FVCC students take classroom to the Pacific

With an underwater camera in hand, a student leaned out of the boat and splashed into the Pacific Ocean last month as part of Flathead Valley Community College’s first chemistry study abroad trip.

Nine FVCC students participated in a two-week partnership with a University of California-Berkeley research station on the Pacific island of Mo’orea. The lab, used by ocean chemists and researchers from around the world, monitors the long-term chemical conditions of the ocean.   

“In a typical science class, it’s more or less absorbing information of a scientific nature, and that’s very different from creating your own knowledge,” FVCC Professor David Long said. “This was an opportunity to learn the true nature of science. It’s a creative activity that requires getting used to an unstructured environment.”

The group of students researched how the increase of carbon dioxide emissions impact the ocean’s acidic, or pH levels. Long said measuring pH provides an indicator of how the planet works — and considering 70 percent of the Earth is covered in water, it’s an important thing to monitor, he said.

“The entire set of consequences of the changing levels are very unclear,” Long said.

The French Polynesia island is just northwest of Tahiti. Its location and consistent temperatures makes it a prime spot for researchers to understand the average chemistry of the Pacific Ocean and see if new trends are developing, Long said.

Though many of the students’ projects overlapped, he said each person had a mission specifically designed for their chemistry level, interest and niche.  

“They came back from the trip with a better appreciation and understanding for the aquatic environment we have here and some of the jobs they can get in Montana — such as in water quality,” he said. “It also gives them a totally different global perspective of chemistry.”

William Pardis, an electrical engineering student, said he was pulled toward the trip because it wasn’t like studying for an exam.

“With chemistry, it’s not just memorizing, it’s trying to understand something and then solve a problem,” he said.

Last semester, Pardis  began developing an instrument to measure pH for a physics class that had partnered with Long for the Mo’orea trip. The idea was that a physics student would create the tool the chemistry students needed. Using a 3D printer and the oversight of several chemists, Pardis created five machines for the research students to use while overseas.

“I got hooked. And somewhere in there it clicked that these guys were going to Mo’orea, so I asked to go, too,” he said. “It’s the perfect place to really put the thing I built to test.”

His second day on the island, Pardis and Long took the instrument out to the shore’s edge, and for the first time tested it with ocean water.  

The numbers of the open ocean measurements that appeared on his computer matched national trends, meaning it could compete with research instruments used by professionals in the field for decades.

To measure pH levels, research students attached the instruments to rocks and delivered them to the ocean’s floor. Later, they would pick up the instruments and collect the data         gathered to draw conclusions from their evidence.

Together with Long, Pardis named the instrument pHyter — a chemistry joke, Pardis explained, rolling his eyes and nodding toward Long with a grin.

“Not only did I get to see the instrument measure meaningful information, I was able to measure and classify inner algae-infested seawater environments,” Pardis said. “It makes the idea of working in this world feel more likely.”

Solange Martin, 33, said she didn’t realize when she enrolled in FVCC classes it would lead her to work in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.

She described snorkeling along the island’s edges, documenting coral bleaching throughout the ocean due to elevated sea temperatures. She said the increase in ocean acidity had decreased the capacity of corals to build skeletons. She said about 38 percent of the corals showed a negative reaction from the bleaching.

“As students, or as chemists, we’re looking to understand what that could mean,” she said. “This trip was about applying what we’re learning to the world around us, hopefully one day to make a difference or at least establish some awareness.”

Reporter Katheryn Houghton may be reached at 758-4436 or by email at khoughton@dailyinterlake.com.