UC San Diego undergrad Michael Nekrasov spent nine weeks this summer as a Pacific Rim Undergraduate Experiences (PRIME) student in Taiwan. He worked on a project of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography and Calit2, engineering a system that will allow researchers to monitor coral reefs in real time ("Coral Reef Observing through Data Capture, Data Streaming, and Automation").

His project involved integrating cameras into environmental observing systems, as well as using fluorescence to detect coral health, particularly focusing on coral larvae. One of the major goals for the project was to use the system for the automated counting of coral larvae as they are released (a process which takes place at night). Nekrasov is seen above with his experimental setup. Excitation lights were mounted and directed at the coral to induce fluorescence. Blocking filters were mounted on the cameras to block out the excitation light, thereby leaving only the light cast off by the coral.

Before he left for Taiwan after finals, Nekrasov was outfitted with an HD video camera and underwater housing to take videos, especially of the coral fluorescence. These videos should be very cool, we can hardly wait! The raw video is being shipped back and is expected to arrive at UCSD later this month. (More later when the videos are ready for 'primetime.' In fact, two video cameras were circulating among the PRIME students at several of the host locations - across the Pacific Rim and India - to capture the students' research and cultural experiences.) In the photo on the right, Calit2's Alex Matthews (left) shows Nekrasov how to assemble the underwater housing for the HD video camera.

Nekrasov, a computer engineering senior, and his passion for travel and photography were featured last week in the La Jolla Light and several other local news outlets. His research in Taiwan garnered attention as well, with stories this summer in the San Diego Rancho Coast News and Del Mar Times. (Links to stories below.)

While in Taiwan, he experienced a category 2 typhoon, Typhoon Morakot, which has been called the deadliest typhoon to impact Taiwan in recorded history. He is shown here during the typhoon with fellow PRIME student, Winny Wen, a environmental systems (ecology, behavior, & evolution) major. 

Nekrasov worked at the National Museum of Marine Biology and Aquarium (NMMBA), in Kenting, Taiwan and the National Center for High-performance Computing (NCHC) Taichung, Taiwan where his mentors were Tony (Tung-Yung) Fan and Fang-Pang Lin; he also had mentors back at UCSD, Tony Fountain and Sameer Tilak of the San Diego Supercomputer Center (SDSC). Winny Wen was also mentored by Fan and Lin in Taiwan; her UCSD mentor was Jennifer Smith (Scripps Center for Marine Biodiversity and Conservation). Wen's project was the study of interactions between corals and corallimorpharia to determine the competitive strategies. See links below for more information on PRIME.

After Nekrasov completed his work in Taiwan, he hit the global road with friend and fellow PRIME 2009 graduate Brian McMahon, and of course, his camera.

For more information:
UCSD Senior Travels the World Taking Photos for Fun (La Jolla Light)
UCSD Student Makes the World His Classroom (Del Mar Times)
PRIME 2009 Nekrasov's Taiwan Photos
Nekrasov's "Dispatches from the Field" (This Week @UCSD)
UC San Diego Undergrads Embark on Summer of International Collaborative Science
PRIME program website