Program activities will include five oceanographic boat trips leaving from the Port of Los Angeles and thirteen workshops at PCC.

The oceanographic boat trips (ranging from 4 hours to 8 hours) will take place in the Los Angeles harbor area. Round-trip transportation from PCC will be provided. During these excursions, you will learn to use an array of oceanographic instruments to perform hands-on research, collecting and analyzing ocean water, seafloor sediment, and marine organisms to answer questions about the current state of the local marine ecosystem and assess environmental concerns.

Workshops will take place at PCC. In these workshops, you will:

• Learn the fundamentals of marine ecosystems such as macroscopic and microscopic biology, ocean water chemistry, shoreline processes, seafloor geology, coastal pollution, meteorology, effects of climate change on oceans, and the overall health of Los Angeles Harbor.
• Receive information about ocean science careers, including visits from guest speakers.
• Build your self-confidence and sense of belonging in STEM to enhance your chances of academic success, degree completion, and further education or employment in geoscience or other STEM fields.
• Perform hands-on research in PCC’s laboratories to analyze samples collected during boat trips, test hypotheses by making measurements and processing data, and create a poster presentation of your results.