Photo above: the 2024 Vax to Flax Participants gather at the SoMAS sign outside Endeavour Hall after completing the race around the Stony Brook University campus on April 27, 2024
Congratulations to our graduates! The 2024 SoMAS Convocation event was held on Friday, May 17, 2024 at the Bauman Center for Leadership and Service. Students gathered with their friends and family and SoMAS faculty and staff to celebrate the completion of their journey at Stony Brook University. In case you missed it, the event recording, student slideshow, digital program, and photos from the event are available to view.
Congratulations to Tom Wilson, the Instrument Engineer in the ESHOP who retired on May 22nd. Friends gathered to celebrate on Tuesday May 14. The photo slideshow showing Tom’s time at SoMAS is available on YouTube. Lucas Merlo has taken over the ESHOP as of May 23. Tom gave a retirement talk “Ten True Things I Have Learned in 45 Years at MSRC/SoMAS” on April 12, 2024.
Dr. Darci Swenson Perger is the recipient of the 2024 Nuria Protopopescu Memorial Teaching Award. This award is presented annually to a SoMAS graduate student based on demonstrated excellence in teaching, innovation and creativity in instructional plans and materials, and engagement with and dedication to their students. Darci defended in dissertation on May 1 in biogeochemistry in Laura Wehrmann’s lab. This academic year she was co-teacher with Sharon Pochron for SUS 351/SUS 352, Conducting and Communicating a Research Project in Ecotoxicology. This NSF-funded class implements a Course-based Undergraduate Research Experience (CURES) to promote STEM interest, active learning, experiential learning, peer-to-peer scaffolding, authentic assessment, and a civic connection, culminating in URECA presentations to communicate the results of the research. Darci not only co-taught the classes, she formed five research groups whose experimental results are being used as the backbone of a pending NSF grant proposal. She combined expertise in the subject matter with passion, kindness, attention to detail, and inclusiveness.
Congratulations to Ellen Pikitch, who has been named the recipient of the 2024 Hugo and Anita Freudenthal Research Award by the New York State Marine Education Association (NYSMEA), for her significant contributions to furthering scientists’ understanding of the marine environment. Ellen, the third recipient of the award, was honored with this award at a meeting of NYSMEA on April 20. The award was named in recognition of Hugo and Anita Freudenthal, pioneering marine researchers/educators in New York State.
Dr. Sara Hamideh has received a new award from Texas Tech U. (sub award from HUD) in the amount $108,777, in support of the project “Hispanic Serving Institutions Research Centers of Excellence, Texas Tech University’s “Center of Excellence in Climate Resilience and Equitable Housing” (CECREH)”, for the period 8/24/23 – 8/24/26.
The mission of our center is to establish an evidence base that enhances the capabilities of local, state, and federal government agencies to effectively identify, anticipate, and address post-disaster needs and promote more inclusive housing recovery options. CECREH’s purpose is to address disparities in community distress factors, which have been found to worsen and amplify due to disasters. Due to decades of discriminatory policies, ethnic and racial minorities, and low income individuals, have been made to live in areas of poor infrastructure, few opportunities, and significant climatic risk. These frontline communities are disproportionately exposed to air and water pollution, flooding, and extreme heat. Studies have demonstrated that low income and minority populations suffer the most from extreme weather events, longer periods of displacement, and worse health outcomes after disasters. Policies and programs that unfairly disadvantage renters, disincentivize recovery of affordable housing, exclude high-risk areas for adaptation, and fail to fully identify community needs hinder housing recovery efforts. Housing recovery is further complicated by the dynamics of social vulnerability, hazards exposure, and climate change-related disaster risk. Policy research has ignored the complex interplay of these factors, making it hard for government agencies to improve their policies and programs. While HUD’s CDBG-DR program helps uninsured, low-income, disaster-affected families recover from disasters, its limited and slow disbursement funds raise concerns. Furthermore, HUD’s estimation of unmet housing needs has been criticized for not including non-FEMA recipients, and studies have found minorities say it’s “not for them”. States have claimed that HUD underestimated post- disaster unmet needs [19, 22], leaving substantial gaps in community disaster recovery that is known to be highly reliant on housing restoration. By applying our knowledge of hazards and disasters and diverse methodological skills in engineering, economics, and social science, CECREH is well positioned to generate innovative research on equitable post-disaster housing recovery. Understanding and improving nationwide disaster recovery policies and resilience strategies pose significant challenges.
Farinaz Motlagh, PhD Candidate in Dr. Sara Hamideh’s lab, recently published two blog posts on the access and distribution of FEMA’s Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities (BRIC) funds as part of her research during a six-month internship with the Flooding Solutions Team at the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC).
