October 2024 News and Press from SoMAS

Oct 31, 2024

SoMAS Senior Assistant Dean Stefanie Massucci stands next to her now empty whiteboard as she prepares for retirement.

Photo above: SoMAS Senior Assistant Dean Stefanie Massucci stands next to her now empty whiteboard as she prepares for retirement.

Thank you to everyone who joined us to celebrate Stefanie Massucci’s retirement! She will be moving to a new home in Georgia and will stay on as a remote employee until the end of the year as we search for her replacement. SoMAS celebrated Stefanie at an event on October 7, 2024. Photos from the event taken by Ginny Clancy are available on Google Photos.

 

Thank you to everyone who joined us for Okubofest! This SoMAS tradition brings together the science of homebrewing and a chance to socialize to help raise money for the annual Okubo Scholar visit.

Named after Akira Okubo, a faculty member from SoMAS who passed away from cancer in 1996, the Okubo Distinguished Visiting Scholar makes a trip to SoMAS to speak at one of our Friday seminars in the Spring semester and then meet with our graduate students to provide some insight for their future careers. Through his own enthusiasm and through his natural role as a mentor, Akira multiplied his influence among his colleagues and students many times over. Everyone who has come in contact with Akira has found their life immeasurably enriched. Through the Okubo Scholar program, this tradition can continue and Akira’s legacy lives on.

This year’s Okubofest would not have happened without the organizational efforts of graduate student Madison Muehl, who helped coordinate a collection of brewers and servers that included Joe Warren, Katherine Gallagher, Chris Paparo, Luis Medina, Mike Fogg, David Taylor, Mark Lang, and Jackie Collier. Special thanks to Allegra Ervin, Farrah Leone, and Mike Fogg for helping get things set up and cook the food for the BBQ!

These SoMAS traditions can only live on with the support of our community–your assistance is welcome and appreciated!

 

Congratulations to the Evan Liblit Scholarship Award winners, which are annual awards made in memory of Evan Liblit “for their excellence and continued support as graduate/undergraduate students of recycling in New York State”. This year’s awards go to:

  • Undergraduate Student Awardees: Naomi Burson and Jonathan Gordon
  • Graduate Student Award: Sagarika Srivastava
  • Marine Conservation and Policy Student Award: Tegan Castelluccio

 

SBU News Features

Latest Videos

Latest Job Postings

Latest Publications

Grouzdev, D., Pales Espinosa, E., Tettelbach, S., Farhat, S., Tanguy, A., Boutet, I., … & Allam, B. (2024). Chromosome-level genome assembly of the bay scallop Argopecten irradians. Scientific Data, 11(1), 1057.

Su, S., Zhao, C., Chen, Y., & Tang, Y. (2024). Unlocking sustainability in China’s small-scale fisheries: A case study of livelihood analysis in the Bohai Region. Ocean & Coastal Management, 258, 107405.

Walters, L. J., Sacks, P. E., Harris, K., & McClenachan, G. (2024). Ecological Shifts: Plant Establishment in an Animal-Based Ecosystem. Environments, 11(9), 193.

Gross, C. P., Duffy, J. E., Hovel, K. A., Reynolds, P. L., Boström, C., Boyer, K. E., … Peterson, B. J., … & Stachowicz, J. J. (2024). A Latitudinal Cline in the Taxonomic Structure of Eelgrass Epifaunal Communities is Associated With Plant Genetic Diversity. Global Ecology and Biogeography, e13918.

Chen, S., Wang, M., Wu, M., Lu, Y., Fu, A., Gobler, C. J., … & Mao, X. (2024). Greenhouse Gas Emission and Denitrification Kinetics of Woodchip Bioreactors Treating Onsite Wastewater. Water Research, 122562.

Roberts, C., Béné, C., Bennett, N., Boon, J. S., Cheung, W. W., Cury, P., … Pikitch, E.P., … & O’leary, B. C. (2024). Rethinking sustainability of marine fisheries for a fast-changing planet. npj Ocean Sustainability, 3(1), 41.

Ladds, M., Smith, J., Strohm, V., & Gobler, C. J. (2024). Acartia tonsa grazing on the harmful dinoflagellate Dinophysis acuminata reduces copepod survival and increases extracellular toxin concentrations. Marine Ecology Progress Series, 745, 25-40.

Gobler, C. J., Drinkwater, R., Anthony, A., Goleski, J., Famularo, A. M., Wallace, M., … & Hem, R. Sewage-and fertilizer-derived nutrients alter the intensity, diversity, and toxicity of harmful cyanobacterial blooms in eutrophic lakes. Frontiers in Microbiology, 15, 1464686.

Conners, M. G., Green, J. A., Phillips, R. A., Orben, R. A., Cui, C., Djurić, P. M., … & Thorne, L. H. (2024). Dynamic soaring decouples dynamic body acceleration and energetics in albatrosses. Journal of Experimental Biology, 227(18).

