Blog posts for the Science for Environmental Management course
The link between economic and environmental sustainability has been weak in the past, as economic growth has come about at the cost of environmental protection. Our task is to make these two aspects of sustainability compatible with each other. (Image source: The World Bank)

Speaking (scientific) truth to power through storytelling: using lessons from the past and examples from the present to plan for the future

Kavya Pradhan, Alterra Sanchez ·
23 February 2017
| Science Communication | Applying Science |     9 comments

Kavya Pradhan and Alterra Sanchez … Like King Arthur’s resolute knights, Environmental Scientists are constantly in their own legendary saga. In our case, instead of the Holy Grail, we are looking for viable strategies for environmental management while taking into consideration the socio-economic and political facets of environmental issues.

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Pasteur’s Quadrant describes the three types of scientific research1. Environmental management would seem to fit with Edison, however a large amount of ecological research was not intended to be explicitly for management purposes, and thus fits with Pasteur. (Image source: judithcurry.com)

Science for science, for environment, or society?: The role of science in environmental management

Alterra Sanchez, Stephanie Barletta ·
16 February 2017
| Science Communication | Applying Science |     11 comments

Alterra Sanchez and Stephanie Barletta … Environmental management is much more than using science to solve a problem, if only it were that easy! If a lake is becoming eutrophic because of nutrient input due to nearby farming, the answer would be to not allow the farmers to use as much fertilizer; easy, problem solved, right? Unfortunately, no.

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Maslow’s hierarchy. While not explicitly about the environment, it demonstrates the tendency of humans to concern themselves with survival and security above all else. (Source: simplypyschology.org)

Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea: Balancing the needs of scientific management and public stakeholders in Ecosystem Based Management

Jake Shaner, Dylan Taillie ·
9 February 2017
| Science Communication | Applying Science |     10 comments

Jake Shaner and Dylan Taillie … Scientists have long been trained to adhere to the scientific process of identifying a problem or question and testing hypotheses in an attempt to find an answer. Conventionally, this process informed management by creating a compartmentalized management scheme of the planet’s natural resources.

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Hire me, I’m a Scientist! Career challenges for students

Detbra Rosales, Melanie Jackson, Chih-Hsien (Michelle) Lin ·
12 May 2015
| Applying Science |     1 comments

Detbra Rosales, Melanie Jackson, Chih-Hsien (Michelle) Lin … To go to grad school or not go to grad school that is the question”, every student has at some point of his or her life. Is graduate school required to get you that dream job in marine science or any science in general? This all depends on what career path you want to take. In high school, guidance counselors would advise you to take a career test to help you decide on what career you should focus on.

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Figure 1: As depicted by NOAA, there are many scales at which a management plan can attempt to regulate a fishery and many factors to consider. Management is made even more challenging due to the unpredictable and dynamic nature of fisheries as complex systems. Image from NOAA

The future of managing fisheries: what can we expect?

Adriane Michaelis, Sabrina Klick, Rebecca Peters ·
5 May 2015
| Science Communication | Applying Science |     3 comments

Adriane Michaelis, Sabrina Klick, and Rebecca Peters … As students in the Science for Environmental Management course offered by the University of Maryland, we had the opportunity to discuss past, current, and future aspects of science and fisheries management with Dr. Mike Wilberg of the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science and Eric Schwaab, Chief Conservation Officer at the National Aquarium…

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Figure 1: Screen grab of each students' presentation

Fifteen students, Ten minutes: One humbling education

Rebecca Peters, Aimee Hoover, Emily Russ ·
1 May 2015
| Science Communication | Applying Science |     1 comments

Rebecca Peters, Aimee Hoover, Emily Russ … The birds are chirping, the grass is green, the tourists are out walking the streets, and students are indoors on a Saturday signaling the coming end of another eventful school year: Spring is in the air in Annapolis. On Saturday April 25, 2015 graduate students in the Science for Environmental Management Class offered by the University of Maryland came together to put into practice the communication techniques we learned these past few months.

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Figure 1: Environmental report cards can assess different scales, such as a national region, regional watershed and local watershed. The watershed image represents the size of the watershed of interest, along with the number of complexities involved in creating a report card. Adapted from Williams et al.

A report card to tell your mom about: Environmental report cards provide transparent assessments of our aquatic ecosystems

Melanie Jackson, Chih-Hsien (Michelle) Lin, Detbra Rosales ·
28 April 2015
| Environmental Report Cards | Science Communication |     3 comments

Melanie Jackson, Chih-Hsien (Michelle) Lin, Detbra Rosales … Students in grammar school and all the way to college have anxiety about receiving report cards, and often times devise plans for the best time to tell their parents about their not so stellar grades. Explaining poor grades to parents can involve tactics such as blaming the teacher for “just not liking you”; in contrast, this sort of bias is not involved in any step of creating the environmental report cards.

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Table 1 The media information chain (modified from Herbert O. Funsten, 2003)

Scientists in Media: “Give me a microphone, and I shall waken the world”

Wenfei Ni, Martina Gonzalez Mateur, Stephanie Siemek ·
21 April 2015
| Science Communication |     4 comments

Wenfei Ni, Martina Gonzalez Mateu, Stephanie Siemek … Taking a last glance of the materials on the table, Rona Kobell from the Bay Journal adjusted her glasses, and asked clearly, “ Why is anyone still fishing in the Anacostia River anyway if it is very polluted? “It is because lots of urban families nearby just go fishing there for relaxation.

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Fig.1 Expert witness are needed to translate scientific jargons into understandable concepts for the judge. Figure by Fan Zhang.

Do’s and Don’ts: How scientists and the law can exist in tandem

Fan Zhang, Emily Russ, Whitney Hoot ·
14 April 2015
| Science Communication | Applying Science |     4 comments

Fan Zhang, Emily Russ, Whitney Hoot … When we talk about scientists, we envision someone wearing a lab coat and exploring nature’s mysteries, a professor passing knowledge to the next generation or a group of people who enjoy debating and discussing abstruse topics. We know that these are important professional activities for scientists, in academia and beyond. But sometimes scientists have more challenging jobs: dealing with the law, and it can be a nightmare if it goes wrong.

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Figure 1 The six segments of the American public based on climate change beliefs, attitudes, policy preferences, and behaviors identified by Yale/ George Mason University (2014). [[i]]

Climate change: teaching the public these are not dirty words

Stephanie Siemek, Wenfei Ni, Sabrina Klick ·
1 April 2015
| Science Communication | Applying Science |     3 comments

Stephanie Siemek, Wenfei Ni, Sabrina Klick … The words climate change are not dirty words, nevertheless, in some cases it is controversial to even mention it. Climate change has an immense amount of support from scientific data, models, research, as well as current day observation. Yet, many people refuse to believe it. Websites have even been developed to combat skepticism such as SkepticalScience.com and realclimate.org.

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