- Access to BRIC Funding May Depend on Where You Live
- The Role of Local Capacity in Who Receives BRIC Funding
Congratulations to Dr. Carl Safina who has received the Irving and Margalit Like Conservation Award from the Molloy College Center for Environmental Research and Coastal Ocean Monitoring, for his “contribution to society and conservation of nature on a global scale.”
Congratulations to Sydney Sherbitsky, a graduating Environmental Studies major who is one of the recipients of the 2024 Provost’s Award for Academic Excellence
Congratulations to Christina Reed, a graduating Sustainability Studies and Economics majors that is one of 13 recipients of the Chancellor’s Award for Student Excellence
Kudos to those that participated in the friendly softball tournament organized by Sixto Tavera Lopez, a PhD student in Ecology and Evolution! Participants from SoMAS included Jack McSweeney, Willa Schultz, and Luis Medina.
SoMAS Job Postings:
- Instrument Lab Technician
- R/V Seawolf Captain
- Research Technician II
- Professor & Endowed Chair in Climate Change (Tenure Track)
SBU News Features
- SBU’s Popular Study Abroad Program Opens Up for Future Medical Practitioners
- Center for Clean Water Technology to Host 2024 Symposium on June 12
- Stony Brook University’s Center for Clean Water Technology will host the 2024 Clean Water Symposium on Wednesday June 12, 2024 at the Charles B. Wang Center
- Many Microplastics in the World’s Oceans Have Likely Escaped Detection
- Chemicals within microplastics that are found in our world’s oceans and waterways, and in drinking water sources, remain of concern to scientists and public health officials. A new study that investigated the presence of the smallest particles of microplastics (MPs) in ocean waters from the Caribbean to the Arctic found that the most abundant (and tiny) MPs in the ocean are not being detected by net tow surveys.
- Environmental Design Students Propose Bold Transformations for Campus Outdoor Spaces
- During the Spring 2024 semester, students in the Environmental Design Project class (EDP 404) worked with the Faculty Student Association (FSA) as their client to apply the skills they learned into a real-world context of reimagining an outdoor patio space for West Side Dining and the Shore Club at the Student Activities Center (SAC).
- Vessel Strikes Found to Be Major Cause of Increased Whale Strandings
- Analysis of East Coast data from 1995 to 2022 led by SoMAS professor published in Conservation Biology
Latest Publications
Pan, X., Chen, Y., Jiang, T., Yang, J., & Tian, Y. (2024). Otolith biogeochemistry reveals possible impacts of extreme climate events on population connectivity of a highly migratory fish, Japanese Spanish mackerel Scomberomorus niphonius. Marine Life Science & Technology, 1-14.
Mara, P., Geller-McGrath, D., Suter, E., Taylor, G. T., Pachiadaki, M. G., & Edgcomb, V. P. (2024). Plasmid-Borne Biosynthetic Gene Clusters within a Permanently Stratified Marine Water Column. Microorganisms, 12(5), 929.
Ayache, N., Campbell, L., Gobler, C. J., & Smith, J. L. (2024). Photoacclimation and photophysiology of four species of toxigenic Dinophysis. Harmful Algae, 102624.
Carlowicz Lee, R. M., Keiling, T. D., & Warren, J. D. (2024). Seasonal abundance, lipid storage, and energy density of Calanus finmarchicus and other copepod preyfields along the Northwest Atlantic continental shelf. Journal of Plankton Research, fbae014.
Tuftedal, K. S., Treserras, B. P., Oue, M., & Kollias, P. (2024). Shallow-and deep-convection characteristics in the greater Houston, Texas, area using cell tracking methodology. Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics, 24(9), 5637-5657.
Wilson, S. J., Moody, A., McKenzie, T., Cardenas, M. B., Luijendijk, E., Sawyer, A. H., … Bokuniewicz, H.J., … & Santos, I. R. (2024). Global subterranean estuaries modify groundwater nutrient loading to the ocean. Limnology and Oceanography Letters.
Leone, M. T., & Warren, J. D. (2024). Vessels and aircraft are chronic sources of anthropogenic noise in coastal marine and terrestrial soundscapes on Long Island, New York. Environmental Pollution, 124208.
Pitt, J. R., Lopez-Coto, I., Karion, A., Hajny, K. D., Tomlin, J., Kaeser, R., … & Shepson, P. B. (2024). Underestimation of Thermogenic Methane Emissions in New York City. Environmental Science & Technology.
Goetze, J. S., Heithaus, M. R., MacNeil, M. A., Harvey, E., Simpfendorfer, C. A., Heupel, M. R., … Peterson, B. J., … Warren, J. D., … & Chapman, D. D. (2024). Directed conservation of the world’s reef sharks and rays. Nature Ecology & Evolution, 1-11.
Napoli, C., Hirtle, N., Stepanuk, J., Christiansen, F., Heywood, E. I., Grove, T., … & Thorne, L. Drone-based photogrammetry reveals differences in humpback whale body condition and mass across North Atlantic foraging grounds. Frontiers in Marine Science, 11, 1336455.
