Blog posts categorized by Learning Science
Chesapeake Bay SAV Synthesis working group during the first meeting in Annapolis

Developing scientific stories for Chesapeake Bay submerged aquatic vegetation

Bill Dennison ·
19 January 2017
Science Communication | Learning Science | 

The submerged aquatic vegetation (SAV) can be used as sentinels for the health of Chesapeake Bay. A working group of scientists has been formed to analyze three decades of water quality data and annual surveys of submerged aquatic vegetation. Bob Orth, a researcher based at the Virginia Institute of Marine Science (VIMS), and I are leading this effort.

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(top) The official banner of CommOCEAN 2016, credit: commocean.org and (bottom) the historic Market Square of Bruges, credit: Vanessa Vargas.

IAN attends CommOcean 2016 in Bruges, Belgium

Vanessa Vargas-Nguyen ·
23 December 2016
Environmental Report Cards | Science Communication | Applying Science | Learning Science | 

On December 6th to 7th 2016, Heath Kelsey and I represented the Integration and Application Network (IAN) at the 2nd International Marine Science Communication Conference (CommOcean) in Bruges, Belgium. The conference took place at the Provincial Court on the Market Square in the heart of the medieval Bruges, a historic UNESCO heritage site. It was my first trip to Europe, and my first conference to attend as both an IAN graduate student and session speaker.

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Using maps to prioritize monitoring.

Pursuing prioritization in Pennsylvania: The magic of more monitoring

Alexandra Fries ·
17 November 2016
Science Communication | Applying Science | Learning Science | 

On October 13th, Caroline Donovan and I traveled to Dickinson College in Carlisle, PA for the Prioritization Workshop. This workshop was held as part of the Chesapeake Monitoring Cooperative (CMC) project that UMCES is a partner of as well as Alliance for the Chesapeake Bay, Izaak Walton League of America, and the Alliance for Aquatic Resource Monitoring (ALLARM). The workshop was hosted by ALLARM at Dickinson College.

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Looking over the Grand Canal from the Accademia Bridge. The Grand Canal is the main thoroughfare of Venice, linking many of the waterways throughout the city. Photo: Brianne Walsh.

Combating climate change in the floating city

Brianne Walsh ·
13 September 2016
Learning Science |     2 comments

Last month, while on vacation in Italy, I had the opportunity to visit the aptly nicknamed “floating city”, Venice. For thousands of years, life in Venice has centered around water, reliant on the sea, lagoon and canals for protection, transportation, and livelihoods, and today those waters threaten to engulf the city. During a walking tour of Venice, we were able to venture off the beaten path, and learn a bit more about the engineering, and problems facing this magnificent city.

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Praxis depicted by ‘The Thinker” sculpture for the thoughtful component, and “Two Hands” sculpture for the practical component.

The praxis of science visualization

Bill Dennison ·
11 May 2016
Science Communication | Learning Science |     2 comments

The Integration and Application Network (IAN) staff recently completed teaching a new course in Science Visualization. This course was part of the Marine-Estuarine-Environmental Science (MEES) Program through the University System of Maryland. Praxis, the word that Aristotle used to mean "thoughtful, practical doing", refers to the emphasis that this course had on developing the practical skills of science visualization.

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The Mission-Aransas National Estuarine Research Reserve Headquarters is located inside the The University of Texas at Austin Marine Science Institute Campus in Port Aransas, Texas. Credit: richterarchitect.com (top) and K. Dunton/missionaransas.org (bottom)

Mission Aransas Pilot Project

Heath Kelsey ·
6 May 2016
Environmental Report Cards | Applying Science | Learning Science | 

The Mission-Aransas National Estuarine Research Reserve Headquarters is located inside the The University of Texas at Austin Marine Science Institute Campus in Port Aransas, Texas. Credit: richterarchitect.com (top) and K. Dunton/missionaransas.org (bottom) On April 27-28 I participated in another workshop related (indirectly) to the Texas Coast Report Card Pilot Project at Harte Research Institute in Corpus Christi Texas.

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The 8 Climate Science Center Regions

Workshop on ecological drought with the South Central Climate Science Center in Norman, Oklahoma

Brianne Walsh ·
22 April 2016
Science Communication | Applying Science | Learning Science |     1 comments

In March, Bill Dennison, Simon Costanzo, and I travelled to Norman, Oklahoma for a workshop on ecological drought, part of an ongoing project with the USGS National Climate Change and Wildlife Science Center. This was the third in a series of eight workshops to be held at each of the nation’s eight Climate Science Centers focusing on ecological drought.

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WWF-UMCES Retreat in October 2015

WWF-UMCES Retreats Poetry

Bill Dennison ·
18 April 2016
Science Communication | Applying Science | Learning Science | 

This blog is part of the Basin Report Card Initiative: a partnership between the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) and the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science (UMCES) We have had two retreats with our WWF colleagues on the front porch of the DuPont House which serves as the Center Administration for UMCES. The DuPont House is on the Choptank River and we can enjoy the view while brainstorming and writing. We find that our retreats with WWF are very productive and immersive.

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Draft of the New York Harbor cross-section diagram for the Statue of Liberty transect

How to create conceptual cross-section diagrams

Bill Dennison ·
11 April 2016
Science Communication | Applying Science | Learning Science |     1 comments

Conceptual cross-section diagrams are a new technique developed by the IAN symbol library, allows for a geographically accurate depiction of coastal waterways. The first use of these cross-section approach was for New York Harbor, developed because of the complex waterways, islands, bridges and tunnels in New York Harbor. Brianne Walsh created a series of multiple cross sections using east-west transects extending from New Jersey to Long Island.

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