Education and Outreach

At LUMCON, students become scientists. Through field and laboratory activities, students develop lasting impressions about making a positive impact on their environment and community.  STEM education is different at LUMCON. In this moment, Louisiana scientists are asking compelling questions to find solutions for our complex environmental challenges. These challenges are unprecedented and require a dedication to furthering the understanding of our coastal and marine environments. Only by harnessing the talent and perspectives of our younger generations can Louisiana succeed in leading a global effort to understand our changing coastal and marine systems. By investing in the success and retention of K-12 students in STEM careers, including marine science, we ensure a future where communities are more environmentally literate, resilient to the impacts of climate change, and lead by advancing science and technology.  We offer programs designed to meet the needs of preK-12 school classes, school organizations, home schools, and scouting organizations.

LUMCON has two campuses. Each location has education programs that are innovative, exciting, and Louisiana-focused designed to support and train today’s learners.

• Learn more about our education & outreach programs offered at the Marine Center.
• Learn more about our education & outreach programs offered at the Blue Works.

LUMCON supports higher education and research in Louisiana and elsewhere by offering courses, personnel, facilities and vessels to educators.

• For instructors, LUMCON is a unique facility for a variety of field trips to supplement lecture topics.
• For students, LUMCON offers university courses throughout the year and hands-on field opportunities for learning. LUMCON has video conferencing capabilities to broadcast courses, seminars, and lectures to classrooms across the state and country.

Contact our Associate Director of Education and Outreach to request a booking or apply for any of the following opportunities.  View the LUMCON fees and policies.

LUMCON has two campuses. Each location has education programs that are innovative, exciting, and Louisiana-focused designed to support and train today’s learners.

• Learn more about our education & outreach programs offered at the Marine Center.
• Learn more about our education & outreach programs offered at the Blue Works.

LUMCON educators have been working hard to design and create distal resources that are as unique as Louisiana’s coastal landscape.  Each resource is focused on content that is as place-based as our in-person experiences and has been crafted to inspire anyone who is science-curious.

View our entire digital content library.

If you are ready to schedule a great educational trip, we can help with that. To schedule a trip or to make general inquiries about our program offerings and activities you can contact our Associate Director of Education & Outreach by emailing [email protected].

The information that we will need to start the reservation process:

• Dates or timeframe you are interested in visiting one of our facilities – Once we know when you’d ideally like to visit we can contact you with dates we currently have available.
• Name of the Group Leader  – The group leader is the adult who will be our point of contact (POC) before and during the visit.  If someone else is initiating the reservation please have the name and contact information of a person who will be accompanying the group and will act as POC during the visit.
• POC phone number – Please provide both a school number and the cell phone number of the person who will be acting as POC.
• Billing address
• Course number and title (university) or grade level (K12)
• Estimated number of total participants – This number must include the adults and instructors.  If staying overnight, we will need to know gender breakdowns for housing purposes.
• Meal and dietary requests – This is only needed if you are requesting meals be served by LUMCON.  In the early stages of making a reservation, we will only need to know if you want breakfasts, lunches, and/or dinners served during your stay.  When we send a reservation confirmation and estimate, you will be asked to provide any dietary needs or restrictions for people in your group.  LUMCON can accommodate the most common restrictions (vegan, vegetarian, nut/soy allergies, gluten-free, and lactose-free). If you have needs beyond these contact us about whether we can make accommodations.
• Estimated time of your group’s arrival at the LUMCON facility
• Estimated time of departure of your group from our facility
• Requested activities – If you do not know, we can help with that.  If you provide a list of educational goals or general themes we can create an experience designed to meet some or all of those. Or you can contact us and we’ll chat about what will work best for your group of learners

After a reservation has been created:

• Once we have this information we need to start the reservation process the information you provided is forwarded to our reservations team.
• The reservation will be processed the person identified as the POC will be sent a confirmation email with a reservation estimate and some other documents.
• Please make sure every item on your estimate is correct and notify us if changes are needed.
• This email also contains other documents you need to review and, if needed, requests for more detailed information.  Please review all the documents in the reservation packet and follow the instructions for completing the acknowledgment form.
• To see a complete list of LUMCON policies visit the Fees, Policies, and Forms page of our website.

Educators and researchers from the DeFelice Marine Center are available as guest speakers to cover a variety of marine science topics. Contact our Director of Education and Outreach to learn more and schedule an expert.