Emerging tech as STEM platforms in problem-based learning (Kīlauea)

USGS–Hawaiian Volcano Observatory Geophysicist Jefferson Chang talks about technologies that track activity at Hawaiian volcanoes and how crowdsourcing and citizen science can contribute to a greater understanding of hazards, in this presentation to the 2020 SACNAS Advancing Hispanics/Chicanos & Native Americans in Science virtual conference held October 19-24, 2020 (https://www.2020sacnas.org). During Kīlauea’s 2018 eruption, Jefferson met with a group of students from the Teaching Through Technology (T3) Alliance, a University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo Upward Bound program. The students created sulfur dioxide sensors and placed them in communal areas in Pāhoa to measure the particulate and sulfur concentrations in the air. The students broadcast data to the internet so people could monitor local changes in real-time. These air quality sensors were very helpful during the eruption, and can be used in many other communities to measure air quality changes brought on, for example, forest fires. Jefferson also talks about HVO’s monitoring of Hawaiian volcanoes, and how the community can set up a small, personal seismometer called Raspberry Shake, that will contribute data to a globally crowd-sourced earthquake monitoring network.