LBCC dives deep for local youth

LBCC’s physical science department has partnered with the Oregon Workforce Alliance to deploy an underwater and volcanic exploration team.

The team, which consists of LBCC students and nearly 50 young adults ages 14-21 from across Oregon, will spend part of July and August engineering, building, and operating an underwater remotely operated vehicle (ROV).

The ROV will do the deep water diving and exploration of the underwater volcanic geology of Newberry Caldera, 70 meters under the surface of Paulina Lake, a part of Newberry National Volcanic Monument, 25 miles south of Bend. The team will operate and maintain the vehicle from the shore, analyzing data, videos, and samples, and documenting the research, according to an LBCC press release.

LBCC physical science instructor Greg Mulder and a team of undergraduates, including LBCC’s ROV Club, will be on staff for nearly six weeks at Paulina this summer.

“This is really exciting,” Mulder said. “A number of our students get to take part in real-world exploration and discovery.”

The goal of the project is to better understand Oregon geology and expose participants to career choices in science, engineering, and math.

In addition, the LBCC ROV Club will travel to Buzzards Bay, Mass. next month to the Marine Advance Technology Education Center for an international ROV competition. According to Mulder, at the last competition LBCC’s ROV Club beat out schools such as Purdue and MIT.
The club’s current mission is to “design an ROV capable of successfully completing a submarine rescue training exercise,” states the ROV Web page.

The Oregon Workforce Alliance is supporting the project financially with American Recovery and Reinvestment Act dollars to make the program available to at-risk teens and adults

“We’re thrilled to support and partner on this project. Youth across rural Oregon will benefit from the opportunity and experience, hopefully sparking their interest for their future and career choices,” said Kris Latimer, CEO of the Oregon Workforce Alliance.

According to the release, being part of an exploratory team will give participants the opportunity to gain skills in communication, self-esteem, and teamwork.

Other partners in the project include Clatsop Community College, Central Oregon Community College, Community Services Consortium, Linn Benton Lincoln Workforce Investment Board, and the Job Council.

Additional information about the project and enrollment in LBCC’s ROV Club is available at www.tocowa.org/urov.html or www.lbccrov.com. For more information about the Oregon Workforce Alliance, go to www.tocowa.org or call Kris Latimer, at 541-928-0241.

(photo credit: LBCC ROV club)