Dr. Dick Zimmerman, my colleague at Old Dominion University, informed me today that Randy Alberte had passed away as a result of a long bout with cancer. Randy was my PhD advisor at The University of Chicago and Randy provided me the unique opportunity to pursue my interests in photosynthesis, marine biology and science in a wonderful laboratory at a great university conducting my research in one of my favorite places on the planet, Woods Hole, Massachusetts.

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Chesapeake Bay and Maryland Sea Grant has had the good fortune to have Jack Greer writing, facilitating and building consensus for the past 31 years. Jack has elegantly written numerous intelligent, thoughtful and insightful articles on Chesapeake Bay issues, with personal knowledge gathered by frequently poking around the Bay on his sailboat. He is widely respected as a scholarly, approachable and kind man.

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This blog post discusses the seminar given by Bob Wood of the Cooperative Oxford Laboratory, at the IAN Seminar Series on August 26, 2010. There was a lively discussion following Bob Wood's seminar. The observation was made that several of Bob's slides were 'Tufte' approved, in that they contained a large amount of content, with little 'chart-junk'. The talk was characterized as being both data-rich and idea-rich.

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This blog post discusses the seminar given by Bill Dennison of the Integration and Application Network, at the IAN Seminar Series on July 27, 2010. The use of smart phones by citizen scientists to access the eco-hub portal was discussed and the issue of a) lack of coverage and b) limited availability to some citizen scientists was raised. While technological advances will continue to make both of these issues less profound, they are important considerations.

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This blog post discusses the seminar given by Walter Boynton of the Chesapeake Biological Laboratory, at the IAN Seminar Series on July 29, 2010. Walter Boynton at the IAN Seminar Series. The discussion focused on the bioavailability of nitrogen in its different forms. The dissolved inorganic nitrogen forms (e.g., nitrate and ammonium) were contrasted with dissolved organic nitrogen and particulate nitrogen.

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Last week, Tim Caruthers and I traveled to Colonial National Park to continue work started last fall on a condition assessment for the park. While walking on the Tobacco Road trail in Yorktown, which ends at the York River, we spotted a pod of bottlenose dolphins frolicking in the river. Yorktown Tobacco Road Trail … At first I thought that the disturbance was a really big skate or group of skates, until we saw dorsal fins pierce the water.

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On Saturday June 12th the Choptank Tributary Team held their annual wade-in in conjunction with the Environmental Concern native plant sale. Team members were able to see their feet at a depth of 25 inches, a one inch improvement from last year. In the picture below are Delegate Jeannie Haddaway Riccio, State Senate Candidate Chris Jakubiak with his children, Choptank River Keeper Tim Junkin, and Trib Team members Bill Wolinski and Jennifer Dindinger.

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This title refers to our attempt to use science communication to make a difference in the world. We really do aim to make a global impact with our science communication applications. An indicator of how science communication is applied globally is that the free IAN symbol libraries have been utilized extensively. Over fifty-five thousand people from around the world have now downloaded this from two hundred and thirty-seven countries, virtually, the entire planet.

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Stepping out between two patches of naupaka—a Hawaiian coastal shrub with a blossom that looks like it has been cut in half—we see the sharp angles of black lava rock breaking the surface of turquoise water and the regal posts of a heiau (place for ceremonial rituals) climbing into the sky.

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In order to create a map of stream health in the Chesapeake watershed, Katie Foreman, Scott Phillips, Claire Buchanan and colleagues in the Non Tidal Workgroup of the Chesapeake Bay Program generated a data set of benthic macroinvertebrate condition using data collected by state agencies in the Chesapeake watershed. The original map created by Katie and her team in 2009 had approximately 3,200 data points, distributed throughout the watershed.

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