Steve Paton's talk at UDELAS

Steve Paton, STRI's physical monitoring program manager, presented a talk on climate change during the Sea Fair at the Universidad de las Américas UDELAS. Thank you Steve for always being willing to participate!

Oceans Month and School Vacations in Punta Culebra

Punta Culebra joined in the celebration of Oceans Month, holding activities in which visitors explored the rocky coastline and learned about the organisms that inhabit it during guided tours. During the school vacation week, the Center opened special hours, with additional games and activities for the whole family. A cleanup was also held at Playa de los Cangrejos, where 12 sacks of garbage were collected.

Ponte Q?rioso Talk

The talk of the month was courtesy of paleontologist Carlos De Gracia, who enthusiastically talked about his work with marine fossils and the large fish that lived before the rise of the Isthmus.

Expo ConCiencia Science Fair

The Q?Bus and Punta Culebra participated in the Expo ConCiencia Science Fair, part of the Ibero-American Night of Researchers, an initiative of the Organization of Ibero-American States for Education, Science and Culture (OEI) that aims to promote the link between research and society, and scientific vocations and society's interest in science.

Q?Bus visit to the Adelaida R. De Herrera Educational Center in Escobal, Colo. De Herrera Educational Center in Escobal, Colón

Scientists Carrie Sims and Diana Lopez, from the Rohr Reef Resilience Project, along with two Ramp-Up Fellows, Ilana and Kyaralind, provided current data from their study of corals in Panama's Eastern Pacific and co-designed the activity that Q?Bus teaches in schools nationwide. The students had the unique experience of sharing and learning with them.

STRI at the Youth Ingenuity Science Fair - SENACYT

Once again STRI participated in the Youth Ingenuity Science Fair, organized by SENACYT, which included the presentation of innovative projects by students from 71 official and private schools, among other entities, and 5,500 visitors during the 3 days of the fair. Punta Culebra's guides participated with a variety of Q?rioso activities to share with all those attending the fair.

National Public Speaking Contest Participants Visit Punta Culebra

The participants of the National Public Speaking Contest visited Punta Culebra as part of their tour of STRI. During their visit they visited all the exhibits of the Center, then they moved to the Tupper Center, where they were received by several STRI scientists and toured the Library.

Peluquín, the first Morpho butterfly reared at Punta Culebra, released at the LepiDomo

The first Morpho helenor butterfly reared at Punta Culebra was recently released at the LepiDome. Peluquín, as he is affectionately called by Punta Culebra staff, is an offspring of the first Blue Morpho butterflies at the LepiDome and completed his cycle, going from egg to larva to pupa and finally to adult in approximately 2 months.

Archaeology Day and Fossil Day at Punta Culebra

The paleontology and archaeology laboratories joined together to celebrate International Fossil and Archaeology Day at Punta Culebra, where they presented collections, research and findings to the public that visited the Center.

Smithsonian Bird Friendly Flies to 2024 Bocas Showcolate Fair

In early October, the Smithsonian Bird Friendly team flew to Bocas del Toro to make their debut at the International Bocas Showcolate Fair. A celebration of Panamanian cacao cultivation and chocolate making, the annual fair’s 2024 theme was “Climate Change and Cocoa Production”. Melissa Mazurkewicz, Bird Friendly’s Senior Program Manager for Latin America, presented the program’s certification criteria and proven environmental benefits.

Gamboa Bat Night

Every month, the Gamboa Bat Lab hosts Bat Night, an outreach event that is free and open to the public. You can join them in the rainforest to see how they untangle bats from mistnets, or visit Smithsonian’s Gamboa Laboratory, where they discuss their current research, and look at a variety of different bat species up close. The event is conducted in both English and Spanish.

STRI Wins Top Award in the 2024 International Laboratory Freezer Challenge

The Freezer Challenge is an annual competition designed to promote best practices in cold storage management.  Small efforts, such as defrosting freezers, scheduling preventative maintenance and cleaning condenser coils, can generate significant energy and cost savings while also supporting efficient research practices. The Challenge covers all forms of cold storage, including refrigerators, freezers and cold rooms.

This is the first year that STRI has participated in the Freezer Challenge and we won the Top Governmental Organization Award.

Congratulations to all the labs that helped lead STRI to international victory as an organization. The following is a list of facilities that submitted scoresheets in the challenge and their site coordinators:

Naos Molecular Laboratory Team
STRI CryoCollection - María Fernanda Castillo
Naos - Irving Bethancourt
Tupper - Felix Rodríguez
Gamboa - Isis Ochoa
BCI - Raineldo Urriola and Lourdes Vargas
Bocas del Toro - Plinio Gondola

STRI 2024 Volleyball Final

1st Place: Gamboa Master Mix
2nd Place: Culebra
3rd Place: Tupper
Highest male scorer: Álvaro González (Culebra Team)
Highest female scorer: Lovisa Duck (Team Gamboa Master Mix)
Male MVP: César Gutiérrez (Gamboa Master Mix)
Female MVP: Betzi Pérez (Gamboa Master Mix)
Congratulations to the participating teams

Congratulations, Milton Solano and David Mitre

Recently, Milton Solano, GIS Analyst, and David Mitre, ForestGeo Supervisor were the winners of the Digital Innovation Award, presented by the Digital Transformation office along with other Smithsonian collaborators. This award was presented for their development of the tree census app for ForestGEO using tablets. Smithsonian Undersecretary and Chief Operating Officer Meroe Park presented the awards to the winners.

Life on a Sustainable Planet Fellows

The 2023 and 2024 cohorts of the Life on a Sustainable Planet Fellowship, representing Environmental Justice, Climate Change, and Resilience and Sustainability attended a two-day workshop on Science Communication and Policy, October 2-3, at NMNH.

Visit to José Pablo Paredes Educational Center in Pedregal Rana de Oro

Guides from Punta Culebra participated in the Science Week of the José Pablo Paredes Educational Center located in Pedregal Rana de Oro last Wednesday, October 23, bringing with them collections, tools and activities for students from 1st to 6th grade of the school.

Tarde Tenebrosa in Punta Culebra

On Saturday, October 26, the annual event of Tarde Tenebrosa was held in Punta Culebra. Visitors had the opportunity to interact with scientists focused on harvesters, arachnids, sharks, ants and even bats, participate in activities, learn curious facts and research information, and even meet some of these animals live. Visitors also participated in the ecological costume contest, and walked the trail that transforms into a haunted forest around this time each year.