Working with National Science Foundation-funded researchers, two high school graduates have built an underwater, camera-equipped “rover” to observe fish in Antarctic environments.

Ryan Garner and Amanda Wilson, both female graduates of Cabrillo High School in Lompoc, California, began working with marine biologist Gretchen Hofmann of the University of California, Santa Barbara, when they were high-school seniors. The students were previously part of a school team that placed high in the Marine Advanced Technology Education (MATE) Center’s Remotely Operated Vehicle (ROV) design competition.  After the competition, Hofmann encouraged the two to design a rover suited for polar waters. The women worked closely with her laboratory’s graduate students to design and build the vehicle.

The vehicle, named M’RAJE (and pronounced mirage), made roughly ten successful dives between October and December 2007. The vehicle also competed in a 2006 international ROV competition. The 2007 ROV competition challenged students to design and build ROVs for use in polar environments. In addition, the competition was designed to increase student knowledge of the polar regions and the impacts of climate change.