After visiting the Aquarium in early August and learning about the volunteer and high school intern program, the Youth Board of the Triad Foundation voted to give the Aquarium a $15,000 matching grant.  Many of you have already helped, but we still need to raise more money by this November to truly leverage this great opportunity. 

As a supporter for the Maria Mitchell Association, can you help us?  Any amount is helpful!     

The money raised will help the Aquarium continue delivering high quality educational experiences for visitors, volunteers, and interns.  Thank you for considering a contribution and thanks again for a great 2016 summer!

We vote that summer is never over!  With that mindset, we are excited to announce that we have posted online the camp dates and times for next year.  Registration does not open to the public until February 1st at 9 AM.  Members, stay tuned for your priority registration date and time.

Last Friday, we said a happy "good-bye" to our flying gurnard.  Many of you have watched this beautiful tropical fish grow at our Aquarium.  He has moved to the New England Aquarium where he will be put in a much bigger tank.  Currently, he is in isolation (standard protocol), but we can't wait to share pictures with you of him in his new home.  We thank Mr. Flying Gurnard for his years of educating all of us on Nantucket. 

The American burying beetle is one of the few insects on the Endangered Species List.  In 1994, a population was reintroduced on Nantucket.  Along with the Roger Williams Park Zoo and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the MMA's Natural Science team has been working to ensure the survival of this unique creature.   

The project is currently in a testing phase to see if the American burying beetle can survive on Nantucket without our help.  The population is declining though and this summer we only captured 24 adult beetles.  This is compared to the peak in 2011 when we captured over 200 beetles.  The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is currently considering options for this population and more intensive work may be approved to maintain this extremely rare species.  

We are excited to announce and congratulate one of our own National Science Foundation Research Experiences for Undergraduates (NSF-REU) sponsored astronomy interns, Tanveer Karim, for being selected as a delegate for the prestigious Stanford U.S.-Russia Forum. Tanveer, who attends the University of Rochester, is one of thirty-one students, and one of ten undergraduate students, selected out of over 600 students who applied. Tanveer spent this summer working as one of six NSF-REU students at the MMA where he conducted research on gaseous outflows from the Milky Way Galaxy. In addition to his research, he worked at the Loines Observatory Public Open Nights, where he led visitors on constellation tours of Nantucket’s night skies.