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Map the seafloor of the Pacific with Guam-based ocean explorer at the Guam Museum's second Ocean Night

Map the seafloor of the Pacific with Guam-based ocean explorer at the Guam Museum's second Ocean Night

Map the seafloor of the Pacific with Guam-based ocean explorer at the Guam Museum's second Ocean Night
Map the seafloor of the Pacific with Guam-based ocean explorer at the Guam Museum's second Ocean Night

After welcoming around 60 participants last month, the Guam Museum is excited to invite the community to attend its second installment of “Puengen Tåsi Siha” (CHamoru: ocean nights) on Friday, June 27, 2025, at 6pm. 

During the event, the island community will get to connect with Shelterihna Alokoa, a Pacific Islands University alumna, community volunteer educator, and 2025 Ocean Exploration Trust (OET) Science Communication Fellow (SCF) sailing onboard Exploration Vessel (E/V) Nautilus. 

Exploring the Offshore Marianas (NA172) will map previously unexplored areas of the seafloor around the Mariana Islands, the Federated States of Micronesia, and the Solomon Islands. This expedition will also involve the deployment of Argo floats to support global ocean monitoring efforts and topside surveys by trained seabird observers who will assess the diversity and abundance of seabirds offshore. 

Through a virtual call held live with explorers on the ship, participants will learn more about seafloor mapping, seabird surveys, and life at sea, as well as opportunities to get involved in deep-sea exploration. 

Other Marianas-based educator explorers will also be a key part of the event. 2025 Science Communication Fellows Amanda Dedicatoria, a freelance science writer, and Shannon Seleen, a D.L. Perez Elementary School teacher, will facilitate the event in person and field questions from the audience.

In addition to Alokoa’s live connection from sea, Dedicatoria and Seleen will talk about their experience on Mattingan (CHamoru: deep ocean): Mariana Arc Volcanic Exploration (NA171), which explored the volcanic seafloor within and around the Mariana Trench Marine National Monument in May 2025.  

Following the presentations, participants will be able to interact with outreach booths from local marine and environmental conservation programs, support local artists, and other community organizations. 

Ocean Exploration Trust, a nonprofit founded by Dr. Robert Ballard, operates with a mission to explore the unknown parts of the ocean, seeking out discoveries in geology, biology, and hydrography while pushing the boundaries of STEAM education and technological innovation. OET promotes science, technology, engineering, art, and mathematics (STEAM) education worldwide using the excitement of exploration and innovation to inspire the next generation of scientists and engineers. NautilusLive.org acts as a 24-hour live-streaming web portal bringing expeditions from the field to explorers on shore via telepresence technology and social media. Viewers can tune in LIVE at any time to watch expeditions.

The Guam Museum is proud to support “Puengen Tåsi Siha” as part of its HITA Talk Program. The HITA in HITA Talks stands for Heritage-Ideas-Traditions-Arts and is a free public educational and workshop series offered by the Guam Museum and the Guam Museum foundation.

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About the Ocean Exploration Trust

The Ocean Exploration Trust was founded in 2007 by Dr. Robert Ballard to explore the ocean, seeking out multi-disciplinary discoveries while pushing the boundaries of STEAM education and technological innovation. Our international program is launched from aboard the Exploration Vessel (E/V) Nautilus, offering live exploration to participants on shore and the public via live video, audio, and data feeds. Learn more about Ocean Exploration Trust. 

The 2025 E/V Nautilus expeditions are sponsored by NOAA Ocean Exploration and the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management via the Ocean Exploration Cooperative Institute. OET program sponsors and partners for 2025 also include the Office of Naval Research, QPS, and the Phil Stephenson Foundation. Learn more about our partners and sponsors.

If you enjoy the work the Guam Museum is doing, consider making a donation to the Guam Museum.

Continue Exploring:

In her first solo show, Julia Birn presents Chewing on Static. She regards this body of work as an exploration of what it means to live in a life that no longer feels entirely familiar. Ms. Birn uses her work as a way to consider what happens when something changes the way one moves through the world, the relationship with oneself, and understanding of the future, as a result of chronic illness. Her paintings emerge from this unresolved experience, giving shape to the feeling of living with something that cannot always be explained or communicated. Through abstraction, fragmentation, and restricted palettes, the works hold onto that tension, allowing forms to shift and remain ambiguous. What emerges is a reflection of what it is like to live with a reality that has become difficult to recognise. The title of the exhibit, Chewing on Static speaks to the mental noise that comes from searching for clarity, questioning one's own experience, and trying to communicate something that refuses to become simple or certain. It is about what happens when one is forced to construct a new understanding of oneself and continue living within something that is unchosen. Through her work, Birn asks the viewer to enter a space where certainty is difficult to find, and to sit with what cannot be resolved. Julia Birn is an accomplished artist, graphic designer, and entrepreneur, who has participated in multiple large and small group shows in Guam since 2022. She has recently earned her BFA in graphic design from the Savannah College of Art and Design, Summa Cum Laude. Follow her on Instagram @deafeningsilenceco or contact via email at deafeningsilenceco@gmail.com

Chewing on Static

Chewing on Static https://www.guammuseumfoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/Chewing-on-Static-INSTAGRAM_4K_H265.mov The next exhibit opening October 24, 2026 at the Guam Museum Cafe Gallery. In her first solo show, Julia Birn presents

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