CampCIENCIAS 2008: A UA SBRP and Binational Center Environmental Science Summer Camp

The University of Arizona Superfund Basic Research Program (UA SBRP) received a $10K grant from the UA Water Sustainability Program to organize an environmental science summer camp for high school students along the Arizona – Mexico border entitled, “CampCIENCIAS” (“Science Camp”), June 16-20, 2008.

The CampCIENCIAS expedition will be lead by Monica Ramirez, UA SBRP Research Translation Coordinator, Denise Moreno Ramirez, UA SBRP and US-Mexico Binational Center Community Outreach Coordinator and Rocio Estrella, Binational Center Coordinator. Together, along with four University of Arizona undergraduate mentors, they will lead the campers through a variety of hands-on, inquiry-based activities facilitated by themselves and other educational specialists to increase the campers’ level of knowledge, appreciation, and awareness of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) and the environment that sustains them.

The UA SBRP and Binational Center believe that by introducing border students already linguistically and culturally competent to STEM and environmental issues that deeply affect their own communities, we will help influence and prepare them for college and that they will eventually address the current lack of human capital to plan, implement, and maintain environmental infrastructure. A recent U.S. - General Accounting Office review identified environmental infrastructure as the main obstacle toward resolving the mounting environmental and public health problems along the border (“U.S.-Mexico Border: Despite some progress, Environmental Infrastructure challenges remain”, GAO/NSIAD-00-26).

Funding for CampCIENCIAS is provided by the UA’s: