Research-Inspired LearningBass Connections
A distinctive new model for education, predicated on collaborative and interdisciplinary inquiry, that actively engages students in the exploration of big, unanswered questions
Research-Inspired Learning with Bass Connections
The MaRRS lab is dedicated to providing quality research experiences to students interested in the use of drones and remote sensing in marine science and conservation.
Bass Connections bridges the classroom and the real world, giving students a chance to roll up their sleeves and tackle complex societal problems alongside faculty from across Duke. Working in interdisciplinary teams, graduate and undergraduate students collaborate with faculty on cutting-edge research that spans subjects, demographic groups and borders. Bass Connections builds on Duke’s culture of collaboration and fosters knowledge in service to society.
Research-Inspired Learning with Bass Connections
2021-2022Biogeographic Assessment of Antarctic Coastal Habitats
This project uses imagery from unoccupied aircraft systems (UASs) to characterize variance and trends in Antarctic coastal habitats over the summer season, applying these findings to establish a remotely-sensed baseline biogeographic assessment of dynamic and changing Antarctic coastal habitats. We will achieve these goals by (1) holding a course on Antarctic history and research, (2) guiding students through individual and group projects, and (3) pairing Duke students with leading scientists from a variety of institutions who conduct related research in the Antarctic Peninsula. Students will share their work by (4) publishing a public-accessible online story-map and (5) submitting a final written report of findings. We will also (6) support students in efforts to publish a collaborative synthesis paper and (7) hold a public webinar, both of which will draw from each student’s efforts to integrate and share our scientific findings along with methodological lessons and recommendations.
2020-2021Using Remote Sensing Tools to Address Conflicts between Humans and Sea Turtles in the Cayman Islands
This project team will use satellite remote sensing, drone-based assessments as well as traditional sampling techniques to assess physical and biological aspects of the Cayman land-ocean interface and how they intersect with the biology and ecology of sea turtles.
The team will take part in a scoping teleworkshop and in-person training at the Duke Marine Lab. The two-day workshop will connect team members from Duke and Exeter universities with staff and scientists at the Department of Environment of the Government of the Cayman Islands. Participants will define project needs, identify existing data and information gaps and prioritize a set of research questions. Following the workshop, the team will use satellite data, aerial drones and terrestrial rovers for data collection during fieldwork in the Caymans. This will be followed by a two-week summer field effort in the Cayman Islands to address key questions using done-based assessments of urban and rural beach habitats. Team members will then focus on data and applications through a seminar course at the Duke Marine Lab, followed by further analysis of the data and development of final products to the Department of Environment of the Government of the Cayman Islands.
2019-2020Developing Rapid Remote Assessments of Oyster Reef Health and Biodiversity
Current assessment methods for restoration and conservation of remaining oyster stocks are costly, time-intensive, dependent on weather conditions and sea state and destructive to existing habitat. Novel methods and the integration of technologies such as passive acoustic monitoring and aerial imagery can help produce robust, rapid, cost-effective methods to assess oyster reef ecosystem health, habitat health and biodiversity.
2018-2019Deep Learning and Remote Sensing for Coastal Resilience: Rapid and Automated Coastal Monitoring to Inform Community Recovery from Storm Events
The purpose of this project is to use Hurricane Florence coastal impacts and recovery to develop a methodology for rapid and high-resolution monitoring of North Carolina’s coastline. We will do so by leveraging convolution neural networks (CNNs) to automate change detection in satellite imagery. The change detected via satellite will trigger a time-series of UAS surveys for areas that experienced substantial change.
2018-2019Developing Rapid, Cost-effective Methods for Evaluating Coastal Biodiversity and Resilience
This Bass Connections project team worked with governmental and nongovernmental organizations to create helpful tools for conservation practices. Initial research will expand on ongoing work to establish the best sensors (targeted spectral bands) that are most useful for delineating shoreline and estuarine habitats in North Carolina and Belize, which include salt marsh, oyster reef, seagrass and mangroves. The team will outfit small unoccupied aerial systems (or unmanned aerial systems [UAS]) with survey-grade, multispectral, and high-resolution optical sensors. Modern software packages for drone imagery processing are proving effective at creating accurate digital surface models, which when coupled with the spectral mosaics will help further delineate habitats.
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