Diane Durney presents the 2018 award to Logan Track. The Skoch family gives the scholarship annually in memory of Durney’s brother, Chuck Skoch. (Photo courtesy Susan Cole)
Each year, Florida Sea Grant awards the $1000 Skoch Scholarship to an outstanding high school senior competing in the State Science and Engineering Fair of Florida.
This year’s winner is Logan Track, a senior in the MaST Research Program at Sarasota High School in Sarasota. The scholarship recognizes promising young researchers in a coastal-related field.
For his award-winning project, Track investigated the impact of ocean acidification on sea urchin fertilization and development.
“The purpose of this research is to evaluate how the ocean’s increasing acidic levels will affect marine organisms’ ability to reproduce,” Track said. “Sea urchins have significant roles as a model organism, ecologically and in the lab.They are very sensitive to changes in water chemistry such as pH.”
To conduct the study, Track collected 80 sea urchins from Sarasota Bay. Some of the urchins were put into water with a higher than normal pH to simulate ocean acidification. Results showed urchins exposed to more acidic water had high rates of polyspermy, which describes an egg that has been fertilized by more than one sperm and is therefore not viable.
“This illustrates that these organisms’ ability to reproduce is greatly inhibited, confirming negative impacts of future ocean acidification,” Track said.
This fall, Track will be attending the University of Florida majoring in either zoology or biology. His career goal is to one day be a reconstructive plastic surgeon and help people repair their appearance after a major accident or surgery.
Track was able to use lab space at the New College of Florida to conduct his experiments. (Photo courtesy Logan Track)
Track said students who wish to apply for the scholarship next year should consider reaching out to a local university to gain access to a lab. He conducted his experiments at the New College of Florida.
“This will give you all the tools you need to conduct top-notch research,” he said. “Be passionate about the topic and make sure it interests you, otherwise you won’t be driven to commit the time necessary.”
Funding for the scholarship is provided by the Skoch family of Boynton Beach, in memory of Charles “Chuck” Skoch, an avid fisherman, boat captain and Florida resident who prematurely died in an automobile accident at age 51.
