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February 28,
2005
Highlights
- Six representatives from the Regional Headquarters in Norway
(RHQNN) visited IMCS and the Coastal Ocean Observation Lab on
February 15th through the 17th. The Norwegians met with representatives
of Rutgers University and CODAR Ocean Sensors to explore the possibility
of replacing their existing coastal radar systems with compact
CODAR systems. Rutgers representatives briefed the group on their
present ship tracking and current mapping efforts and took them
to view the world’s only triple-nested HF radar test facility
at Sandy Hook, New Jersey.
- Tom Bibby, a post-doc in Paul Falkowski's group, has been offered
a faculty position at the Bermuda Biological Reseach Station.
- Lin Jiang, a post-doc in Paul Falkowski's group, has been offered
a faculty position at Georgia Tech.
- A paper senior-authored by George McGhee has made the #1 spot
in the "Top 25 Hottest Articles" in the journal Palaeogeography,
Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology during the last quarter (October-December)
of the year 2004. The title of the paper is "Ecological ranking
of Phanerozoic biodiversity crises: ecological and taxonomic severities
are decoupled," by G.R. McGhee, P.M. Sheehan, D.J. Bottjer,
M.F. Droser. Click on the website: http://top25.sciencedirect.com/?journal_id=00310182
- Lily Young served as an external reviewer for University of
Idaho, Environmental Science undergraduate and graduate program.
- Judith Weis was in Washington DC, during Feb. 17-18, evaluating
applications to the EPA Star Graduate Fellowships program (in
Aquatic Ecosystem Ecology), and returned again the following week
for the board meeting of the Association for Women in Science
(AWIS) in conjunction with the AAAS meeting.
- Bonnie McCay was appointed to the NJ Governor's Panel on Offshore
Wind Turbine Siting, which is asked to spend the next 15 months
coming up with a policy for New Jersey with respect to offshore
wind-generated energy production.
- On Feb. 12, Lisa Totten attended the Douglass Science Career
Exploration Day and talked with female high school juniors about
careers in the environmental sciences.
- In February 2005, Michael Gochfeld, MD, PhD, Professor of Environmental
and Occupational Medicine participated in the 12th triennial General
Assembly of the international Scientific Committee on Problems
of the Environment (SCOPE) an assemblage of over 40 National Academies.
At the meeting in Delhi, India (February 7-11, 2005) he represented
the SCOPE Cadmium Project as chair, the Scientific Group on Methodologies
for the Safety Evaluation of Chemicals as co-chair, and the entire
Human Health Cluster.
Meetings Attended
- On Feb. 17 and 18, Lisa Totten attended a meeting of the Expert
Panel advising the Delaware River Basin Commission on the establishment
of a TMDL for PCBs in the tidal Delaware River.
- Sybil Seitzinger attended ASLO in Salt Lake City, Utah as President-elect
from February 21-25.
- Shannon Newby presented a talk titled "Predator related
turbuence and the response of juvenile Atlantic surfclams, Spisula
solidissima" at ASLO's Aquatic Sciences Meeting in Salt Lake
City Feb. 25, 2005.
- Jim Ammerman chaired a session on Eutrophication at the recent
ASLO Aquatic Sciences Meeting in Salt Lake City during which the
following papers were presented by his students and collaborators.
- Gaas, B.M., J.B. Sylvan, and J.W. Ammerman: Development
of a Continuous Automated Assay for Real-Time Measurement
of Microbial Enzyme Activity. (Talk presented by Rutgers graduate
student Jason Sylvan.)
- Jaeger, S.A., J.B. Sylvan, and J.W. Ammerman: Distribution
of Microbial Ectoenzyme Activity in the Northern Gulf of Mexico.
(Talk presented by Oregon State graduate student Stephanie
Jaeger.)
- Quigg, A.S., T.L. Traywick, J.B. Sylvan, S.F. Dimarco, and
J.W. Ammerman: Seasonal Changes in Primary Productivity in
the Gulf of Mexico. (Talk presented by TAMUG undergraduate
student Tyra Traywick.)
- Fisher, T.R., A.B. Gustafson, S. Tozzi, A. Quigg, and J.W.
Ammerman: Nutrient Addition Bioassays in the Mississippi River
Plume. (Poster presented by U. Maryland Professor Tom Fisher.)
New Grants
- Hernan Arango received $28,018 from the Office of Naval Research
for his project "Ocean State Estimation and Prediction of
the Intra Americas Sea." (2/1/05-12/31/06)
- Colomban de Vargas was awarded $10,000 from the University of
New Hampshire for his research "Calc(BIS-the Calcareous plankton
Ocean Biogeographic Information System."
- Jennifer Francis was awarded a grant for $256K over 3 years
from the National Science Foundation to investigate "Roles
of Moist Static Energy Transport in the Changing Arctic System."
- NSF Water Cycle, ATM-0450334, "Coupled Climatic-Hydrologic
Change in the Terrestrial Water Cycle of North America in the
20th and 21st Centuries: Natural Variability and Anthropogenic
Impacts," March 1, 2005 - February 28, 2010, $786,400.
(Alan Robock, PI; Ying Fan Reinfelder, Chris Weaver, co-PIs)
- Ximing Guo and Susan Ford received $160,008 from NOAA Sea Grant
for a study on "Production and evaluation of all-triploid
and disease-resistant eastern oysters for aquaculture." (6/1/04
- 5/31/05)
- Ziniu Yu, Ximing Guo and Susan Ford received $139,011 from NOAA
Sea Grant for a project on "Identification and mapping of
oyster genes involved in host-defense against Dermo and MSX."
(6/1/04 - 5/31/05)
Publications
- Robock, A., M. Mu, K.Vinnikov, I.V. Trofimova, and T.I. Adamenko,
2005: Forty five years of observed soil moisture in the Ukraine:
No summer desiccation (yet). Geophys. Res. Lett., 32, L03401,
doi:10.1029/2004GL021914.
- Voordeckers, J.W., V. Starovoytov, and C. Vetriani, 2005. Caminibacter
mediatlanticus sp. nov., a thermophilic, chemolithoautotrophic,
nitrate ammonifying bacterium isolated from a deep-sea hydrothermal
vent on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. Intl. J. Syst. Evol. Microbiol.
55:773-779.
Student News
Sathypriya Thota defended her master's degree in the Department
of Civil Engineering on Feb. 2. Priya worked in Lisa Totten's laboratory
and wrote her master's project on the dry deposition of PCBs and
PAHs in the NY/NJ Harbor Estuary.
Congratulations
| On Feb. 21st, 2005 Andrew and Szilvia Voros became the proud
parents of their first child, Laura Meredith Voros. Laura weighed
7lbs. 1 oz. and measured 20" long. |
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| Laura Meredith Voros |
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