Reef Builders presents Colin Foord of Coral Morphologic at ReefStock 2012 in Denver CO

By on Jan 06, 2012

Colin Foord

We are extremely proud to announce Colin Foord as the second speaker for ReefStock 2012, alongside Tony Vargas. Colin Foord is a marine biologist and artist educated at the University of Miami and James Cook University (Australia). He is one half of the marine biological art-duo Coral Morphologic, whose mission it is to bridge the gap between art and science with the aquarium as their primary medium.

Without exaggeration Colin is one of the brightest young minds in the wider world of marine life, as his exploits go beyond just marine aquariums, nature photography and creative marine life inspired art exhibitions. We’ve been after Colin to speak at ReefStock for a few years but he’s so busy doing that this is the first chance he’s had to come speak in the Denver Colorado and boy what a talk it will be!

To our knowledge Colin Foord is the only TED-alumn from the marine aquarium scene; his ReefStock presentation will be the first of its kind to take a phenomenal TED talk and expand it for a full length aquarium event presentation. In case you missed it, here is the TED talk that Colin gave about the ‘Urban Corals of Miami’ with his Abstract for ReefStock below the video.

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Abstract: Colin will take us on a tour of the ‘Urban Corals of Miami’ that will impress with just how remarkably hardy and opportunistic corals really can be. Beginning from satellite imagery of Miami’s unique geographic location, he will zoom us down to the micro habitats that have developed within a man-made framework of islands, tidal cuts, and artificial reefs (both intentional and unintentional). With these corals in mind, Colin will explain what he sees as the metaphorical similarities of the city and the reef, and how our hobby can foster positive contribution to our scientific understanding of coral reefs worldwide.

Bio: Through Coral Morphologic, Colin is currently working on a collaborative multi-media project titled ‘Aqua/Cultural Transformation’ with the Miami Science Museum to promote its new $275 million facility and their future aquarium exhibits. This two year Knight Foundation-funded project will utilize living corals to create a naturally fluorescent and pop-culturally relevant iconography for the city of Miami.   Colin is also currently filming corals for a Fulldome Cinema production titled ‘Rekindling Venus’, that is slated to premier world-wide at the Royal Observatory Planetarium in Greenwich, England during the Transit of Venus on June 5th, 2012.

In addition to his artworks,  Colin recently co-authored a paper (in review) on the first comprehensive genetic analysis of the zoanthid diversity of South Florida, including the discovery of several likely undescribed species. Outside of Florida, Colin has explored the coral reefs of Australia, Indonesia, Fiji, Solomon Islands, Cook Islands, Turks and Caicos, and the Bahamas.  Before launching Coral Morphologic, Colin spent nearly a year living in Bali working for the Marine Aquarium Council where he was tasked with teaching local fishermen how to farm corals as a sustainable alternative to more destructive fishing practices. It is his goal to promote aquaculture as the means of developing a more sustainable reef aquarium hobby.

CoralMorphologic.com


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  3. Coral Morphologic’s Colin Foord to speak on urban Acropora at TEDxMiami
  4. Two Little Fishes presents Tony Vargas at ReefStock 2012 in Denver Colorado
  5. Coral Morphologic wins a grant to start painting Miami as a Coral Reef City
  6. Morphologic Studios gets all artsy on PBS
  7. ReefStock happening March 10th, 2012 at the Denver Downtown Aquarium
 
  • Anonymous

    cool.  definitely want to catch this.  I hope Coral Morphologic tags along and brings some zoas to offer for sale.   

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Barry-Geller/100000556227218 Barry Geller

    Can we still donate to them for their project?

  • Anonymous

    Awesome!

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_PE3EWFQ6TMNEZTZWHTMDIW7T2Q Azurel

    Colin is top shelf…..Loved the TED presentation.

  • Anonymous

    sorry I cant watch him with this damn thing stuck in my brain :) http://www.flowbee.com/

  • David Graff

    that is awesome, its cool to see someone so young and so bright. what a great future he has ahead for him ! with that crazy hair he could pass for a cast member of Jersey shore, but he is smarter than all of them combined times about 10 ! Keep up the awesome work Colin !

  • Anonymous

    Somebody give him a haircut!

  • Anonymous

    Then how will he filter feed plankton out of the water??

  • owen karr

    is my audio cutting out or something?  i can’t seem to hear the song he is dancing to on stage.

  • Anonymous

    Had he been using a GFI outlet, the hair would be fine…..

  • Anonymous

    I wonder how he feels about ground probes now!

    (we kid because we love!)

  • Ricky Deans

    I’m sure the content of what he speaks about is very good but his appearance and delivery need a lot of work.  I mean come on if you want people to take you serious than you can’t walk around with a haircut that looks like you stuck your hand in a electrical socket! His awkward movements while delivering a speech is almost as bad. 

  • Anonymous

    you can stay home and obsess over his haircut.  The rest of us will be there gaining knowledge.  

  • Anonymous

    meh… His information is much more compelling than his hair or movements. I think he did a fine job presenting.

  • http://twitter.com/AwItsLinnikins Linny

    Don’t be a pretentious p****! I think it’s cute. (:

  • Ricky Deans

    @Linny you must be his girlfriend.  No need for name calling or for you to pull out the old dictionary with big words!