Thorne, L.H. and Wiley, D.N. (2024). Evaluating drivers of recent large whale strandings on the East Coast of the United States. Conservation Biology. http://doi.org/10.
Latest Press Headlines
ABC News: How kelp farms, an ‘environmental powerhouse,’ can help mitigate climate change
- Anthropogenic, or human-caused, climate change threatens to worsen those algal blooms as well as add other heat-related issues, such as acidification — a process that is already killing off coral reefs, Christopher Gobler, a researcher at the School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences at Stony Brook University on Long Island, told ABC News.
Daily Star: Unprovoked shark attacks are on the rise – and the beasts are moving north
- British shark expert Professor Oliver Shipley – who works at the School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences at Stony Brook University in New York – said this week that climate change could see sharks ‘moving north’.
Times Beacon Record: SBU’s Ellen Pikitch wins Freudenthal Research Award
- Endowed Professor of Ocean Conservation Science in the School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences at Stony Brook University, Pikitch, who grew up in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn, a short train ride from the New York Aquarium, and who said she knew she wanted to be a marine biologist “from the time I was born,” has tackled marine conservation issues from several perspectives.
Newsday: As sea levels rise, Long Island faces slow-moving crisis, experts say
- For all these grim forecasts, Long Island is not going to be swallowed whole by the Atlantic Ocean, said Henry Bokuniewicz, a professor at the School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences at Stony Brook University. “Even with the worst-case scenarios, the immedi,ate impacts of sea-level rise are confined to a fairly small band around the shore,” Bokuniewicz said.
Wyoming Public Radio: Scientists aim to improve Western snowfall, water supply forecasts with research project in Colorado
- The National Science Foundation is funding the $4.8 million project, led by the University of Michigan. The University of Wisconsin, University of Washington, and Stony Brook University in New York are also involved. (Also published in Boise State Public Radio, KUNR)
News 12: Environmental experts come together to address water concerns on Long Island
- The annual Clean Water Symposium was held at Long Island University’s Post campus on Thursday. The event brought together environmental experts to discuss ways to address water quantity and quality issues on Long Island. Speakers included experts from University of California, Berkeley and Stony Brook University.
Sky News/Yahoo: Woman in critical condition after shark attack at New York City beach
- Christopher Paparo, the manager of Stony Brook University’s Marine Sciences Centre, agreed the wound was “unlike anything we’ve been seeing”. Authorities banned swimming at the beach on Tuesday as police searched for sharks but none were spotted. But a beach around 25 miles away on Long Island was closed on Tuesday after officials spotted multiple sharks near the shoreline.
- Research has also showed that warmer sea surface temperatures are more likely to yield storms that undergo rapid intensification — put simply, turning very powerful very fast, in 24 hours or less, said Kevin Reed, a professor at Stony Brook University’s School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences. “The majority of major storms undergo this rapid intensification,” he said.
Earth.com: Microplastics often go undetected in oceans due to their tiny size
- Recent research has uncovered that the smallest particles of microplastics (MPs) in ocean waters, spanning from the Caribbean to the Arctic, are not being detected by traditional net tow surveys. The study, conducted by scientists from the School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences (SoMAS) at Stony Brook University, was led by Dr. Luis Medina Faull. (Also published in AZo Cleantech)
Smart Water Magazine: Many microplastics in the world’s oceans have likely escaped detection, researchers say
- The research was conducted by scientists in the School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences (SoMAS) at Stony Brook University, and led by Luis Medina Faull, Ph.D. Their findings are described in a paper published in the May edition of the Marine Pollution Bulletin.
The Saxon: Could we have underestimated microplastic pollution in the oceans?
- “The health risks associated with exposure to microplastics remain largely unknown, and it is essential to conduct in-depth research to assess the impacts of microplastics of different shapes, sizes and compositions ” emphasizes Jaymie Meliker, professor in the public health program at the Renaissance School of Medicine at Stony Brook. The specialist therefore calls for greater mobilization of public health research on microplastics, in particular those which could end up in the human body via seafood , other food sources or liquids in plastic bottles.
Yahoo/Independent: Climate crisis leads to discovery of new penguin colonies in Antarctic
- Heather Lynch, professor of ecology and evolution at New York’s Stony Brook University, and an expedition lead, explained that the trip had involved surveying on foot, for the first time, parts of the peninsula where penguin colonies had been spotted from satellites. “Mapping out these remote archipelagos will give us a better understanding of how the region’s penguins are responding to rapid climate change,” Lynch said. “As expected, we’re finding gentoo penguins nearly everywhere we look – more evidence that climate change is drastically changing the mix of species here on the Antarctic Peninsula.”
