Following a science communication training session with the Research Experience for Undergraduate program at the Chesapeake Bay Program, we took a brief walking tour of historic downtown Annapolis. We stopped at the Alex Haley monument, U.S. Naval Academy, Maryland State House, Thurgood Marshall statue, and pointed out the Banneker-Douglass Museum. We crossed the bridge from Eastport into Annapolis and our first stop was the Alex Haley monument.

Read more

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:

Read more

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.

Read more

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.

Read more

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.

Read more

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.

Read more

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.

Read more

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.

Read more

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.

Read more

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.

Read more