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December 18, 2008
Highlights
| Marine Benthic Ecology and Biodiversity,
A Symposium Honoring J. Frederick Grassle |
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| Photo courtesy of Donglai Gong |
| Colleagues from around the world honored
J. Frederick Grassle at a symposium at IMCS on November 20-21,2008.
(Click here
to view program of speakers.) The organizing committee for the
Symposium consisted of Rich Lutz, Jim Miller, Judy Grassle,
Rose Petrecca, Paul Falkowski and Gary Taghon. The following
entities were formal Sponsors for the Symposium: Center for
Deep Sea Ecology and Biotechnology, Department of Marine and
Coastal Sciences, Institute of Marine and Coastal Sciences (IMCS),
New Jersey Agricultural Experiment Station (NJAES), School of
Environmental and Biological Sciences (SEBS), Rutgers, the State
University of New Jersey, Office of Naval Research (ONR), National
Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Alfred P. Sloan
Foundation, Census of Marine Life (CoML), National Undersea
Research Program (NURP), Jacques Cousteau National Estuarine
Research Reserve (JC NEER), and Ocean Biogeographic Information
System (OBIS). |
| Susan Avery, Director of the Woods Hole
Oceanographic Institution summarized the symposium: Last week
there was a special international symposium held at Rutgers
in honor of Fred Grassle, who is stepping down as director of
the Institute of Marine and Coastal Sciences to resume his research.
Fred has a long history with WHOI and has been a major figure
in the fields of benthic ecology, hydrothermal vent biology,
and global biodiversity. More than 40 speakers from as far away
as France, Germany, and Mexico presented their work in the field
and reflected on Fred¹s impact on it. WHOI was well represented
by Dudley Foster, George Hampson, Andy Solow, Larry Madin, Dana
Yoerger, Rudi and Ami Scheltema and Lauren Mullineaux, as well
as a number of former WHOI staff members. Fred worked at WHOI
from 1969 to 1991 and, as the chief scientist on the 1979 multi-institution
expedition to the Galápagos vent sites, organized the
first team of biologists to ever examine how animals thrive
in an environment that seemed so harsh. He described that experience
in a 1998 Oceanus article, which can be read at http://www.whoi.edu/oceanus/viewArticle.do?id=2424.
The Rutgers Institute of Marine and Coastal Sciences the
house that Fred built continues to be a research partner
for WHOI, most recently on two new proposals to NOAA for cooperative
institutes. A special edition of the journal Deep-Sea Research
will be published from the symposium proceedings with a tentative
title "Marine Benthic Ecology and Biodiversity: A Compilation
of Recent Advances in Honor of J. Frederick Grassle." |
| Congressman Jim Saxton
Honored |
| Friends and colleagues of Congressman Jim
Saxton gathered at the JC NERR Coastal Center in Tuckerton,
October 24, 2008, to honor him for his leadership and outstanding
efforts to protect and preserve our environment and to mark
his retirement after 24 years and 13 terms in Congress. |
| Congressman Saxton has been a leader on
important conservation issues both in New Jersey and the nation,
including securing the recent passage by the House of the Coastal
and Estuarine Land Conservation Program Act, passage of the
Highlands Conservation Act, protecting endangered species, increasing
federal funding for land conservation, opposing drilling in
the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and staunchly advocating
coastal protection. |
| Event sponsors included the New Jersey Conservation
Foundation, the Institute of Marine & Coastal Sciences at
Rutgers University, the Pinelands Preservation Alliance, the
American Littoral Society, The Nature Conservancy - New Jersey
Chapter, Barnegat Bay National Estuary Program, New Jersey Audubon
Society, The Trust for Public Land and Conservation Resources,
Inc. |
This project resulted from an interagency initiative on Seamless
Networks of Marine Protected Areas led by the JC NERR in the New
York/New Jersey Bight. The study site at Sandy Hook is recognized
as being both biologically and historically important. Park personnel
will use the mapping mission to categorize sediment type and distribution
corresponding with biological infaunal communities to assess plans
for a dock, and identify targets of interest (potential native
American artifacts) for an archaeological survey dive team. Click
here
to read, "Underwater 'workhorse' gives kids a lesson in remote
technology," an article by MaryAnn Spoto of the Star Ledger.
