Grad student speaks with media about Follow a Researcher program
Kit Hamley, a graduate student at the University of Maine’s Climate Change Institute, recently spoke with WABI (Channel 5) and WLBZ (Channel 2) about the Follow a Researcher program. For a second year, the University of Maine Cooperative Extension 4-H is offering the program that aims to connect K–12 students in Maine and around the country to UMaine researchers in the field. From Jan. 14 through Feb. 13, participants will watch as Hamley, who is pursuing a master’s degree in quaternary and climate studies, travels to the Falkland Islands to research an extinct species of fox called the warrah. Using field and laboratory techniques, she hopes to learn how and when the animal arrived in the Falklands. Educators and students will be able to communicate with Hamley through live Twitter chats during her expedition, as well as classroom visits before and after her trip. “Engaging young students with this kind of research is really exciting and it makes my work feel a lot more meaningful knowing that students are learning along with me as I go,” Hamley told WABI.