Logo of the National Science Foundation (NSF): http://www.nsf.gov

As a National Science Foundation (NSF) graduate research fellow (GRF), part of my responsibility as a scientist is to communicate my research and its significance to the public.  To encourage this, NSF is hosting a “Creating the Future” short video contest where all GRFs were invited to share how their research is shaping the future of their discipline and/or the world in 90 seconds or less.  I submitted a video describing how I am using stable isotopes to learn about where and what olive ridley sea turtles are eating in the eastern Pacific ocean when they are in offshore areas where we are unable to observe their foraging behavior.  This information is critical to reducing the alarming number (thousands!) of turtles that die unnecessarily in fishing gear every year.

NSF has chosen 14 finalists to be subjected to public voting, and the video with the most votes will receive research funds.  And guess what…  My video, TURTLES IN THE DEEP, made it to the finals!  If you’re reading this blog, you’re already a much appreciated supporter of sea turtle conservation and my research on olive ridley sea turtles (thank you!), and therefore I’m hoping you’ll take a few minutes to vote for my video to help me win some much-needed research funds!  Here’s how you can help:

Step 1: Visit the following website to view all of the 14 finalist videos: https://grf2012.skild.com/skild2/grf2012/viewEntryVoting.action.  I encourage you to watch them all.  It is quite impressive to learn about all of the exciting science being done all over the world by NSF-supported graduate students.  US tax dollars hard at work!

Step 2: Register to vote with your email address.

Step 3: Check your email for a confirmation email (it takes a few minutes to arrive) and follow the instructions to confirm your registration.

Step 4: Go back to the voting website above, sign in, and cast your vote!  The name of my video is TURTLES IN THE DEEP 🙂

TURTLES IN THE DEEP is a finalist in the NSF Creating the Future video contest. The video with the most public votes wins research funds — please cast your vote!

I am proud to be a part of this important national effort to communicate science to the public.  Voting ends on October 31st, so there are just 5 voting days left.  Currently I’m in 1st place (yay!), but public voting will ramp up down the stretch, so every vote counts, especially in these last few contest days!

Thank you in advance for your time & support; the turtles, fishermen, and I are extremely grateful.

~ Lindsey