Jon Swanson

Jon Swanson M.S. has kept salt water aquariums for over 30 years, and reef aquariums for more than 25. He has a B.S. in Biological Sciences from the University of Connecticut, did graduate work at the University of Nevada at Las Vegas, and has a master’s Degree in Plant Science from the University of Connecticut. While in Las Vegas he split his time between graduate work and honing his aquarium knowledge working at Trop-Aquarium, one of the top aquarium stores in Las Vegas. He completed the Connecticut Alternate Route to Certification program during the summer of 1998 and has been teaching high school ever since. After two years teaching in New Fairfield, Connecticut and then two years in Greenwich, Connecticut, he settled at E.O. Smith in 2002. He has taught Biology, Environmental Science, Oceanography, Current Issues in Science and Integrated Science during his 25+ years of teaching.

He is the 2008 recipient of the Presidential Award for Excellence in Math and Science Teaching for the state of Connectcut. He has been the recipient of numerous grants to develop unique teaching programs including the USDA funded project “A Learning Module and Lab Manual to Teach Students How Protein Structure is Related to Function, at the Molecular, Cell and Whole Plant Level” and the Toyota Tapestry Grant “Coral Farming, Saving the Reefs Through Aquaculture” the funding that jump started this project. He has been a speaker at a number of conferences, both aquarium and teaching related, offering his ideas on using reef aquariums as teaching tools. Along with his duties as a teacher, and supervising this project, Jon and avid scuba diver, so when he is not taking care of his reefs at home, or at the school, he is off swimming in the real reefs!