- Fred Grassle received the 2008 Coastal and Ocean Leadership
Award from Monmouth University's Urban Coast Institute at its
annual Future of the Ocean Symposium and Champion of the Ocean
Awards Program on October 30. President Paul Gaffney recognized
Fred's many scientific accomplishments and the founding and growing
distinction of IMCS. Bob Chant served as one of the distinguished
panelists for the symposium, which focused on Oceans and Human
Health.
- Kay Bidle, Josh Kohut, and Tim Zimmerman were among the recipients
of this year’s pre-tenure faculty career development awards.
- George McGhee has been elected a Centennial Fellow of the Paleontological
Society, the oldest organization of professional paleontologists
in North America. Currently, in 2008, the society has 1492 members,
of whom only 68 are Fellows.
- Alan Robock has been elected to the rank of AAAS Fellow in Atmospheric
and Hydrospheric Sciences. He will be recognized for his contributions
to science and technology at the Fellows Forum during the AAAS
Annual Meeting in Chicago on February 14, 2009. He gave the following
presentations:
- Purchase College, State University of New York, Purchase,
New York, November 11, 2008. (Sigma Xi Distinguished Lecture,
on "Climatic Consequences of Nuclear War.”
- American Meteorological Society`s Environmental Science
Seminar Series, Russell Senate Office Building, Washington,
DC, November 21, 2008 (On "Smoke and Mirrors: Is Geoengineering
a Solution to Global Warming?"
- Invited participation in NASA Goddard Institute for Space
Studies AR5 Science Workshop, New York City, November 18,
2008.
- “Twenty Reasons Why Geoengineering May Be a Bad Idea”
(Invited presentation; 16th Biennial AMS/AGU Joint Heads and
Chairs Meeting, National Center for Atmospheric Research,
Boulder, Colorado, October 16-17, 2008)
- State University of New York, Stony Brook, October 22,
2008. (On "Climatic consequences of nuclear conflict")
- Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey, October 24,
2008. (On "Twenty reasons why geoengineering may be a
bad idea.")
- Joanna Burger and Michael Gochfeld were honored to receive
two awards from the Society for Risk Analysis, recognizing their
scientific work in conjunction with Native American (Aleut) communities
to integrate cultural values with more traditionally "scientific"
ecological services.
- Joanna Burger, PhD, received the Distinguished Achievement
Award, the Society’s highest award, in recognition of
her “extraordinary achievement in science relating to
risk analysis.”
- Joanna Burger and Michael Gochfeld, along with co-authors
from native Aleut communities, Karen Pletnikoff, Daniel Snigaroff,
Ronald Snigaroff, and Timothy Stamm, received the Society of
Risk Analysis award for the best paper of 2008 published in
the Society’s journal “Risk Analysis”; their
paper was on “Ecocultural attributes: evaluating ecological
degradation in terms of ecological goods and services versus
subsistence and tribal values.”
- Anthony Broccoli served on the Scientific Review Group for
the Hadley Centre for Climate Prediction and Research in Exeter,
United Kingdom. Dr. Broccoli is beginning a four-year term as
a member of the Scientific Review Group.
Meetings Attended
- A Sea Level Rise workshop entitled "How Prepared Are Your
for Rising Waters?" was simultaneously held at the Jacques
Cousteau Coastal Education Center, and the Virginia and Maryland
Chesapeake Bay NERR sites through video conferencing on December
9, 2008. Dr. Michael Kennish, Rutgers University, Research Professor
and Research Coordinator of the JC NERR opened the workshop by
presenting the most recent science-based information on climate
change to an audience of federal, state, county and local officials.
