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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One of the great joys in working in a collaborative team is the relationships formed with team members. Even when individuals go elsewhere to pursue their careers, it is very satisfying to watch them grow and develop professionally.

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Each summer, undergraduate science majors arrive in Maryland to join a program sponsored by the National Science Foundation entitled Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) program. The Maryland effort is led by Dr. Fredricka Moser from Maryland Sea Grant. Fredricka assembles a panel in the spring to select students from a huge number of stellar applications, and the panel also matches students with faculty mentors.

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IAN Press has added the capacity of electronic books, which enhances access to IAN publications. Electronic books provide an environmentally friendly format, reduce the cost to readers, avoid shipping costs and delays and avoid having books going out of print. Hard copy books are also available and there are various occasions when the hard copy books will be a preferred format. But ebooks will likely become the standard in the future, and IAN Press is proud to be adding this capacity.

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How can a minute, a mile, and a tree help protect and restore the Chesapeake Bay? Saving water, driving less, and planting trees are all ways to help protect and restore our local waterways, including the Chesapeake Bay. A Minute. By taking one minute off your shower you can save a gallon of water per day.

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The Chesapeake Bay Program has a long history of setting goals, and unfortunately an equally long history of NOT reaching these goals. The initial Chesapeake Bay Program goal, set in 1984, was for a 40% reduction in nutrient loads entering the Bay, specifically nitrogen and phosphorus. In spite of considerable investments in various nutrient reduction activities, this original goal has not been met, yet a variety of new goals have superseded these original goals.

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Ricky Arnold, a former graduate student at Horn Point Laboratory, University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science, stopped by Cambridge, Maryland on his way to the Wallops Island NASA facility. Ricky's last time in Cambridge was his thesis defense, nearly twenty years ago. Since his thesis defense, Ricky has lived in several countries, including Indonesia and Morocco, but has been in Houston, Texas for the past 6 years.

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This blog post discusses the seminar given by Dr Heath Kelsey, of EcoCheck, at the IAN Seminar Series on April 22, 2010. A wide ranging discussion of bacteria, viruses and contaminants in water and shellfish followed the seminar. Typical of discussions of bacteria in water or shellfish, the issue of the different methods was raised. The Most Probable Numbers technique used for faster turnaround (hours) was contrasted with the Membrane Filtration method which takes ca. 24 hours.

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IAN has developed an intern program: a short-term, immersive and experiential education in science communication applications. IAN interns typically come from a diversity of good undergraduate programs and many of them go on to a diversity of good graduate programs following their IAN internship. IAN interns develop a range of job skills, master various software, and fully integrate into the IAN program for several months and up to a year.

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Responding to environmental changes driven by forces outside of our control presents a challenge for the management of regional ecosystems. It is challenging enough for managers to understand the links between human activities within a region and their impacts on the regional ecosystem. It is even more challenging to establish monitoring programs, policies and regulations capable of regulating the direct effects of human activities on conditions in the ecosystem.

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