ISEF Master Plan — Microplastic Detection Buoy

This is a 20-week master plan for an ISEF environmental science project in the ocean/marine category. The project involves building a low-cost autonomous surface vehicle (buoy) that detects and spatially maps microplastic concentrations along a coastal ocean zone, supported by a publishable research paper.

Project title (draft): "Low-Cost Autonomous Surface Vehicle for Spatial Microplastic Mapping in Coastal Waters"

Hypothesis: Microplastic concentration varies significantly by proximity to storm drains, shoreline, and tidal patterns along the local coastline.

Key outputs:

• Physical buoy demonstrated at ISEF
• GPS heatmap of local coastal microplastic distribution
• Research paper submitted to PLOS ONE or Marine Pollution Bulletin

Parent project: Project: Kymarion

20-Week Timeline

Phase 1 — Foundation (Weeks 1–4)

Goal: Build scientific vocabulary, order parts, start the first two courses.

Courses

• AMNH Marine Biology (Coursera) — ~7 hrs total, finish by week 3. This is your main anchor course. Covers ocean ecosystems, marine organisms, species interactions, and environmental threats. ~2 hrs/week.
• MIT Marine Chemistry OCW (12.742) — Free at ocw.mit.edu. Read 1–2 lecture note PDFs per week. Focus on how pollutants enter and move through seawater. ~1.5 hrs/week.
• P. Lee Ferguson lab papers (Google Scholar) — Don't start these yet. Begin background reading first (see Reading section below).

Build

• Research and order all components (see Parts List section)
• Sketch hull design — PVC pontoon catamaran
• Set up Arduino IDE on laptop

Weekly time commitment: ~6 hrs

Phase 2 — Build + Deepen (Weeks 5–8)

Goal: Buoy assembled and bench-tested. Oceanography course underway.

Courses

• Oceanography: A Key to Better Understand Our World (Coursera, University of Barcelona) — Start week 5 now that AMNH is done. ~18 hrs total, ~2 hrs/week. Covers ocean currents, tidal dynamics, coastal circulation — directly explains why plastic concentrates where it does.
• MIT Transport Processes in the Environment (1.061) — Free at ocw.mit.edu. Covers diffusion, advection, turbulent mixing in water bodies. Start week 5 alongside Barcelona. ~1.5 hrs/week.
• Microplastics content (Class Central — classcentral.com/subject/microplastics) — Pick 2–3 short courses. Run passively. ~1 hr/week.

Build

• Assemble PVC hull
• Wire all sensors (turbidity, GPS, temp, SD card)
• Write Arduino C code for sensor logging
• Test in bathtub or pool — confirm GPS + turbidity writing to SD card

Weekly time commitment: ~7 hrs

Phase 3 — Calibrate + Python (Weeks 9–12)

Goal: Sensors validated against known concentrations. Python data pipeline built. First ocean test.

Courses

• Udemy — GIS & Geospatial Analysis with Python, GeoPandas, and Folium — ~$15–20. Start week 9. This is what builds your GPS heatmap — the central ISEF figure. ~2 hrs/week.
• Udemy — Spatial Analysis & Geospatial Data Science in Python — ~$15–20. Run alongside the Folium course. Covers choropleth maps, heatmaps, spatial joins. ~1.5 hrs/week.

Lab Calibration

• Create microplastic solutions: 0, 10, 50, 100, 500 particles/L
• Build turbidity sensor calibration curve
• Validate filter samples under microscope (contact local university lab)

Field

• First ocean deployment: 1–2 test runs
• Define GPS waypoints — 6 sites = 3 matched pairs (3 convergence + 3 control)
• Confirm data logging works end-to-end
• Fix any hardware issues before full deployment

Weekly time commitment: ~7 hrs

Phase 4 — Full Field Deployment (Weeks 13–16)

Goal: All field data collected. Python heatmap generated. Paper introduction and methods drafted.

Field Deployment

• 3+ full ocean deployments on different days
• Vary tide state, time of day, weather conditions
• 6 GPS waypoints per run (3 matched pairs: 3 convergence + 3 control)
• Collect mesh filter samples (100μm) at each waypoint
• Log: GPS coordinates, timestamp, turbidity reading, water temp

Data Processing

• Pull CSV files from SD card
• Clean data in Python (pandas)
• Run ANOVA on spatial zones
• Generate GPS heatmap with Folium
• Iterate on visualization — this becomes your key ISEF figure

Writing

• Draft Introduction and Methods sections now — don't wait
• Your methods are finalized and hypothesis is live

Courses

• Return to MIT OCW materials with fresh eyes — field experience makes the transport and chemistry content click much faster

Weekly time commitment: ~7 hrs

Phase 5 — Paper + ISEF Prep (Weeks 17–20)

Goal: Full paper complete. ISEF display board ready. Journal submission sent.

Writing

• Results section: interpret heatmap, report ANOVA findings, describe spatial patterns
• Discussion: tie findings back to coastal current dynamics (Barcelona course) and pollutant transport (MIT OCW)
• Conclusion: implications, limitations, future work
• Abstract: write last

ISEF Board

• Central figure = GPS heatmap (print large)
• Bring the physical buoy to your display
• Prepare 2-minute demo script
• Practice explaining calibration methodology — judges will ask
• Emphasize low-cost angle: ~$200 tool that rivals $5,000 equipment

Publication

• Target journal: PLOS ONE (open access, accepts student research) or Marine Pollution Bulletin
• Follow author guidelines carefully
• Ask mentor (if found) to co-review before submission

Professor Outreach

• Email UMass Boston Marine Science or Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
• Lead with your real data and course background
• Ask for 20-min call, not ongoing commitment
• Reference MIT Marine Chemistry and Barcelona Oceanography coursework

Weekly time commitment: ~7 hrs

Key Milestones

Hardware Build

Parts List

Build Order

1. Assemble and waterproof hull first
2. Mount electronics in dry enclosure
3. Wire GPS → Arduino → SD card (simplest chain first)
4. Add turbidity sensor and verify readings
5. Add motor driver + RC control
6. Field test in pool before ocean
7. Add autonomy (waypoint navigation) after RC is reliable

Arduino C — Key Libraries

• TinyGPS++ — GPS parsing
• SD.h — SD card logging
• OneWire + DallasTemperature — temp sensor
• SoftwareSerial — GPS serial communication

Professor Outreach

Where to reach out (Massachusetts)

• UMass Boston — School for the Environment — umb.edu/academics/environment
• Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution — whoi.edu (world's top ocean research institution, literally in your state)
• MIT EAPS (Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences) — the same department whose OCW you're studying
• Northeastern University Marine Science Center — in Nahant, MA — very close to you

Email template approach

• Subject: "High school ISEF student — microplastic coastal mapping project"
• 3 sentences: who you are + what you're doing, what specific question you have for them, ask for 20-min call or email exchange
• Mention MIT OCW Marine Chemistry and Barcelona Oceanography coursework — shows you're serious
• Attach your 1-page project summary if you have one
• Send to 4–5 professors, expect 1–2 replies

A full email template is kept in a separate document (private correspondence, not published here).

Notes & Resources

• MIT Marine Chemistry OCW: ocw.mit.edu → search "12.742"
• MIT Transport Processes OCW: ocw.mit.edu → search "1.061"
• Ferguson Lab: ferguson.cee.duke.edu
• GESAMP report: search "GESAMP microplastics 2016 PDF" on Google
• Class Central microplastics: classcentral.com/subject/microplastics
• Google Scholar for papers: scholar.google.com
• NOAA microplastics: oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/microplastics.html