Nick DiPasquale, who served as the Chesapeake Bay Program Director for the past six and a half years, retired December 31st, 2017. Following retirement, Nick will be living in Chestertown, Maryland. He has promised to stay active and vocal regarding Chesapeake Bay issues. In fact, Nick’s last few talks have been very candid and heartfelt.

Suzi Spitzer, Vanessa Vargas and I attended the Science of Science Communication III conference hosted by the National Academy of Sciences in November 2017. The conference tackled many relevant concepts and brought social scientists into the conversation. But there were a few topics that a conference focusing on the science of science communication could have included. For future conferences there are three topics that I would like to see covered in the future:

In 2002 The Integration and Application Network (IAN) was born. Based on a 2000 strategic plan formulated by the faculty of the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science (UMCES), IAN was created because UMCES was concerned that its scientific effort was documenting environmental declines rather than helping create solutions to environmental problems.

The 2017 Coastal and Estuarine Research Federation (CERF) Conference in Providence, Rhode Island had the theme "Coastal science inflection point: celebrating successes, learning from challenges." The University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science (UMCES) always has a strong presence at CERF conferences, but because this was the first conference hosted on the East Coast since 2011, we had a particularly large delegation.

During the week of November 6th, Alexandra Fries traveled to São Paulo, Brazil to support our Belmont Forum colleagues while most of the rest of Integration and Application Network traveled to Rhode Island for the Coastal and Estuarine Research Federation Conference (CERF). In preparation for her trip, we wrote a song that she could use at the Belmont Forum workshop.

As part of the Coastal and Estuarine Research Federation 2017 Conference in Providence, Rhode Island, Heath Kelsey and I were assigned two five minute ‘ignite’ style talks. In these style talks, you are required to have the slides automatically advance as you are speaking. I watched several people struggle to keep up with the slides as they advanced, and this made me nervous.

The Coastal and Estuarine Research Federation (CERF) holds a conference every alternating year. At this conference, coastal and estuarine scientists and resource managers gather to share knowledge. This year’s CERF conference theme was ‘Coastal Science Inflection Point: Celebrating Successes, Learning from Challenges’. The CERF 2017 Conference was held in Providence, Rhode Island, the third time that CERF conferences were held in Providence due to the popularity of this venue.

I enjoy occasionally returning to Woods Hole to visit with the folks at the Sea Education Association. As a former student and a former Chief Scientist aboard the R/V Westward, it is great to check up on the program, such as when they created the new S.E.A. slogan “Adventure with a Purpose.” I always enjoy talking with the staff and current students. I am an Overseer with S.E.A. with such eminent colleagues as George Woodwell and John Farrington.

Recently, our first ever Integration and Application Network (IAN) Strategic Plan was released on IAN Press. This 16-page Strategic Plan outlines the vision, mission, and goals of the Integration and Application Network. It also identifies the IAN priorities in terms of partner engagement, social impacts and ecological outcomes. The cover of our Strategic Plan.

As part of our Integration and Application Network report card effort, we identified that our IAN staff would like more professional development opportunities. Jamie Testa did some investigating and discovered John Sturtevant, who conducts persuasive writing workshops.