Focus
Viva la Vaquita:
Senior raises awareness about endangered porpoises Take the Vaquita Blanket Challenge
Jenny kim/the pen
1. Get two twin bed size blankets.
Senior William Whittenbury speaks to students about the vaquita.
BY Chris lee The pursuit of creativity can also take the form of direct involvement with community. Senior William Whittenbury first heard of the Vaquita porpoise, the most endangered species of marine mammal, in 2009 from a fellow volunteer at the Cabrillo Marine Aquarium. Since then, he has worked to give the Vaquita the attention it needs to survive. “In 2012, I did a research project on the Vaquita and was shocked to discover its dire circumstances. It is reported that there are only 90 to 97 left in the world,” Whittenbury said. Through both legal and illegal fishing, the plight of the Vaquita has been exacerbated by the unregulated use of gill nets, which end up indiscriminately entangling and killing large numbers of local marine creatures. As the president of Muskwa club, an organization dedicated to raising awareness about the Vaquita, Whittenbury urges students to come up with inventive solutions for conservation efforts that otherwise may be countered with trite, ineffective methods. The club has held 30 information booths in museums and local fairs and has educated approximately six to seven thousand people. “It was a really unique experience for me because I learned
how to do public interface, talk to different people about this issue and convince them about our solution plans,” Whittenbury said. Whittenbury is also a member of the Viva Vaquita Coalition, where he networks with Vaquita conservation efforts based in Mexico. With the help of the Muskwa club, Whittenbury has worked to officially establish July 12 as International Save the Vaquita Day, which in the past summer spread to 20 venues in six different countries. In addition, on Dec. 24, the Mexican government passed a law banning the use of gill nets in the Vaquita’s habitat for the next two years. It pledged a total of $37 million to local fishermen to abstain from fishing and, instead, to prevent illegal fishing methods. During the course of the next year, Muskwa and the Viva Vaquita Coalition intend to set up a six-part plan that will further educate the public about the Vaquita, establish fishing technology that will prevent future issues with entanglement, and, in the long run, promote the distribution of said technology in order to allow fishermen to fish without risk. “This is not just a theoretical problem we are solving in class,” Whittenbury said. “This is a real life issue that we are doing something about.”
2. Lay on the first blanket with your feet crossed at the ankles like a Vaquita tail. Clasp your hands behind your back. 3. Have someone wrap you tightly in the first blanket and then the opposite way in the second blanket. 4. Now, have someone time you trying to get out without rolling over, without standing up and with minimal use of your arms.
Can you get out in 97 seconds?
Senior Arjun Tambe’s initiative sends him to Spain BY Phoebe Borsum
PHoto courtesy of arjun tambe
When senior Arjun Tambe enrolled in Science Research as a freshman, he had no idea that he would eventually have his research paper published in Spain. After working on his scientific project for three years, Tambe submitted it to the Association for Computing Machinery’s Symposium of Applied Computing. Despite the vigorous competitiveness among researchers and PhD students from around the globe, Tambe’s paper was accepted for publication in Salamanca, Spain. ”My paper is about developing new game theory algorithms that can be used to improve security,” Tambe said. “The problem is that there is not enough security resources to protect all possible targets at the same time.” Tambe wanted to figure out how to allocate resources in a way that minimizes risk against potential drug smugglers and terrorists going through airports. His goal was to improve previously developed
algorithms. Tambe tested his project with human subjects and found that his work was better than the currently used processes. “I asked my dad, who is a professor at the University of Southern California (USC), if there was a way to get my paper published,” he said. “He told me I could get it published in a major international conference.” Once he completed his project, Tambe worked with a PhD student at USC in order to write a research paper about his findings. Tambe will go to Spain in 2015 to present his paper at the international conference. “[When I found out my paper was getting published,] it felt really good because I had been working on that project for the past two years in my science research class and spent from August until the submission date revising my work so that I could present it in a highly technical scientific conference,” Tambe said. He is currently doing more research on the project, attempting to develop another algorithm to see if that would work more effectively.
Senior Arjun Tambe poses with his research poster. Tambe will present his paper at an international conference in Salamanca, Spain in April.
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