May 14 AAAS Lecture and videoteleconference on artworks by Siberian schoolchildren

Watercolor on paper by Senya Koyakin, a middle school student in Zhigansk, Siberia. Credit: Image of Senya Koyakin's Click here for more information.

A group of young schoolchildren from a remote Siberian village will discuss their artworks, which are on display at the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) Gallery, 1200 New York Ave, NW, Washington, D.C.

The children, who are 9-14 years old, will describe their works and answer questions from the audience via a videoteleconference beginning at 6:00 p.m. 14 May in the AAAS auditorium. The works, mainly watercolors and some charcoal drawings, share themes of the Siberian environment and climate changes occurring in that environment.

R. Max Holmes, an earth system scientist at Woods Hole Research Center (WHRC)—co-sponsor of the Siberian art exhibit at AAAS—will also give a lecture on how his Arctic field studies led him to develop research collaborations with Siberian students interested in science.

Anya Suslova, the first such student to work with Holmes, will be at the 14 May lecture at AAAS. Suslova was 13 years old when she first met Holmes during a 2003 research expedition along the Lena River in Siberia. She expressed an interest in the research going on in her community, and Holmes encouraged her interest by allowing her to participate in simple sampling procedures.