Ladds, M., Sosik, H. M., & Gobler, C. J. (2024). Prey morphotype and abundance controls plastid retention and bloom dynamics for a mixotrophic dinoflagellate. Limnology and Oceanography.

Li, Y., Yin, J., Sun, M., Kleisner, K., Litsinger, E., Jud, S., … & Chen, Y. (2024). Examining the discrepancy and synergy between marine protected areas and fisheries management in the Bohai Sea, China. Ocean & Coastal Management, 258, 107409.

Kosiba, K. A., Lyza, A. W., Trapp, R. J., Rasmussen, E. N., Parker, M., Biggerstaff, M. I., … French, M.M., … Kollias, P. & Turner, D. D. (2024). The propagation, evolution, and rotation in linear storms (PERiLS) project. Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, 105(10), E1768-E1799.

Geller, M. A., & Wang, L. (2024). The “Notch” in Unstable Layers and the Stability Minimum in the Tropics. Journal of Climate.

Safina, C. (2024). Fish farming and beyond: Moral reckoning required. Science Advances, 10(42), eadt5436.

Ren, G., Du, K., Karion, A., Zhao, S., Lopez-Coto, I., Wang, X., … & Lin, H. (2024). Site selection and effects of background towers on urban CO2 estimates: A case study from central downtown Zhengzhou in China. Environmental Research, 120169.

Chang, E. K. M. (2024). Comment on “anticyclonic suppression of the North Pacific transient eddy activity in midwinter” by Okajima et al. Geophysical Research Letters, 51, e2024GL110011. https://doi.org/10.1029/2024GL110011

Chang, H. Y., & Chen, Y. (2024). Shifting spawning phenology in Hudson River American Shad. Marine and Coastal Fisheries, 16(5), e10312.

 

Latest Press Headlines

Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Hurricane Helene was a historic storm. Climate change likely made it worse

  • “While the timing of rapid intensification is pretty hard to forecast, we know pretty well that it’s linked to sea surface temperatures,” said Kevin Reed, a professor in the School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences at Stony Brook University in New York.

Newsday: Long Islanders face serious financial threat from flooding, report finds

  • Long Islanders need to start thinking differently about flood risk, which no longer applies only to waterfront South Shore areas, said Richard Murdocco, an adjunct professor at Stony Brook University who teaches courses in environmental policy and planning. Murdocco said he recently bought flood insurance for his Smithtown home for $670 a year even though he’s not required to be insured and doesn’t live near a river or bay.

Times Beacon Record: SBU’s Ellen Pikitch receives 2024 Lowell Thomas Award

  • Ellen K. Pikitch, PhD, a long-time professor in the Stony Brook University School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences (SoMAS), was recently awarded the Lowell Thomas Award for her accomplishments in field science and communication.

Newsday: Gov. Hochul must sign horseshoe crab protections

  • Plenty of people have never seen a horseshoe crab. Of those who have, plenty are scared of them. But their sharp tail, or “telson,” is not a stinger and not even a weapon; it serves only to let upside-down horseshoe crabs turn themselves right side up. No need to fear them. They haven’t hurt a person during their 450 million years of existence. (Written by Carl Safina)

WRAL: Hurricane Milton’s rapid intensification linked to climate change, scientists say

  • Dr. Kevin Reed of Stony Brook University noted that warmer Gulf temperatures give storms like Milton the energy to intensify rapidly. “As sea surface temperatures approach 80 degrees Fahrenheit or higher, it increases the chance of rapid intensification,” he said. “The rise in Category 4 and 5 storms is a clear sign of climate change.”

LongIsland.com: Stony Brook University Professor Heather Lynch Wins 2024 Golden Goose Award for Unconventional Research

  • Stony Brook University Professor Heather J. Lynch, PhD, a professor in the Department of Ecology and Evolution in the College of Arts and Sciences, and the first Endowed Chair for Ecology and Evolution at the university’s Institute for Advanced Computation Science (IACS) has been awarded the 2024 Golden Goose Award for Unconventional Research that Yielded Unexpected and Impactful Discovery.

Sputnik International: Hurricane Milton Impact May Surpass Katrina Damage if Tampa Bay Hit

  • Kevin Reed, a professor at the School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences at Stony Brook University, noted that even though storm categories are important indicators of intensity and, therefore, potential damage, it does not mean that all major hurricanes are the same.

Pravda: Damage from Hurricane Milton could surpass Katrina, experts said

  • Kevin Reed, a professor at the School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences at Stony Brook University, pointed out that the destructiveness of a hurricane in the context of human damage is not only measured by a standard scale of categories, but also depends on which territories were affected by the disaster.

