Visiting the Rice Center was a great experience and chance to explore all that VCU environmental science has to offer. Even though I took this class to fulfill my science requirement, I thoroughly enjoy learning about the different systems we have on Earth and how we as students can apply and observe what we learn in class. I was first of all quite impressed with the facility and the amount of land (350 acres) that was gifted to VCU. Being one of the first buildings in Virginia to be classified, as LEED Platinum proof is very exciting. Lots of work went in to making this a green building. Being a design student, I appreciate the relationship between nature and architecture while maintaining a pleasing design aesthetic. This building uses geothermal energy, which provides efficient heating and cooling while promoting sustainable energy use. What I found most interesting was the amount of natural light the building is able to use during the day. Looking up at the ceiling of the two classrooms you were able to view the sky that is used instead of florescent lights.
Water as everyone knows is most important, especially for the Rice Center. Even rainwater has a purpose, which is to be used to flush the toilets. More importantly, the vast amount of water around the center serves a purpose of learning and exploring. Because the Rice Center is located on the James River, there is easy access to boats and canoes. While I wish I was better dressed and up for the challenge, many of my fellow classmates were able to go canoeing. Nevertheless I got a chance to see up close what it is like to shock a fish in the water. One of the TA leaders, Sam, was able to show us how to shock fish with a pole and a battery charged backpack. Basically the fish is stunned and floats to the surface. This is when they can be collected in fishnets and transferred into a bucket of water. This is a safe method that allows us to easily identify what we are looking at through its size and shape as well as seeing its overall health.
The Rice Center is a beautiful place. If it weren’t so cold, I would have stayed all day. I think what made this trip a huge success was the amount of participants that came on a Saturday morning. I also was very impressed with Dr. Crawford’s knowledge and enthusiasm. He was quite enthusiastic about the sturgeon fishes and research involved. To be able to reproduce, sturgeons need to be around 20-30 years old. That is a long time. They also can grow to be very long. We now are able to track were the sturgeon exactly are within the James River. This allows us to see what time of the year they are coming up.