    @Jake:twitter  I got a life and a family, I don’t waste my time going to listen to guys speak about corals, I’m just not that much of a nerd.  I’ll be watching the playoffs!

    @Phanboy:disqus you’re entitled to your opinion…..

  • http://twitter.com/AwItsLinnikins Linny

    Since when was “pretentious” a “big word”?  Also, never met the guy in my life, just think he looks cute. (;

  • Ricky Deans

    Look at all the words you typed……which one is the longest? Pretty simple……

  • Anonymous

    Only a true armchair athlete knows what playoffs are 3 months away and anticipates their arrival with such enthusiasm. You must be proud. Regardless, the fact you claim watching sports on TV is not a waste of time, but attending a presentation on Caribbean corals is a waste of time doesn’t give you much credibility on a site dedicated to info about the reef aquarium hobby. P.S. I’m married and have two kids as well.

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_TY62P4IMCIOGM5T3WOGV625FII The Jesus

    First off, you come onto a site named “ReefBuilders” and say that listening to a talk about corals is a waste of time and imply that anyone that does listen doesn’t have a life.  I agree, his hair could be a little “more professional” to reach the masses, but I don’t care about appearance as much as I care about the content of what he has to say.  I applaud him for doing what he wants with his hair.  I did the same thing with my hair 14 years ago.  Next thing you know other people starting doing it and it spread across South Florida.  The girls seemed to like it a lot, so I kept it.  I did it just to have a little fun and to express some individuality.  Individualism doesn’t seem to have any place in this country, and that’s beyond sad; closer to depressing.  I guess everyone is supposed to fit a specific mold, right? There’s no reason we should be open-minded or express ourselves, I guess.  

    I could care less what he looks like.  I’ve had some of the deepest, most profound conversations of my life with homeless people & people you would never expect, based solely on appearance.  I’ve also talked with people that are dressed very well, are very well kept, very well read and even have their Phd, but have no real intelligence beyond what they’ve memorized and have had some of the most shallow, unintelligent, pretentious, meaningless conversations in my life.  Looks can be very deceiving, so I try to look past outward appearance.  Unfortunately, it seems that most humans are still just as prejudice as ever and will shut someone down based solely on appearance.  

    So, you have a life, and all of us “nerds” clearly don’t, at least that is what you imply.  Then, you go on to say that you’ll be watching the television instead of wasting your time listening to a hobbyist/scientist speak about things relating to that hobby/science, which happens to be on same subject/hobby as this website.  Okay, I get it it.  Listening to someone talk about a new coral is for nerds and people without lives, but going onto a website about corals and reefs and then posting about somebody’s hair isn’t.  So, you have a life and have no time to waste, especially when something you like is on TV.  I love football just as much as the next person.  Chances are that I like it even more (I played football at UCF), but if it’s that important, I will DVR it or ask someone to DVR it for me.  Luckily, I apparently don’t have a life, so I attended it and learned a lot about many different things.  The purpose of the TED events were simply to encourage thought and to shed some light on new and different ideas.  If I actually had a life, I guess I would have sat at home watching TV instead of going out to a big social and thought-provoking symposium.
    I guess I never should have gone to that incredible TED event in Miami in September.  I wasted my time listening to him talk about the new, unclassified coral that grows in my backyard.  Forget the implications that this new hybrid coral may have the potential to be a major player in the long-term survival of corals and reefs all over the world.  I guess the dozens of other speakers that spoke about everything except coral were a waste of time as well, and were only meant for “nerds” and people without a life.  Man, I really need to get a life.  I already have a TV, I guess that’s a good place to start.

  • owen karr

    LOL.  you have too much of a life to listen to a speech where you might learn something new, but apparently your life and family doesn’t matter for 10 hours a weekend so you can sit on your ass inside your home and stare at a football game that doesn’t even matter, specifically the wildcard games.

    if i was in vegas during those games i would have parlayed them all for an easy cash.

  • http://twitter.com/AwItsLinnikins Linny

    That would make it a BIGGER word, not a big word, smartie.

  • Ricky Deans

    What a stupid comment! You’re one of the biggest losers on here always posting and arguing with people! Arm chair athlete what a joke you are.

  • Ricky Deans

    I’m just not as big of a nerd as you guys are apparently! When did I say that I watch 10 hours of football?  Don’t assume what I do and don’t get upset that your decision to listen to someone speak about “colorful rocks” for about 2 hours is not exciting for most (99.9% to be exact) people. 

    Wild card games don’t matter? Tell that to the millions of people who watched it or the thousands that went to the game and spent tons of money to be there! Your argument is also stupid!

  • Ricky Deans

    You had an intelligent argument (all though very long) minus the sarcasm, thank you.  My post was nothing major it’s been basically taken to an extreme now. Look reef builders put him up there like he’s some type of superstar and all I’m saying is that “IMO” he should work on those things to be more professional.  If you see him and you like it then more power to you. BTW not everything on “Reefbuilders” is about coral. I look here for new equipment which is the majority of the postings!

    People made fun of his hair before me and no one jumped all over them….go figure.