Presenters at all three locations addressed how and why local
communities should start planning for the effects of sea level
rise. Presentations stressed the need for local communities to
understand the importance of sea level rise issues, and how climate
change is driving FEMA’s decision-making. Dr Rick Lathrop,
Director of Rutgers Center for Remote Sensing and Spatial Analysis,
closed the workshop by reviewing the results of a NJ coastal inundation
study. The agenda, presenter contact information and presentations
are available online at www.jcnerr.org/coastal_training.
- Edward Vanden Berghe and Fred Grassle gave papers on the Ocean
Biogeographic Information System at the World Conference on Marine
Biodiversity held at the "City of Arts and Science"
in Valencia, Spain 11-15 November. The meeting was attended by
~600 scientists from 42 countries. Two hundred oral presentations
and as many posters were presented. The Census of Marine Life
Scientific Steering Committee and several planning meetings met
after the World Conference.
- Mike Kennish presented "Climate Change, Human Activities,
and the State of New Jersey" Great Swamp Watershed Association,
Morristown, New Jersey. November 11, 2008.
- Weilin Huang and Lily Young organized an International Collaborative
Workshop, Managing the Future of our Environment: Fate and Remediation
of Contaminants in Air, Water, and Sediment, at the Chinese Academy
Guangzhou Institute of Geochemistry (GIG), Nov. 12-14. It included
presentations by colleagues at GIG, the South China University
of Technology (SCUT), and DES members, Donna Fennell, Gedi Mainelis,
Lisa Rodenburg, Mark Perri and John Reinfelder . Reinfelder's
presentations were: Trace Metals in the Hudson River Coastal Plume;
Black Shale and the Geochemistries of Pyrite and Arsenic.
- A meeting with more than 200 students and faculty at South
China University of Technology (SCUT) was held on Nov. 15.
SCUT and Rutgers agreed in principle to a MOU for a 2+2 program
whereby undergraduates at SCUT in Environmental Sciences and
Engineering can attend 2 years at SCUT and 2 years at Rutgers.
Young gave an overview of the proposed 2+2 undergraduate program
and Reinfelder described the graduate program. Two of our
graduate students, Diana Ortiz and Josef Kardos spoke about
their research and two of our undergraduate students, Jamie
Eppolite and Matthew Bruno, gave presentations on work and
life at Rutgers.
- Peter Rona presented "Strategic and Resource Aspects of
the U.S. Atlantic Continental Margin" at a Department of
State workshop on the U.S. Atlantic ECS (Extended Continental
Shelf) in Washington on October 30.
New Grants
- Bushek, D. NJ Turnpike Authority, "Garden State Parkway
Widening Project: MP30 to MP80/Mullica River Bridge." 06/01/08-01/01/11
- Castelao, R. Dept. of Defense, Dept. of the Navy-Naval Oceanographic
Office, "Evaluating the Navy Coastal Ocean Model (NCOM) Skill
on Two Regional Implementation - the US West Coast (SOCAL) and
the US East Coast (USEST)." 9/26/08-9/25/09, ($100,000)
- Chant, R. National Science Foundation, "Col. Proposal:
Impact of Secondary Circulation & Mixing of Estuarine Exchange
Flows." 9/1/08-8/31/12, ($517,327)
- DeLuca, M. National Park Service, "Synthesis of Coastal
Geomorphology of Gateway National Recreation Area." 8/26/08-12/31/10,
(($24,429)
- Glenn, S. National Science Foundation, "CSR-CSI: DDDAS-The
Pervasive Dynamical Ecosystem for Oceanographic Research (CSR:
Center for Scientific Review; DDAS: Dynamic Data Driven Application
System)." 9/1/08-8/31/09, ($48,150)
- Haidvogel, D. National Science Foundation, "US GLOBEC (Global
Ocean Ecosystems Dynamics) Coordinating Office at Rutgers University."
