Rutgers Marine Field Station (RUMF) have significantly expanded our outreach activities in recent years. Along with our annual Open House events, which have attracted 1,450 visitors to the Station over the last three years, we have also expanded our programs for visiting college classes to include hands-on activities (bridgenet sampling, seining from shore and sampling from boats, sample sorting) and overnight stay in our dormitory and we expect an increase in visiting classes to continue in the future. Rutgers University Invertebrate Identification, Ecological Field Techniques, Estuarine Ecology, and Ichthyology classes, along with classes from Rider University (Behavior of Marine Organisms and Marine Biology), Wilkes University (Marine Ecology), Delran Montessori School (Advanced Biology), Atlantic County Institute of Technology (A/P Biology Students), Cedar Creek High School (A/P Environmental students), Wetlands Institute (Interns), NJ Shore Bowl and National Ocean Science Bowl teams, The College of New Jersey (Oceanography), DeSales University (Ecology) classes have all made good use of instruction in field station operations and research techniques.
RUMFS has also branched out a bit with new ventures to invite interested members of the public to visit and have meaningful experiences at the Field Station. These include hosting a painting class for those wishing to paint the field station and surrounding natural area as well as an OLLI (Osher Lifelong Learning Institute) class that introduced participants to local flora and fauna via seining and a group kayak tour.