Newsday: Long Island Sound water quality improves as nitrogen pollution lessens, report says

  • Christopher Gobler, SUNY distinguished professor at Stony Brook who is chairman of Coastal Ecology and Conservation School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences, said “the trajectory and recovery of the main stem of Long Island Sound since the implementation of the EPA nitrogen reduction plan in 2000 is one of the great ecosystem recovery stories of North America.”

Newsday: Why stay for a storm? Experts say the reasons some people don’t follow evacuation orders run the gamut

  • Kevin Reed, associate provost for climate and sustainability programming at Stony Brook University, said that while weather warnings always have been critical, forecasts are more accurate now than decades ago.

APS125:  The Physicist Who Tracks Penguins From Space

  • Physicists have long conducted research with space-based instruments. But at Stony Brook University, one physicist uses satellites to study something unusual: penguin poop. Heather J. Lynch, a quantitative ecologist at Stony Brook’s Institute for Advanced Computational Sciences, has developed computer vision tools that enable satellites to map penguin guano, which is pink in color.

National Science Foundation: Science expeditions in snow, hail and air pollution

  • The lab’s unique location and cutting-edge meteorological instruments make it an ideal location to study how mountains impact winter clouds and snowfall. The upcoming effort, called the Snow Sensitivity to Clouds in a Mountain Environment (S2noCliME) field campaign, will leverage many NSF-funded resources in addition to the lab’s instruments, including the Colorado State University Sea-Going Polarimetric Radar, which will help the team study how storms can strengthen or weaken as they move through the region, and the State University of New York at Stony Brook radar observatory, which will help the team investigate cloud and ice particles during a snowstorm.

FOX Weather: Massive great white shark found washed ashore on Massachusetts beach

  • Oliver Shipley, shark expert and research professor at Stony Brook University, joined FOX Weather to dispel common myths and misunderstandings about sharks.

Newsday: Five takeaways from hurricanes Helene and Milton and what it means for Long Island

  • Some of these big storms form in the Caribbean, “then curve up the coast,” said Brian Colle, professor of atmospheric science at Stony Brook University, who studies climate and coastal meteorology. “Those are the ones that affect Long Island.”

Newsday: Study says property tax relief is obstacle to first-time buyers

  • Richard Murdocco, an adjunct professor at Stony Brook University who teaches courses on planning and economic development, said there is room for criticism of rebates as “papering over” the problem of rising tax bills without addressing the drivers of cost. But there are more significant obstacles hurting first-time homebuyers, such as inadequate housing options.

WLIW/NPR: Southampton Village police dispatcher charged after accidentally firing gun in car

  • Some of these big storms form in the Caribbean, “then curve up the coast,” said Brian Colle, professor of atmospheric science at Stony Brook University, who studies climate and coastal meteorology. “Those are the ones that affect Long Island.”

Newsday: Algal blooms, oxygen-depleted zones affected Long Island waters in 2024, report says

  • Last summer, dozens of Long Island’s ponds, lakes, bays and estuaries were affected by oxygen-depleted zones and harmful algal blooms, researchers from Stony Brook University found, which were triggered by excessive levels of nitrogen and exacerbated by record-high temperatures.

FOX5: Algae blooms threaten Long Island wildlife and waterways

  • “We had a record number of dead zones in 2024 with oxygen levels of less than 3mg oxygen per liter. Ideally, our coastal waterbodies will have 4.8mg oxygen per liter,” said coastal ecologist Dr. Christopher Gobler at Stony Brook University. (Also in Yahoo)

The East Hampton Star: Waxing Poetic Over Wainscott Preservation Buy

  • Importantly however, Mr. Wilson described the need for the town to have access to Wainscott Pond to address water quality issues. Even though the land around the pond is undeveloped, it is considered one of the most compromised water bodies in Suffolk County. Simon Kinsella, speaking in favor of the purchase, said that when Christopher Gobler of Stony Brook University’s School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences was studying the pond, “The only water body that was more impaired in New York State was in Central Park.” Ms. Davison, in her earlier comments, had described the “nitrogen legacy in the soil.” Dr. Gobler didn’t respond to a request for a description or cause of the pond’s troubles.

WSHU/NPR: Record number of water quality problems in Long Island bays this summer, report finds

  • Fish kills, algal blooms and oxygen-deprived “dead zones” affected almost all of Long Island’s bays and estuaries this summer, according to scientists who monitor water quality at Stony Brook University’s School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences.

Tri Hamlet News: Long Island water quality getting worse, Stony Brook University researcher says

  • The report found a record three-dozen dead zones and more than two-dozen harmful algal blooms, driven by oxygen-depleting nitrogen coming from aging septic systems, Dr. Christopher Gobler, SUNY distinguished professor at Stony Brook University School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences, said at a news conference on Wednesday, Oct. 23.

 

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