At Intel ISEF, Native Student Presents Aquaponics Research

Last May, before Travis could leave his tribal home in the Southwest for a trip to Portland, Oregon, where he was a finalist in the 2004 Intel International Science and Engineering Fair (Intel ISEF), he had an important family duty. His uncle had just died, leaving Travis, 17, the oldest male in his family. By the customs of his Akimel O'otham tribe, it was his responsibility to dig his uncle's grave and participate in a weeklong funeral ceremony.

	Travis's engineering project involves both aquaculture and hydroponics.

Travis, a senior at Skyline Technical High School in Chandler, Arizona, has designed a prize-winning engineering project using aquaponics—a fusing of aquaculture (fish farming) and hydroponics (growing plants without soil)—to create a mini-ecosystem that produces both fish and plants for human consumption.

"I want to bring to my community a new method of farming that will be low-cost and efficient," says Travis, who builds on the agricultural heritage of his ancestors.

It is no accident that Travis chose a project that involves agriculture, water, and nutrition. His home, the Gila River Indian Community, lies about 40 miles south of Phoenix. It is a vast, arid landscape in the Sonoran Desert, with little rain and summer temperatures that reach 115 degrees Fahrenheit. It is also an economically poor community, with a high unemployment rate, low incomes, and diet-related health problems such as diabetes.

Innovative Mentoring Program
Travis's promising future as a scientist—and his strong motivation to attend university—is due largely to an innovative mentoring program initiated six years ago at Sacaton Public Schools, a district scattered across the 600-square-mile Gila River reservation.

GEAR UP (Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Programs), funded by a U.S. Department of Education grant and the Intel Foundation, is designed to reduce the number of high school dropouts and prepare young people for college with a rich array of after-school and summer enrichment activities beginning in grade 4 and continuing through the college years.

"When I first started here, no one was even thinking of going to high school, much less college," says Joyce Baldwin, GEAR UP director and lead investigator in Sacaton. "For most students, the transition from a small tribal school to a public high school or boarding school off the reservation was just overwhelming. Six years ago, only 39 percent of our students made it through the ninth grade. Now we run between 79 and 80 percent, and quite a number are talking about going to college. That's a real change."

For Baldwin, a research entomologist who worked at the University of Arizona for 15 years before coming to Sacaton Public Schools, science was a priority in her new job. "The first thing we started was a community science fair, which I used as an evaluation tool. I discovered that there wasn't much science being taught in our tribal schools."

The project quickly "geared up" with math and science tutoring, clubs, mentorships, computer classes, job shadowing, and summer internships.

Now an Intel Design and Discovery Club introduces young people to engineering through design, using the online, inquiry-based curriculum available from Intel® Innovation in Education. Intel engineers from nearby Chandler volunteer as judges at the community fair. To examine the Design and Discovery curriculum, go to www.intel.com/education/design.

"Providing strong role models, particularly Native Americans, is the key to success with our students," says Baldwin. "That opens up their eyes to possibilities."

Travis, the oldest of five children, began with GEAR UP in grade 5 and "grew up with the program," Baldwin continues. After several community science fairs, he went on to compete at the University of Arizona Science Fair and the Intel Arizona American Indian Science and Engineering Fair, where he won the Grand Prize and the Herbert Hoover Young Engineering Award. From there it was on to Intel ISEF in Portland where he competed in the engineering division with his project, "Comparison of Hydroponic vs. Aquaponic Systems."

Turning Point
A turning point for Travis came a year ago when he was accepted for a 10-week summer internship at the University of Arizona in Tucson. In the Environmental Research Lab of the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, he worked with Dr. Kevin Fitzsimmons, who is world famous for his work in aquaculture.

In two 800-gallon tanks, Travis set up a "closed," recirculating aquaponics system in which he raises fresh water prawns and tilapia, both high in protein, and vegetables. Waste from the fish provides nutrients for the roots of the vegetables, which, in turn, filter the water that returns to the fish tank.

"The experience of working in the university laboratory helped me better understand my project and where I was going with it," Travis says. Every two weeks, he travels to the lab in Tucson to record his research data. An Intel grant pays Travis for the time he spends on his science research, working with his tutor, or helping teach younger children through the GEAR UP mentoring buddy system.

Travis isn't yet certain which area of science he wants to study in college. It might be botany, he says. But his sights are set on enrolling in the American Indian Studies Center at UCLA.

Meanwhile, Intel ISEF is coming to Phoenix in May 2005, and Travis has a new aquaponics project to prepare for competition.

To learn more go to Design and Discovery and Intel ISEF.