© AltaSea
AltaSea has announced that Dr Anthony Michaels, a nationally-recognised leader in sustainability, innovation and environmental science, will be the featured guest speaker for its upcoming open house, leading a discussion titled “We need all the kelp we can get.” Dr Michaels, formerly the founding director of the USC Wrigley Institute for Environmental Studies, will discuss the benefits of aquaculture, food security, human health, biofuels, renewable materials and more as part of AltaSea’s unique open house.
The open house will be held from 10 am to 12:30 pm on Saturday, 30 July at AltaSea at the Port of Los Angeles, Berth 58, 2451 South Signal Street in San Pedro. The event is free and open to the public, but registration is required.
“Our open houses are a fantastic opportunity for the community to come to AltaSea and engage with some of the brightest minds in sustainability like Dr Michaels,” said CEO Terry Tamminen. “We’re proud to be able to open our doors to everyone to show them first-hand the scientific collaboration that AltaSea fosters every day that helps us all understand and benefit from our amazing ocean.”
In addition to the presentation by Dr Michaels, the open house will include a variety of family-friendly science-related activities provided by local ocean science organisations and will offer the opportunity for attendees to step aboard AltaSea’s Ocean Research Barge, or “ORB,” a floating lab for student research and community science.
Assembly member Mike Gipson, who has pushed for more employment opportunities in emerging “blue” sectors such as underwater robotics, aquaculture and ecosystem health analysis, said the open house is the perfect way for young people to see what careers are available to them in the ocean economy.
“For black and brown students to see that there are real opportunities in these fields and to get excited about the science that is right in their backyards is inspiring,” said Assembly member Mike Gipson. “It’s another opportunity for inclusion in a world that, without events like this, they might never know is available to them.”
Kelp aquaculture boasts multiple benefits and can be used to shore up food security, produce biofuels and renewable materials. © Kelp Blue
State Senator Steve Bradford, who helped secure $6 million in funding towards AltaSea’s Center for Innovation, said the work being done at the site is critical.
“Not only do we want to build the emerging blue economy in our community by creating new jobs and launching new careers, but we also want to infuse this effort with the core value of inclusion so that students from under-served communities see this as a viable, rewarding and lucrative career pathway,” he said. “That is what makes events like AltaSea’s open house so important.”
