Farewell, Logan!
Last month, IAN said a fond farewell to science communication intern Logan Bilbrough. Logan's help with videography and photoraphy has been invaluable, and we are sure he will continue to thrive in his new role at Maryland Sea Grant. Thanks for all your hard work, Logan, and best of luck!
Goodbye, Steven!
This month, IAN says goodbye to data science extraordinaire Steven Guinn. Steven's help with databases, large datasets, and map were indispensible on many projects. Good luck, Steven!
Stakeholder workshops for the White River Report Card
IAN has been helping the White River Alliance create a report card for the Upper White River, which flows through Central Indiana cities including Muncie and Indianapolis. The first stakeholder workshops were held in March with three separate 1.5-hour sessions, held at different times to maximize the number of participants (115!) that could attend. The workshops were conducted using an on-line whiteboarding platform, which is a flexible and engaging way for stakeholders to interact and provide input. Common values included recreation, wildlife and clean water, while threats included sewer overflows, land development, pollution, and public awareness. Next steps will be to work with stakeholders to identify ways to measure progress toward achieving goals for these topics.
Erasmus Mundus Scicomm instruction
Bill Dennison was one of the co-instructors for an Erasmus Mundas course in WAter and COastal MAnagement (WACOMA) with graduate students from the European Union. The Erasmus Mundas program is a joint Masters delivered by an international partnership of European universities. Bill presented modules on seagrass research, conservation and management; Coupled human and natural systems; Environmental management; Science communication; Socio-environmental assessment. One of the graduate students from this program will be joining the IAN group this spring to work on governance indicators for the Chesapeake Bay & Watershed Report Card.