Izy's YoS Flat Stanley!

A small sample of official Flat Stanley's will be traveling from lab to event to lab through the year, delivering stories of what it is like to be a scientist and why science matters.

One of those Stanley's was launched by Sarasota, FL native "Izy", a 6 year old Kindergarten student.

Izy's Stanley attended the Year of Science official launch in Boston, MA and helped COPUS steering committee member Judy Scotchmoor trace pathways of scientists on the new Understanding Science flowchart.(image on right)

Izy's 2009 Flat Stanley Adventures

•   San Mateo County, California, January
•   Yucatan, Mexico, January
•   San Francisco, California, January

Flat Stanley visited Professor Bill Graves of Iowa State University.

He and Flat Stanley are at a biological preserve in San Mateo County, California, in late January of 2009. The two are next to a rare shrub, western leatherwood, that grows only near the San Francisco Bay. If you look closely, you may see the small yellow flowers of the shrub. Flat Stanley is assisting Dr. Graves in his ecological research to assess how well the shrubs are reproducing, and what environmental factors influence how successfully reproduction occurs.

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Izy's Flat Stanley visited the village of Ixil, Yucatan, Mexico

From Rodolfo Dirzo, Stanford University

Flat Stanley joined me recently in the village of Ixil, Yucatan, Mexico to work with Proyecto Itzaes.

Flat Stanley helped us in the field with transects to determine the biodiversity of the area and he learned some Maya ethnobotany from on Ricardo Cutz (center with white hat).

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Izy's Flat Stanley also helped to launch the Year of Science 2009 in San Francisco

He submitted an account of his adventures for her to enjoy:

I had quite a time in San Francisco on January 11th as I joined a bunch of really enthusiastic people to celebrate science! Apparently four years ago, the mayor of San Francisco started something called Family Appreciate Day. It is really cool because on that day, families can ride the cable cars FREE and visit all sorts of museums and stuff. Well, I did not get to ride a cable car, but I sure had fun!

I visited the Crissy Field Center right on the Bay to help launch the Year of Science 2009! I learned all about the natural dyes that come from our plants.

I helped a little boy add drops of water to a penny. Sounds simple enough, but how many drops do you think you can add? Try it! Surface tension is pretty amazing!

I got to look at skulls from the California Academy of Sciences. These are all cat skulls - belonging to a cheetah, a lion, and a leopard! Can you tell which is which? Glad they were just the skulls!

But best of all, I whirled and whirled in a wind tunnel as kids were designing objects to see how aerodynamic they were. Boy did I get dizzy! Next I am off to visit a herpetologist - I will report back after my next adventure!

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Check back to hear more about the adventures of Izy's Flat Stanley and Year of Science 2009!