9/15/07-2/28/11, ($150,070 Supplemental Funds)
- Kennish, M.J., U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and New
Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, "Coastal Ocean
and Estuary Benthic Indicators." 01/01/09 - 12/31/09, ($103,973
addnl)
Publications
- Callaghan, A.V., M. Tierney, C.D. Phelps and L.Y. Young. Anaerobic
biodegradation mechanism of n-hexadecane by a nitrate-reducing
consortium. Appl Environ Microbiol (accepted)
- Chant, R.J., J. Wilkin, Z. Weifeng, B. Choi, E. Hunter, R. Castelao,
S. Glenn, J. Jurisa, O. Schofield, R. Houghton, J. Kohut, T.K.
Frazer, M.A. Moline. 2008. Dispersal of the Hudson River Plume
on the New York Bight. Oceanography 21(4): 149-162.
- Diamond, E.A., B. Richer de Forges, L.S. Kornicker. 2008. Azytgo
cypridina brynmawria, a new myodocopid ostracod
off Landsdowne Bank, New Caledonia (Crustacea: ostracoda: Myodocopa:
Cypridinidae). Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington
121(3): 354-364.
- Falkowski, P.G., Y. Isozaki. 2008. The story of O2. Science
10.1126/science.1162641
- Garcia-Dominguez, E, A. Mumford, E.D. Rhine, A. Paschal and
L.Y. Young. 2008. Novel autotrophic arsenite-oxidizing bacteria
from soil and sediments. FEMS Microbiology Ecology 66(2):401-501.
- Lohrenz, S.E., G.L. Fahnenstiel, O. Schofield, D.F. Millie.
2008. Coastal sediment dynamics and river discharge as key factors
influencing coastal ecosystem productivity in southeastern Lake
Michigan. Oceanography 21(4): 55-63
- Moline, M.A., T.K. Frazer, R. Chant, S. Glenn, C.A. Jacoby,
J.R. Reinfelder, J. Yost, M. Zhou, O. Schofield. 2008. Biological
responses in a dynamic, buoyant river plume. Oceanography
21(4): 71-89.
- Oka, A.R., C.D. Phelps, L.M. McGuinness, A. Mumford, L.Y. Young,
L.J. Kerkhof. 2008. Identification of critical members in a sulidogenic
benzene-degrading consortium by DNA stable isotope probing. Applied
and Environmental Microbiology p. 6476-6480. doi:10.1128/AEM.01082-08.
- Schofield, O., R. Chant, B. Cahill, R. Castelao, D. Gong, A.
Kahl, J. Kohut, M. Montes-Hugo, R. Ramadurai, P. Ramey, Y. Xu,
S.M. Glenn. 2008. The decadal view of the Mid-Atlantic Bight from
the COOLroom: Is our coastal system changing? Oceanography
21(4): 108-117.
- Severmann S., T.W. Lyons, A. Anbar, J. McManus, G. Gordon. 2008.
Modern iron isotope perspective on Fe shuttling in the Archean
and the redox evolution of ancient oceans. Geology 36,
487-490.
- Sipler, R., S. Seitzinger. 2008. Use of electrospray ionization
(ESI) mass spectrometry to investigate complex dissolved organic
matter (DOM) and its potential applications in phytoplankton research.
Harmful Algae 8: 182-187.
- Toon, O.B., A. Robock, and R.P. Turco. 2008: Environmental consequences
of nuclear war. Physics Today 61, No. 12, 37-42.
- Zhu, W., E.D. Rhine, L.Y. Young, and J.R. Reinfelder (2008)
Sulfide-driven arsenic solubilization from arsenopyrite and pyritic
black shale. Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta 72:5243-5250.
