Panel highlights Northwest Passage Project, ocean exploration

Last summer five UIC students representing biochemistry, biology, chemistry, earth and environmental sciences and psychology took part in the Northwest Passage Project, which featured Arctic science research over 18 days and 2,000 nautical miles in the Canadian Arctic.

This year also commemorates the 500-year anniversary of Magellan’s global expedition when he left Spain in search of a western route to Asia and eventually discovered the Pacific Ocean during the three-year journey.

An upcoming panel event will cover ocean and Arctic habitat transformations, recent changes in climate that have made the northern connection between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans more viable, and the research excursion from this summer.    

The event, which takes place Dec. 4 from 6–8 p.m. at Instituto Cervantes, 31 W. Ohio St., will feature scientists who have participated in modern ocean exploration sharing observations, footage, and insights about the little known oceans and implications to human society.

Program presenters from UIC are Frances Crable, a Ph.D. student in biological sciences and Northwest Passage Project member, and Miquel Gonzalez-Meler, professor of biological sciences. Other participants include Andrew King from the Norwegian Institute for Water Research, and Emmy Award-winning director David Clark, who is producing and directing a two-hour television documentary on the recent Northwest Passage Project.

The 6 p.m. presentations are followed by a social networking reception at 7 p.m.

Admission is free with an online RSVP. For more information, call the Instituto Cervantes at (312) 335-1996 or visit http://bit.ly/37Est6z.