As part of the Pfizer Biomedical Technology Institute
for Teachers, Three Rivers offered in July a day-long outdoor workshop
to investigate water quality in Harris Brook, which is part of the
Eightmile River watershed in Salem.
The Pfizer event brought teachers from Singapore,
Germany, Ireland, Puerto Rico, Minnesota, Boston, St. Louis, and Long
Island to Connecticut for a week-long field trip.
In addition to Three Rivers, other participants
included Yale Center for Genomics and Proteomics, Connecticut
Agricultural Experiment Station – New Haven, Entomology, Analytical
Chemistry, and Biochemistry & Genetics Departments, and the University
of Connecticut School of Engineering.
As part of the Three Rivers workshop, teachers
performed a rapid bioassessment by collecting insect larvae. They then
used standard laboratory procedures and bio-monitoring methods to assess
the quality of water. They also looked at insects under a microscope
equipped to take pictures to identify the insects (benthic macro
invertebrates). Testing took place at the site and in the labs at Three
Rivers.
Diba Khan-Bureau, TRCC Professor & Program
Coordinator, Civil & Environmental Engineering Technologies reported
that, “We had a great day in the field and then in the lab. It was a
complete success. Every one of the teachers said this was the best event
that they had been to during their one-week stay in Connecticut.”
Ed Natoli, TRCC adjunct instructor and Pfizer
employee, was pleased with the outcome of the event as well. He and
Khan-Bureau used the day's information to compile a presentation that
will be useful to the high school and junior high school teachers should
they want to bring their students out in the field to perform a rapid
bioassessment in the future.
