The Vanishing Firefly Project: An Interdisciplinary, Student-Driven Citizen Science Project

The Vanishing Firefly Project is a citizen science project asking participants to engage in an annual census of fireflies. Over the past four years, the project has grown from a single-day event held in one location in SC to... [ view full abstract ]

The Vanishing Firefly Project is a citizen science project asking participants to engage in an annual census of fireflies. Over the past four years, the project has grown from a single-day event held in one location in SC to an international count of fireflies over the summer months. The project, which started as the research interest of two scientists, has grown into a team of computer scientists, cyberinfrastructure specialists, science educators, and education outreach specialists. Through this interdisciplinary collaboration, the goals of the project have expanded from data collection and ecological analysis to mobile phone app development, database design and administration, social media outreach, and citizen science education. However, what makes our project unique is that much of the work is led and implemented by undergraduate students.

Since the spring of 2013, the project has operated as a Creative Inquiry at our university. Creative Inquiry projects simultaneously engage students in learning and undergraduate research at the same time. Students work in interdisciplinary teams with faculty advisors to tackle a problem they find of interest. Last year, students determined the training protocol, created adult and child versions of the training videos, and evaluated the impact of this project on citizen scientists. Students developed and published the mobile app, managed the database, and created a means for real-time visualization of the data. Students initiated and managed social media pages on Facebook and Twitter, as well as analyzed our reach through the Social Media Listening Center. Our students’ efforts during the last academic year culminated in participation at the EPA P3 (People, Prosperity, and the Planet) competition—a student design competition for sustainability—where they were awarded “honorable mention” in recognition of their work on this project. This year, we will continue to improve our project through the leadership and efforts of students.