In late October 2014, I travelled to New York City to represent IAN at the media launch of a new National Science Foundation (NSF) project based in New York Harbor and led by PACE University. It’s a pretty big deal to receive major funding from the NSF and this is the first NSF project that I have been involved in. For it to be based in one of the most famous cities in the world is an added bonus.

The 7th biennial Education and Science Forum sponsored by the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration Educational Partnerships Program (NOAA-EPP) was held on the beautiful campus of the University of Maryland Eastern Shore (UMES) during some spectacular autumn weather (Oct 24-26).

Simon Costanzo, Heath Kelsey, Dave Loewensteiner, Judy O’Neil, Jane Thomas and I attended the 17th Annual International Riversymposium in Canberra, Australia, 15-18 September 2014. The theme of this year’s symposium was ‘Large River Basins’ which was quite topical for the IAN team completing the draft Mississippi River report card.

The four Thiess International Riverprize finalists provided inspirational examples of creative solutions for river protection and restoration. The winner of the 2014 Riverprize was the International Commission for the Protection of the Rhine, a group of committed and passionate individuals who have transformed the "Sewer of Europe" into a river with high water quality, migratory fish and restored floodplains. There were four very worthy finalists for the 2014 International Riverprize:

In order to kick off Phase 2 of the USAUS-H2O virtual environmental exchange program between eight high schools in Australia and eight high schools in the U.S., we held a teacher workshop in Canberra, Australia. Judy O'Neil, Simon Costanzo and I traveled to Canberra, the capital city of Australia where our partners from Charles Darwin University organized the workshop at the University House, Australian National University.

Participating in the International Marine Conservation Congress (IMCC) 3rd Annual Conference, August 14-18 2014 at Glasgow, Scotland … Picturesque landscapes are all around in the Scottish Highlands … I traveled to the International Marine Conservation Congress' (IMCC) conference in Scotland in part because I wanted to visit Scotland - land of Scottish brogues, whisky, and wild, mountainous landscapes!

I first heard the story of the salmon in the tree while visiting in Haida Gwaii this summer. Haida Gwaii is a set of islands along the northwest coast of North America that is home to the Haida people, one of several nations of the aboriginal people that have existed here for about 10,000 years. I am an engineer by training, and my traveling companions, my wife Lenore and friends Tom and Nancy, are scientists.

On 16 July, the Integration and Application Network staff met in Solomons, Maryland for a three hour cruise aboard the R/V Rachel Carson followed by a tour of the Chesapeake Biological Laboratory. The R/V Rachel Carson, skippered by Michael Hulme and crewed by Rob Nilsen, took us out to the center of the Bay for a hydrocast in 33 meters of water. Dave Loewensteiner helped out with the various scientific samplings and Jeremy Testa helped with the interpretation of the data.

IAN Press has been producing richly illustrated, informative books, booklets, reports, newsletters and brochures for nearly a decade. With the emphasis on effective science communication, these printed materials produced by the talented Science Communicators and Science Integrators of the Integration and Application Network have been used by resource managers, policy makers and scientists to better understand and manage environmental resources.

The seawall was an admission that everything tried so far was not working. This past summer I discovered that Bethany Beach, Delaware, has something that few other beach resorts can claim — a 16 foot dune. Families strolling the boardwalk or hanging out to eat ice cream gaze out on to a rising slope of dune grass instead of ocean surf playing on a sunlit beach. The beach and the surf are there, to be sure, and the dune is there to make sure the beach stays where it is.