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February 20, 2009

Highlights

Congratulations to Fred Grassle, who will receive the 2009 Benjamin Franklin Medal in Earth and Environmental Science. The medal is being awarded, "For pioneering research leading to our understanding of the unique ecosystems near volcanic vents at the sea floor, the first ever found fueled by chemical energy from the Earth's interior instead of sunlight." Fred Grassle and other recipients of the Franklin Medal were interviewed by Sandy Bauers of the Philadelphia Inquirer (February 18, 2009). To read more, click on link http://www.philly.com/philly/news/local/39769087.html or click here.

For more information, please visit the Franklin Institute Awards website: http://www.fi.edu/franklinawards/
  • Norb Psuty was one of four team leaders recognized by the Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Units (CESU) Network at their national meeting in Washington, DC. Norb and the North Atlantic Coast CESU's northeast barrier islands team were recognized for "their long-standing collaborative efforts of science and stewardship in barrier island ecosystems of the northeastern U.S., and their ongoing commitment to the CESU concept."
  • Mike Kennish was interviewed by Kirk Moore of the Asbury Park Press for two important articles."Federal Grant to Allow Study of Barnegat Bay Pollution," appeared on the front page on January 27, describing the research grant awarded to him to lead a comprehensive study into the causes of nutrient pollution that is disrupting the ecosystem of Barnegat Bay. This two-year project will quantify nutrient loading to the bay with hard numbers and will use the collected data to support management measures. To read more, click on link http://www.app.com/article/20090127/NEWSO2/901270351/1991/NEWS or click here. "Sea-level Rise Poses Threat in Short Term to Back Bays," appeared on the front page of Sunday's Asbury Park Press (January 18, 2009) and contains information on sea level rise effects in Barnegat Bay and along Delaware Bay. For more information, click on link http://www.app.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2009901180370 or click here.
  • Members of the Coastal Ocean Observation Lab makes another test run, the article "Rutgers University Launches Underwater Research Robot" by Phaedra Laird was posted on NBC40.net, February 19, 2009. To read, click on link http://www.nbc40.net/view_story.php?id=8356 or click here.
  • Joanna Burger was an invited member on the BBVA Foundation seven person jury to select this years award winner(s) for the Foundation’s Frontiers of Knowledge in Conservation and Ecology Award. Joanna Burger was elected a fellow of the American Association for Advancement of Science. Congratulations!
  • Alan Robock was elected Chair-Elect of the Atmospheric and Hydrospheric Sciences Section of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). He was also appointed to the American Meteorological Society committee, 12/15/08, to draft a policy statement on geoengineering. On January 30, 2009, Alan gave an invited lecture at the University of Colorado, Boulder, (Distinguished Lecture Series, on "Smoke and Mirrors: Is Geoengineering a Solution to Global Warming?")
  • John Reinfelder gave a presentation, "Microbial mobilization of arsenic from black shale pyrite," Microbiology at Rutgers, Third Annual Mini-Symposium, January 30, 2009.
  • Anthony Broccoli gave two invited talks for Rutgers NJAES Environmental Stewards program, Essex County Environmental Center, Roseland, NJ, and Rutgers EcoComplex, Columbus, NJ, February 2009.
  • Christopher Uchrin was appointed Associate Editor, American Society of Civil Engineers Journal of Environmental Engineering (9/08-present), and appointed to USEPA Model Advisory Group (MEG) for Hackensack River Basin Model (2009-present).

Meetings Attended

  • Peter Rona, Karen Bemis and partners from the Applied Physics Lab-University of Washington met with scientists and engineers of the NEPTUNE Canada Program at the University of Victoria, British Columbia, 11-12 December to coordinate planning for their NSF-supported project to develop a sonar system to quantitatively image flow from seafloor hydrothermal vents, connect the sonar to the NEPTUNE Canada Regional Seafloor Cabled Observatory at a hydrothermal field on the Juan de Fuca Ridge, and to initiate data flow to the community.
  • Peter Rona and collaborators from the NOAA Northeast Fisheries Science Center, Rutgers, Stony Brook University, and NOAA National Institute of Science and Technology presented results from their August 2008 Hudson Canyon cruise at the AGU Fall Meeting on 19 December in San Francisco. Karen Bemis, Peter Rona and others also presented their paper, "Comparison of particle dispersion patterns in models and acoustic observations," at the AGU Fall Meeting.
  • Ximing Guo and his group presented seven papers at the USDA's NRSP-8 group meeting as part of the Plant and Animal Genome XVII Conference, January 10-11, 2009, San Diego, CA. Yongping Wang, Liusuo Zhang, Hong Yu, and Haiyan Yu each received a $1000 travel award to attend and present their papers.
  • Mike Kennish represented the Jacques Cousteau National Estuarine Research Reserve at the National Estuarine Research Reserve System -- Research Coordinator's Meeting in St. Augustine Florida from January 26 to January 30, 2009. Mike Kennish also gave several presentations in New Jersey:
    • New Jersey's shallow coastal estuaries: water quality conditions. Pinelands Science-Policy Forum, Pinelands Alliance, Bordentown, New Jersey. February 4, 2009.
    • Datalogger monitoring in Mullica River-Great Bay Estuary. New Jersey Water Monitoring Coordinating Council Meeting, New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, Trenton, New Jersey. January 21, 2009.
    • Barnegat Bay-Little Egg Harbor: status of submerged aquatic vegetation. Docks and Piers Workshop, Jacques Cousteau National Estuarine Research Reserve and New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, Bordentown, New Jersey. January 20, 2009.
  • Anthony Broccoli gave the following presentations:
    • "Impact of Climate Change on New Jersey Infrastructure" at New Jersey Department of Transportation Workshop on Sustainable Transportation In A Changing Environment, Ewing, NJ, January 2009.
    • "Climate Change: Causes, Impacts and Solutions," Temple Sinai, Tenafly, NJ, December 2008. Quoted by The Record (Hackensack, NJ) in news article entitled "Synagogues Preach the Value of Going Green."
  • Alan Robock convened two sessions at the AGU Fall Meeting in San Francisco, December 14-18, 2008, “Geoengineering to Counteract Global Warming?” and “Bjerknes Lecture.” Papers presented at the conference included:
    • Acid Deposition From Stratospheric Geoengineering With Sulfate Aerosols (with Ben Kravitz, Luke Oman, and Georgiy Stenchikov; presented by Ben Kravitz)
    • The Practicality of Geoengineering (with Allison Marquardt, Ben Kravitz, and Georgiy Stenchikov)
    • Climate Effects of the 2008 Okmok and Kasatochi Eruptions (Invited presentation; with Ben Kravitz, Luke Oman, Georgiy Stenchikov, and Allison Marquardt; presented by Ben Kravitz)