Student News
- Congratulations to Melitza Crespo-Medina on her successful Ph.D.
thesis defense, December 2, 2008. The title of her thesis is,
"Diversity of Chemosynthetic Thiosulfate Oxidizing Bacteria
From Diffuse Flow Hydrothermal Vents and Their Role in Mercury
Detoxification." Melitza is in the Graduate Program in Microbiology
& Molecular Genetics, and her thesis committee members are
Costantino Vetriani (advisor), Tamar Barkay (co-advisor), Elisabetta
Bini, and John Reinfelder. Melitza has accepted a postdoctoral
position in Mandy Joye's laboratory at the University of Georgia,
and she will move to Athens soon after Christmas.
- Ben Kravitz, graduate student in the Department of Environmental
Sciences working with Profs. Alan Robock and Georgiy Stenchikov
on geoengineering, received an award for the best poster at the
4th Asian Space Conference and FORMOSAT-3/COSMIC International
Workshop, organized by the NSPO (National Space Organization),
October 1-3, 2008 in Taipei, Taiwan. In addition to a certificate,
he also received an Asus Eee laptop PC.
- The Rutgers Meteorology Club has been named to the Honor Roll
in the annual 2007-2008 American Meteorological Society (AMS)
competition for Student Chapter-of-the-Year. Of the 75 AMS student
chapters, one is named Chapter-of-the-Year and only three are
named to the Honor Roll. The Club officers will receive the award
at the annual AMS Meeting in Phoenix in January, 2009.
- Shravan Dave (Biotech Major) and Matthew Bruno (Environmental
Sciences Major) received Aresty Undergraduate Research Awards.
- Allison Marquardt, senior Meteorology major working with Prof.
Robock as a G. H. Cook Scholar, received a $600 grant from the
Aresty Center to present results of her research at the American
Meteorological Society annual meeting in Phoenix in January, 2009.
Let's Welcome
- Dr. Heidi Fuchs: "I study the ecology of larval invertebrates
and other plankton, with a focus on bio-physical interactions
and larval dispersal. I did my Ph.D. at Woods Hole Oceanographic
Institution and a postdoc at Scripps Institution of Oceanography.
My free time is spent on art, hiking, XC skiing, knitting rectangles,
and many other diversions." (Room 114F, ext. 233)
- Dr. Hélène Planquette: "My research interests
lie in the field of biogeochemistry and biological availability
of trace metals. During my Ph.D. I paid particular attention to
iron, by looking at its distribution around the Crozet Islands
in the Southern Ocean. I am also involved in looking at the role
of iron in regulating the primary production, as well as the species
composition. Another part of my research is to investigate the
export of large particles out of the mixed layer, focusing on
iron, aluminum and carbon. Currently, I am involved as a research
fellow with Rob Sherrell. Several projects are ongoing: GEOTRACES,
and the distribution of trace metals in the Southern Ocean (Palmer
LTER and Icebreaker Oden Swedish-US program to study Antarctic
polynyas)." (Room 211, est. 257)
- Dr. Zimmerman is an Assistant Professor of Science Education
at Rutgers University where he is jointly appointed in the Graduate
School of Education's Dept. of Leaning and Teaching and in the
School of Environmental and Biological Science's Dept. of Marine
and Coastal Sciences. He holds B.S. and M.S. degrees in marine
biology and his Ph.D. is in science education from the University
of California, Berkeley. His research falls within four broad
domains of the learning sciences: effective design and use of
classroom and mobile computer-mediated learning environments;
learning and teaching across formal and informal learning contexts;
students' abilities to apply science concepts to environmental
decision-making, and the use of real-time data for teaching science
concepts. This research focuses on ocean science content. When
not on campus, Prof. Z. is often rock climbing, hiking, backpacking,
making beer or seeking out sources of amazing local, organic food.
Congratulations
- Congratulations to Grandma Lynn Demenchuk! Pamela and Mike,
Leah, and Lauren Greski welcome baby Matthew Robert on December
4, 2008.
- Congratulations to Hugh, Tracie, and Liam Roarty! Baby girl
Brenna Kelly arrived on November 3, 2008.
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