growing- last year awarded more grants than any year prior
As Rebecca eluded to, we have 3 types of young explorer grants- research, conservation and exploration and Chris and I will go over the differences between these later in the morning, but within each type of grant are funding a variety of fields
As you can see, we’ve funded young people all over the world and people of all citizenships can apply for a YEG. As RM noted, trying to deepen our roots in particular parts of the world, including Northern Europe and China
As you can see, Young Explorers have been all over the world with our grant monies. Three YEG’s are a great example of this. But many Young Explorers have also explored their own back yards.
The Great thing about National Geographic as a funding source is that we also share our grantees’ research and explorations with the world through our Cchannel, magazines, website and lectures among others. Screen capture of anand Joe magazine Expedition Week
Example of an Explorers Journal piece on YEG Anand Varma from October 2011. In your magazine, Sarah M-L Photo of him flying over patagonia photographing wetlands and details his work investigating how overgrazing is affecting this delicate ecosystem
Our young explorers have competed in Expedition Granted, an online competition on our website and Channel for an additional 10,000 grant This past year Dash Masland, a seal biologist, competed against Trevor Frost, a photographer, for the prize.
Now, a few examples of the YEG projects we’ve funded before: Clare received a conservation grant to travel to Belize and investigate how effective a newly established marine protected area was.
This MPA was established to conserve parrotfish, a keystone species. To determine if locals were complying with the regulations, Clare traveled to fish markets and took DNA samples of filets that were for sale to see if they were selling parrotfish illegally, or other more abundant white fish.
Greg Goldsmith is an ecologist and received a research grant to study the impact of Costa Rican cloud forests on local moisture levels and climate. The project was unique in that he also partnered with a young photographer, Drew Fulton, who received a grant to
Document greg’s work in the field. Here you see them filming greg in the trees
And develop a website where people all over the world can explore the canopy and learn about the environment there.
Last, Sarah McNair-Landry who is one of our Canadian grantees. She received a grant so she and her brother could ski and kite ski the Northwest Passage. The encountered many obstacles during the expedition including lack of wind, a 600km detour due to rough ice and even polar bear encounters. Have a short video about their time in the field.
Walk in slide, Advance to play yeg sizzler
Walk in slide, Advance to play yeg sizzler
Walk in slide, Advance to play yeg sizzler
Walk in slide, Advance to play yeg sizzler
Walk in slide, Advance to play yeg sizzler
Walk in slide, Advance to play yeg sizzler
Walk in slide, Advance to play yeg sizzler
Walk in slide, Advance to play yeg sizzler
Margaret Weitheim Crochet Coral Reef Institute for figuring
