The Coastal & Estuarine Research Foundation Newsletter recently highlighted a paper by Matt Oreska, Karen McGlathery, Pat Wiberg, Robert Orth and David Wilcox on the seagrass restoration project on the Virginia Coast. You can read the summary at: https://cerf.memberclicks.net/cesn-march-2021#Article4 and read the paper at: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12237-020-00881-3 ,
Lifetime Learning: Coastal Water Quality
Scott Doney, the Joe D. and Helen J. Kington Professor in Environmental Change at the University of Virginia gave a podcast on Coastal Water Quality. You can view it at: https://soundcloud.com/user-648419957/coastal-water-quality
20 Years of Seagrass Restoration
WVTF (“RadioIQ”) has a piece about the 20-year Seagrass Restoration (the world’s largest) in the coastal bays of the Virginia coast. VCR/LTER PI Karen McGlathery was interviewed for this piece: https://www.wvtf.org/post/seagrass-meadows-restored-eastern-shore#stream/0
A Sea Change for the Eastern Shore of Virginia
The UVA Arts & Sciences Magazine has a story about VCR/LTER Graduate Student Victoria Long and her family history on the Eastern Shore, extending back 400 years and its relation to rising sea level. You can see it at: http://give.as.virginia.edu/news/story/sea-change-eastern-shore
VCR LTER Seagrass Research Highlighted
The LTER Network News features a new story on “Can seagrass meadows mitigate climate change?” that focuses on VCR LTER research examining how seagrass impact the global carbon cycle. The article is at: https://lternet.edu/stories/seagrass-meadows-climate-change
Ian Reeves Receives Student Modeler Award
VCR/LTER graduate student Ian Reeves will receive the Jaia Syvitski Student Modeler Award for 2020, and will be giving a keynote presentation at the CSDMS meeting. The award is given by the Community Surface Dynamics Modeling System (CSDMS) at their annual meeting in Boulder CO, May 19-21, 2020 and recognizes outstanding achievement in surface modeling, with a focus on how modelling is used to address scientific and societal challenges. Entries were judged on the basis of ingenuity, applicability, and contribution toward the advancement of geoscience modeling.
Research Experience for Undergraduates Opportunities
Information on the 2020 Research Experiences for Undergraduates program is now available at https://at.virginia.edu/2u00VsP. The 10-week program begins the first week of June. REUs are provided a stipend plus on-site lodging and research support administered through the University of Virginia. Students need to be undergraduates with at least an additional semester of schoolwork to be completed prior to graduation. The application is available at: https://bit.ly/2QPc20P
“King” Tide Flooding
An article on recent “King Tides” (i.e., spring tides) featuring Cora Johnston is available at: https://news.virginia.edu/content/qa-coastal-researcher-discusses-shocking-flooding-during-king-tide
Ghost Forests
VCR/LTER researchers Matt Kirwan and Keryn Gedan have been featured in several recent articles and videos regarding “Ghost Forests,” the dead trees that remain when a previously-forested area is flooded with salt water. Links to the pieces are:
Iris Anderson Honored by CERF
Long-time VCR/LTER Investigator Iris Anderson has received the 2019 Odum Lifetime Achievement Award from the Coastal & Estuarine Research Federation (CERF). The award named jointly in honor of William E. Odum III (former lead investigator of the VCR/LTER), his father Eugene P. Odum and his uncle Howard T. Odum “recognizes the lifetime achievements of an outstanding estuarine scientist whose sustained accomplishments have made important contributions to our understanding of estuaries and coastal ecosystems” and is awarded only once every 2 years.
The award text states:
“Dr. Iris Anderson stands out as a trailblazer and leader in the fields of shallow-water estuarine and coastal ecosystem biogeochemistry and ecology, outstanding mentor and role model, very appropriately filling the mold of the Odum family legacy. In addition to her numerous accomplishments in these research, teaching, and outreach areas, the impacts of Iris’ work are all the more significant given her non-traditional path. She navigated a PhD program as the only woman in her class, paused her education to raise a family, and found a passageway back to gaining her doctorate and an outstanding record of professional achievements, having most recently served as Dean of Graduate studies at the Virginia Institute of Marine Science (College of William & Mary). Iris’ career serves as a strong reminder to the CERF community that scientific excellence can be enhanced and informed by non-linear trajectories.
In addition, Iris has been inspirational for many young scientists. She frequently engages students in detailed conversations about their research and freely offers both advice and encouragement. Her research has evolved over time to keep pace with cutting-edge techniques and topics of broad interest to estuarine ecologists. She has a long history of working with a diverse cadre of scientists and students on a broad range of both scientific and applied topics that have clarified our understanding of complex biogeochemical processes in freshwater and marine habitats. This is reflected in her excellent first author high-impact publications and syntheses, and also in the many groundbreaking, highly cited, interdisciplinary publications that she has shared as co-author with a long and impressive list of students, technicians, and colleagues.
Iris has been a tireless contributor to the broader field of estuarine and coastal science and CERF in particular as a co-Editor of Estuaries and Coasts, and she continues to serve a very active, broad-based role in the review and editorial process.
Lastly, despite her long and rewarding career path, we note that Iris is far from “being done” as a solid contributor and pacesetter in estuarine and coastal science. She continues to be a tireless, creative, interactive, giving, and distinguished researcher, teacher, and role model, worthy of this year’s Odum Award.”