New Grants  

  • Bidle, K. National Science Foundation, "SGER: Assessing Genetic Mechanisms of DNA Repair in Ancient Ice Microbes." 1/1/09-12/31/10, ($194,608).
  • Bricelj, M. University of Maine, "US-ECOHAB: Spread of a Sodium Channel Mutation in Softshell Clam, Mya arenaria, Populations ." 3/1/08-8/31/09, ($138,713 Addnl).
  • DeLuca, M. National Park Service, "Impact of Shoreline Change, Sandy Hook: A Continuation." 10/1/04-12/31/10, ($43,264 Addnl).
  • Guo, X. GIGASNP: Genetic and physical mapping of the Pacific oyster genome in support of an international sequencing initiative. USDA/NRI, Animal Genomics Tools, Co-PI with Hedgecock and Gaffney. 1/1/09-12/31/10, ($711,884).
  • Lutz, R. Office of Naval Research, "Symposium & Scientific Volume Honoring J. Frederick Grassle." 11/1/08-10/31/09, ($7,500).
  • Kennish, M.J., U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, "Assessment of Nutrient Loading and Eutrophication in Barnegat Bay-Little Egg Harbor, New Jersey in Support of Nutrient Management Planning." 01/31/09 - 01/31/11, ($480,562).
  • McDonnell, J. Stevens Institute of Technology, "National Center for Secure and Resilient Maritime Commerce and Coastal Environments." 7/1/08-6/30/09, ($30,000).
  • McDonnell, J. University of California, Berkeley, "Ocean Sciences Curriculum Sequence for Grades 6-8 (Environmental Literacy)." 10/1/07-9/30/09, ($31,441).
  • Schofield, O. Office of Naval Research, "Rapid Environmental Assessment Using an Integrated Coastal Ocean Observation and Modeling System." 8/1/06-4/30/09, ($530,805 Addnl).
  • Schofield, O. Office of Naval Research, "Using Gliders to Resolve Dynamics of Dust and Phytoplankton in the Mediterranean." 10/1/07-12/31/09, ($122,729 Addnl).

Publications

  • Broccoli, A.J. 2008. Science to media: Catch up to, but don`t get ahead of, the science. In Ward, B., and S. Menezes, Communicating on Climate Change: An Essential Resource for Journalists, Scientists, and Educators, Narragansett, RI, University of Rhode Island, 11.
  • Iglesias-Rodriguez, M.D., E.T. Buitenhuis, J.A. Raven, O. Schofield , A. Poulton, S. Gibbs, P.R. Halloran, H.J. de Baar. 2008. Response to: Phytoplankton calcification in a high CO2 world. Science 322,1466c doi: 10.1126/science.1161501
  • Miller, G. H., J. Brigham-Grette, L. Anderson, H. Bauch, M.A. Douglas, M.E. Edwards, S. Elias, B. Finney, S. Funder, T. Herbert, L. Hinzman, D. Kaufman, G. MacDonald, A. Robock, M. Serreze, J. Smol, R. Spielhagen, A.P. Wolfe, and E. Wolff, 2009: Temperature and Precipitation History of the Arctic, Chapter 4 of Past Climate Variability and Change in the Arctic and at High Latitudes, A report by the U.S. Climate Change Program and Subcommittee on Global Change Research. (U.S. Geological Survey, Reston, VA), 77-246.
  • Rhine D, C.D. Phelps, L.Y. Young. 2006. Anaerobic arsenite oxidation by novel denitrifying isolates. Environ Microbiol. 8(5):899-908. (This paper was noted as among the top 25 most cited articles in the journal, Environmental Microbiology for the period 2005-2006.)
  • Robock, A. 2009. Nuclear winter. In Encyclopedia of Climate and Weather, Volume 2, Stephen H. Schneider, Ed., (Oxford Univ. Press, New York), in press. (Invited paper)
  • Rona, P.A. 2009. Life at deep-sea hot springs, chapter in Sylvia A. Earle and Linda K. Glover, Ocean: An Illustrated Atlas, National Geographic, Washington, D.C., 351 pp.
  • Zheng, H., G. Zhang, X. Guo and X. Liu. 2008. Inbreeding depression from various traits in two cultured populations of the American bay scallop, Argopecten irradians irradians Lamarck (1819) introduced into China. J. Exp. Mar. Biol. Ecol., 364:42-47.