Diatom Correspondence Course

Sign up!

Are you ready to join and earn your microorganism certification? You can sign up to join the Diatom Correspondence Course by emailing me at studiocornix@gmail.com.

Contribute to science

One of the primary ways I receive samples is via my Diatom Correspondence Course. People from all around the world have provided me with samples to observe, adding to my artistic exploration and knowledge.

Participation is easy. Just sample from a body of water near you, take a picture of the location you sampled, record the local name of the place, location, date, and time, and then send the samples to me within a week of collection. I will live stream the samples you send me on Twitch, take images I share with you, and thank you on my Twitch stream for your contribution. All correspondents receive a personalized certificate, badge, and some sci-art surprises for their hard community science work.

Every diatom correspondent will contribute to mydiatoms.org, an ongoing scientific project that identifies and catalogs diatoms from your sample. These will be archived on the site and will help build a microbiome library and contribute to our ongoing scientific study of organisms. Read more about the University of Arkansas Department of Biology Alverson Laboratory, our partner.