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Club member perk idea: small science grants to nerms


CT_
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I think it would be great to encourage more "every day" science in the world.  Aquariums are great "science experiments" to quote Cory.

 

I thought it would be cool if the club could give out science grants for members to run experiments.  Something like 50-500$ for supplies to run experiments and present results on the forum (new section) or maybe in the learn or club tab on the ACO main site.

 

The way I see it working is club members can submit short proposals in a forum section that outline:

What are you testing? Either a hypothesis or an attempt to characterize something relevant to the aquarium hobby.

How do you plan on testing?

How will you interpret the results?

What do you need to perform your science experiment?

Then members can comment in the forum thread and suggest changes improvement, but its up to the original submitter to update their main post if they want to.

Once a month/quarter/year... some one or a committee (maybe just @Cory and or @Zenzo, maybe a group of members) picks some number of "top proposals", and members can vote on which one/ones they want to see get funded.  Or maybe its just done by the committee. 

As the experiments are done, the experimenter can keep a journal/log in the forum and then when complete they can make a post/article/video about it for the community's consumption. 

 

Some examples of science projects might be things like all of @Irene's Alum dip videos, where she tests does alum kill snails w/o killing plants, and compares them to better known methods, and also characterizes the minimum required alum dip time.

 

A proposal may be as simple as:

What are you testing?  Does wonder shell dechlorinate or make chlorine somehow tolerable to aquatic life. 

How do you plan on testing?  Scuds are sensitive to chlorine.  I plan on culturing scuds, and separating them into 4 groups all using remineralized RO DI or distilled water and 50 scuds/bucket. 

  1.  bucket of scuds
  2.  bucket of scuds with chlorine and wonder shell
  3.  bucket of scuds with chlorine and commercial dechlorinator
  4.  bucket of scuds with chlorine and no treatment. 

I'll wait until bucket 4 dies out or 3 days.  If 3 days comes and nothing in 4 dies I'll increase chlorine and start over.  The experiment is over after a week.

How will you interpret the results?  If 1 doesn't live or if 4 does live to the end I can't interpret the results; these are my negative and positive controls.  If 2 has a similar number of survivors to 3 I'll conclude that wonder shell does detoxify or remove chlorine.

What do you need to perform your science experiment?

  • 20-50 gallons of DI water: 20$
  • 4 buckets: 20$
  • remineralizer: 10$
  • scud food (yeast):5$
  • scud starter culture: 10$
  • basic chlorine bleach: 5$

 

I assume ACO would have to be careful about taxation, but my googling (I AM NOT A LAWYER OR CPA) says you might be able to give them as gifts, or as grants from a non-profit org if helps educate the recipient or community and or a report is generated afterwards.

Edited by CT_
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This is an interesting and well though out idea, but I don't think that it will work for the club. The main reason is that because there is a fee for the club, if a select few members were to be granted money (even for an experiment), it would be considered to be like a lottery, and would be illegal in most areas. If Aquarium Co-Op were to do something like this, it would have to be open to everyone, and we could not accept payment,

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On 7/8/2021 at 5:11 PM, Zenzo said:

This is an interesting and well though out idea, but I don't think that it will work for the club. The main reason is that because there is a fee for the club, if a select few members were to be granted money (even for an experiment), it would be considered to be like a lottery, and would be illegal in most areas. If Aquarium Co-Op were to do something like this, it would have to be open to everyone, and we could not accept payment,

Hmm I see.  I guess I understand why "lottery" has such an expansive definition but that's annoying.  it could still be funded by members if it was open to all right?  The main goal would be to encourage science and learn as a community (community in this sense being people that like fish and read things on the internet).

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@CT_ @Zenzo 

I love the idea of encouraging more 'everyday science' experiments.

Even if a grant isn't a feasible idea maybe members who are willing to do an experiment could post their idea and how they would do it, then we could vote for forum favourites or something?

Then the community could chime in to refine the proposed process and any experiments we all really get behind maybe we could all support by like ordering the required items from an Amazon wishlist? (Or aquarium co op wishlist if that's possible, in the UK here so never ordered before and have no idea).

Would have to be reasonably simple stuff and not require anything of great expense (unless the experimenter is willing to shell out lots of their own money) but it's an idea.

Even just simple stuff like, "which particular food brand seems to encourage more spawning from panda corydoras" - I don't have the time or means to do that experiment myself but would happily order one of the foods for that experiment as I'd like to see the results! 

Could be fun.

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On 7/8/2021 at 5:16 PM, CT_ said:

Hmm I see.  I guess I understand why "lottery" has such an expansive definition but that's annoying.  it could still be funded by members if it was open to all right?  The main goal would be to encourage science and learn as a community (community in this sense being people that like fish and read things on the internet).

I am not sure. To be honest, it is something that we would have to run by the accounting team. I am pretty sure it is a "no go" unless open to all people at no charge. 

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On 7/8/2021 at 7:44 PM, Zenzo said:

I am not sure. To be honest, it is something that we would have to run by the accounting team. I am pretty sure it is a "no go" unless open to all people at no charge.

@Zenzo, I have a bit of experience with this.  I was the on the board of an international club as the "science, conservation, and education" director at one point.  We did "grants".  Yes, it has to be open to everyone, but that's not such a bad thing overall.  The legality will depend on how this club is structured legally in the background.  Obviously, check with your legal council, but it can be done. 

If you do go for it, remember that the dollar amount you set will determine the types of submissions you'll receive.  Over about $500, you'll start getting students from science programs looking to get their undergraduate capstone, or graduate students looking to cobble together funds.  Below that, it'll likely be hobbyists. 

The other thing is if you have a submission period once or twice a year, it wouldn't add much work load.  Announcements typically have to be "public" for them to be open, but this forum constitutes that.  Plus, you have a shocking depth of scientific talent in your membership on this forum!  I've been really very impressed.  You could likely tap them to review as a first round with you and or Cory retaining control for final decisions from the finalists.

Anyhow, if you want to explore the idea, please feel free to message me if you think I can be of help.

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