I have just joined the Chesapeake Bay Scientific and Technical Advisory Committee (STAC) as a member, but I have experience with various other review panels and STAC-type groups in various parts of the world. Thus I bring a fresh perspective, but without a deep appreciation of Chesapeake Bay STAC history and dynamics. There are some important elements of what I consider a successful STAC:

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Ten years ago, the Grand River Conservation Authority was the recipient of the 2nd annual Theiss International Riverprize in Brisbane, Australia. Peter Krause was the chair of the authority board at the time and he traveled to Brisbane to receive the award. I was on the Riversymposium planning committee while teaching at the University of Queensland and met Peter at this time.

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The weather is often the main topic of discussion amongst friends, around the office water cooler, and even between strangers. The professional meteorologist is one of the most maligned positions in our society. Yet everyone cares about the weather forecast; so much so there is even a 24-hour cable station dedicated to providing every detail about temperature, humidity and the relative chance of precipitation at 3,000 locations nationwide.

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On May 25-26, a workshop was convened in Brisbane, Australia to develop a strategy to create a 'paddock to reef' environmental report card for the Great Barrier Reef. The Queensland Department of Premier and Cabinet organized the workshop and IAN staff served as facilitators, Bill Dennison, Heath Kelsey and Jane Thomas.

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The flight from Hawaii to American Samoa arrives at night, so the warm moist air is immediately apparent - but tantalizing, as it is necessary to wait till the morning to begin to appreciate the people and places that make these islands unique.

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Beginning June 10 2010, Dr. Walter Boynton, a professor at the Chesapeake Biological Laboratory, University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science (UMCES), will be the new Chair of the Chesapeake Bay Program Tidal Monitoring Analysis Workgroup (TMAW). Walter has been actively researching Chesapeake Bay for over 30 years and has published dozens of scientific papers and book chapters from this research.

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This year, Horn Point Laboratory was the host for a High School Science Symposium that has been taking place for several years at the culmination of the Talbot County Public School high school science curriculum. Students must complete a scientific research project that is either experimental or research based, under the tutelage of a professional scientist in the field of study. This year, as in year's past, many of these mentors were scientists from the Cooperative Oxford Laboratory.

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The 2009 Chesapeake Bay report card release was held at Gunpowder Falls State Park in Baltimore City on May 18. It was a cold rainy day, and the intrepid folks who braved the weather huddled under a pavilion waiting for Maryland Governor Martin O'Malley. This is the first time that the Chesapeake Bay report card produced by the EcoCheck team, a partnership program between NOAA and the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science (UMCES), was released with elected officials.

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This blog post discusses the seminar given by Dr Kathy Boomer, of the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center, at the IAN Seminar Series on May 20, 2010. A lively discussion took place following Kathy's seminar, focused on the use of models, particularly the use of multiple models, for planning and resource management.

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Several times each year, IAN teaches a course on effectively communicating science. On May 12-13th, Bill Dennison (IAN) and Caroline Wicks (EcoCheck) traveled to Toronto, Ontario to teach the course to scientists and communication specialists who work for local conservation authorities. Conservation Ontario, the umbrella organization that oversees regional and local conservation authorities, helped provide funding for the course. The website states:

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