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.

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Recently IAN was asked to attend and present at the 16th Consultative Committee Meeting on Large Marine Ecosystems and Coastal Partners in Paris, France. I was lucky enough to be the one from IAN chosen to participate and I absolutely loved it! It’s unusual these days to attend a meeting and not know anyone, but this was the case for me at the UNESCO headquarters in the Invalides district of Paris.

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Robert Twilley, Director of Louisiana Sea Grant, has initiated a nine month fellowship program called LA DIA, which is an acronym that stands for Louisiana Discovery Integration and Application. Conveniently, this also translates in French and Spanish to "The Day". Bill Nuttle and I from the Integration and Application Network (note the similar name) traveled to Baton Rouge for a 14 July 2014 meeting--an appropriate day for the kick off event, Bastille Day.

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An interest to support community-based monitoring efforts around Long Island Sound motivates IAN’s work to develop a set of ecosystem report cards for that region. Long Island Sound is an estuarine embayment on the northeast coast of the United States, located directly east of New York City. The western portion of the Sound connects with the East River and New York harbor.

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On July 8, I attended a meeting organized by the Chesapeake Bay Program office and chaired by Joe Gill, Chair of the Principal Staff Committee and Maryland Secretary of Natural Resources. It was held on Wye Island on Maryland's Eastern Shore at a DNR conference center. The chairs of the six Goal Implementation teams, the leadership of the Chesapeake Bay Program were invited and the coordinators of the goal teams joined at lunch.

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At the Integration and Application Network, we have been developing video techniques for science communication. Most of our science communication has focused on print and web media, and we have recently begun developing video products. In the course of developing video products, we have been developing a variety of techniques which will be outlined here. Seminars:

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Over the past several weeks, I encountered various tributes to Rachel Carson (1907-1964), the environmental champion and author. It began in Pittsburgh, PA near where Rachel was born in 1927 and where she attended what is now Chatham University. I attended the River Rally, where Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. spoke about how courageous Rachel was to draw attention to the dangers of DDT and the vicious attacks that she received as a result.

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On April 29, I traveled to Cincinnati, Ohio for the National Water Quality Monitoring Conference. This year’s theme for the conference was Working Together for Clean Water, a true issue IAN tackles in almost all of our projects. Alex Fries in Cincinnati, Ohio for the National Water Quality Monitoring Conference. After meeting with Julie Vastine from Dickenson College, she asked me to attend the Volunteer Monitoring Gathering and Dinner.

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I attended the annual trustees and overseers meeting of the Sea Education Association in Woods Hole, MA on 22-23 June. This was my first meeting in some time, so it was good to see everyone again and get an update on the progress of S.E.A. in transforming their program to accommodate the changing market for study abroad college students. The new S.E.A. President is Peg Brandon and the Chair of the Trustees is Susan Humphris.

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For the past 33 years, one of the seven wonders of the UMCES world has been the Colossus of Rhoades. The iconic Phyllis Rhoades has been a pillar of support for each and every faculty member submitting a proposal, obtaining the necessary support to build this institution, and managing their projects. Phyllis found no deadline too daunting, no agency too difficult, and no faculty too difficult to work with. The ancient Colossus of Rhodes is a statute of Helios, the Greek god of sun.

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