September 20, 2010

Cogito.com students learn about Gulf oil spill from JHU expert

Can the Gulf of Mexico recover from this spring’s massive oil spill? That’s the topic Edward Bouwer, chair of the Whiting School’s Department of Geography and Environmental Engineering, explored in an hourlong webinar with some of the nation’s top middle and high school students on Wednesday night.

The event was sponsored by the Johns Hopkins Center for Talented Youth through its Cogito.org website, created for top science-minded students. Students participated from their homes across the country via the Internet to see Bouwer’s Powerpoint slide show, listen to his narrative and submit written questions for on-air answers.

The webinar followed a presentation last year of Swine Online 2009, in which Johns Hopkins epidemiologists gave a virtual classroom lesson to more than 50 students.