Christopher Jacobs - 2014/15

As a recently appointed intern at SAEON, I work closely with Thomas Mtontsi in the Education sector of SAEON. This involves regular school visits, participation and coordination in public outreach and education events, such as participation in the Science Expo, Open days (SA Agulhas II, National Marine week, etc), Career days at various high schools and general planning and networking with various stakeholders for major public outreach events in and around Cape Town. Apart from doing public outreach, SAEON is partnered with five schools where we provide learner and teacher support through science through the use of weather stations which are installed at the school. The data from the weather station, is used to support any current work being done in the classroom and expand the existing interest and knowledge of the learner towards science.
My current project involves coordinating and executing a Marine Science Programme for Grade 10 learners set to take place from 1 to 7 December. Here learners will be exposed to the various faucets of Marine Science and through the programme learn and understand what is Marine Scientists do and how they go about executing the various projects they have through the scientific methodology.
Along with this, I am currently completing corrections for my M.Sc in Oceanography through UCT and scouting around and researching proposed projects by various institutions as preparation for PhD (hopefully beginning mid 2015 or early 2016). I am also involved in the executing of the high density expendable bathythermograph (XBT) line, AX08 from Cape Town to Newark, New Jersey through Ships Of Opportunity Programme (SOOP) implemented by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) based in the US. Along with this, I participate in various Southern Ocean cruises as a Physical Oceanographer through UCT. I also tutor and teach Maths and Physics at high school level as a substitute teacher at Plumstead High School when the need arises.