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What is ReefQuest?
The ReefQuest Foundation fosters research and education in planetary scale science, focusing on collecting large data sets through citizen science that enable climate, oceanic and ecological applications.
ReefQuest was founded with the philosophy that high temporal and spatial resolution data creates the foundation to combat global scale planetary changes.
Research
Explore our research programs
Citizen Science
Engage with us and contrinute to scientific discovery
Education
Partner with us to bring science to your class and students
Field Notes
Join our field teams in action
Why Citizen Science?
There are not enough scientists to monitor the world's ecosystems and the resolution of remote sensing technologies are often severely limited.. To improve our collective understanding of the regional impacts of planetary change, science needs your help!
Our citizen scientists collect large quantities of valuable data which improve researchers' insights into the mechanisms of planetary change. Using a novel "Geocaching for Science" mobile platform, ReefQuest citizen scientists collect data on a large diversity of ecosystems globally.
We are constantly developing these systems and the processing techniques which enable scientifically rigorous data-outputs. Our Artificial Intelligence and Applied-Informatics work provides analysis of the datasets in support of, and in partnership with, global research institutions.
Our citizen science platform provides the basis for classroom STEM curricula that are experiential and engaging for students worldwide.
Meet Our Founders
DYLAN VECCHIONE
My passion for the ocean started at a young age when I witnessed drastic ecosystem degradation. I discovered that monitoring the environment and crowd sourcing data provide valuable and unique tools to inform both science and policy.
I founded ReefQuest to give everybody the tools to engage in real scientific monitoring and documentation, and make global change through collective individual action.
In addition to ReefQuest, I've dedicated my life to ocean and climate research, studying at the University of Washington's School of Oceanography. I have conduced research in a variety of fields beginning in applied solid-state physics, developing novel target-free biosensors. I then began investigating the impact of climate change on diseases, focusing on marine pathogenic bacteria. This has evolved into my current research, which focuses on marine microbiology and genomics for applications in health and environment. I received my American Academy of Underwater Sciences (AAUS) Scientific Diver certification in 2015 from Cornell University's Shoals Marine Laboratory, and now lead many of ReefQuest's underwater research efforts. I am an advocate for the environment and have spoken on topics of citizen science and environmental action, including at TEDxTeen and the United Nations. I also serve on the Board of SR3, an organization dedicated to Sealife Response, Rehabilitation, and Research covering the waters from California, USA to Vancouver, BC.
MAURIZIO VECCHIONE
I am moved by a vision that solving some of the world’s biggest problems also unlock some of the greatest opportunities. I am an impact fund leader, a technology executive and global transformation architect.
My career spans over 30 years of executive level leadership, where I have a strong track record for execution excellence, leveraging highly interdisciplinary set of skills across the healthcare, biotech, software and technology sectors. As an expert in alliance formation I have contributed to building 9 startups raised over $1B in funding for innovation and helped launch in aggregate more than 50 commercial products, resulting in more than $5B in shareholder value.
Most recently with Global Good Fund, a collaborative mission to invent and deploy technology specifically focused on improving life in developing countries, I have been at the forefront of research & development and commercialization of novel cancer screening digital health technologies, novel in-vitro diagnostics, disruptive biotechnology and medical devices as well as in the use of data science for predictive analytics in disease epidemiology and bioinformatics. I have pioneered new models for reverse innovation and private sector investment in impact innovation which I have executed with companies and governments around the world.
