New National Geographic show follows Brevard teen's research on the Indian River Lagoon
The Indian River Lagoon spans only 156 miles and isn't well-known outside the Space and Treasure coasts.
But 19-year-old Erin Gaydar has been working since she was in seventh grade to change that — to bring awareness to the lagoon and its microalgal blooms that lead to fish kills, and the excessive nutrients in the water that lead to these issues.
Now, she and the lagoon are getting international exposure with an upcoming appearance in a National Geographic series about teens competing in an international science fair.
"Science Fair: The Series" is a three-episode series "by nerds, for nerds," according to Muck Media, the production company producing the series, which will premiere on National Geographic Dec. 10 at 8 p.m and releases the following day on Disney+ and Hulu. Gaydar is one of several teens to be featured, with the show following her through her senior year of high school to the ISEF competition.
The Edgewood Jr./Sr. High graduate, now a sophomore at University of South Florida, worked on research that spanned most of high school and eventually led to her senior-year science fair project. The project's goal was to generate an effective solution to reduce microalgae with three possible methods.
That project gained the attention of National Geographic and won Gaydar first place in her category in Brevard's regional science fair; first in her category at the state fair; Best in Fair; and the Dr. Ying scholarship, which gave her a bid to compete at the International Science and Engineering Fair against more than 80 other countries, regions and territories. There, in May 2022, she placed fourth in her category.
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With her work being set to be broadcast worldwide on Sunday, she's excited for the both locals and those on the other side of the world to learn more about the problems the Indian River Lagoon is facing, and potential solutions to help.
"People that can see the show in Asia and Australia and things like that, they won't even know what the lagoon is, but they'll be hearing about it," she said. "I think it's super important for people to ... understand that the Indian River Lagoon made it this far. We should definitely focus on it and trying to help it."
Gaydar, who participated in science fairs from age 8 until she graduated, said she's also looking forward to viewers seeing how exciting science fairs can be.
"I think science fair is one of the most beautiful things that schools created because it allows kids to be creative and actually study something and learn something knew, and it also requires them to physically present what they found," she said, adding that participating in fairs helped prepare her for the show.
Though Gaydar's project is over, she said she's still in communication with people who assisted her when she was doing her research, including people at NASA, Florida Tech, Marine Resource Council and others. As a marine biology student, she's not sure yet what area she wants to focus on when she's out of school. But she hopes to help continue to communicate with the world about science through media.
"I would always get that question, 'What do you want to do?' and I was like, 'Well, I want to do this,'" she said. "I want to do documentaries and tell people about the issues that the world is experiencing, and also show them the beauty of the environment."
Finch Walker is the education reporter at FLORIDA TODAY. Contact Walker at 321-290-4744 or fwalker@floridatoday.com. X: @_finchwalker
This article originally appeared on Florida Today: National Geographic TV series showcases Brevard teen's lagoon research
