Photo above: Spriobranchus giganteus, also known as the Christmas tree worm, taken by Chris Paparo
However you decorate, we hope you have a Happy Holiday and Joyful New Year!
Wishing for Peace, Love, and Joy for you and your families for the holiday season and 2024 from the School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences at Stony Brook University.
Congratulations to Vicki Ferrini (PhD, 2004), who served as the keynote speaker at the Library of Congress GIS Day on November 21, 2024. Her talk, “From Paper to Pixels: The Evolution of Ocean Mapping and Exploration,” traced the history of seafloor mapping, from the early days of hand-drawn bathymetric charts, through the pioneering work of Marie Tharp in the mid-20th century, to the advanced digital technologies in use today.
Tom Wilson receives a South Shore Estuary Reserve Stewardship Award
Tom Wilson received a South Shore Estuary Reserve Stewardship Award for “career long contributions to protect and restore the South Shore Estuary’s natural environment” at the SSER Legislative Breakfast on December 18, 2024. Pictured with Tom (from left to right) is Adrienne Esposito, Executive Director, Citizens Campaign for the Environment, Kisha Santiago Martinez, Deputy Secretary of State, New York State, Tom Wilson, Chris Clapp, Director, South Shore Estuary Reserve, and Maureen Murphy, Chair, SSER Citizens Advisory Council. The Great South Bay Buoy-styled award was custom made at a local art glass studio.
SBU News Features
- SBU’s Liblit Award Recognizes Four Winners, First International Honoree
- Four Stony Brook University students, including the first international nomination, have won the Evan R. Liblit Memorial Fund scholarship. The 27th annual award ceremony on November 13 in East Islip was a celebration dedicated to honoring the legacy of Evan R. Liblit, a pioneer in the fields of recycling and solid waste management.
- Understanding Nuclear Energy with C4E’s ‘Nuclear 101’ Conversation
- A presentation hosted by Stony Brook’s Collaborative for the Earth on November 18 sought to generate new discussion about the renewable, economic and political issues of nuclear energy in a conversation tailored for the non-scientists.
- ‘Through Our Eyes’ Exhibit Highlights Nature Writing and Photography
- Students in SUS 350 – Nature Writing and Photography taught by David Taylor and Chris Paparo shared their work at an exhibit at SoMAS in early December.
- Alumni Family Gives Back to Stony Brook Students, Cancer Center
- Together with their family, Frank and Michele Fischer are giving back to Stony Brook students, as well as the Stony Brook Cancer Center, through endowed funds.
- The Top 10 Stories of 2024 for Stony Brook University
- The end of the year is always a good time for reflection, and that’s true at SBU News. Take a look back at 2024 at Stony Brook, featuring the Collaborative for the Earth.
- $1.1M for Sound Community Projects on Long Island, New York Metro and Connecticut
- Nearly a dozen communities on Long Island, in the Bronx and Westchester County are just a portion of those benefiting from a first wave of more than $1 million in resilience planning support grants.
Latest Videos
Weifeng Zhang, TAOS 2024-12-04 “Processes of Cross-shelf Exchange Induced by Gulf Stream Warm-core Rings”
Jeffrey Schell, OSAC 2024-12-06 “Ecology of Holopelagic Sargassum: Distribution, Diversity, and Growth”
Latest Publications
Ayoub, A., Caruso, F., Segre, P., Hickmott, L., Warren, J. D., Chiang, G., … & Bocconcelli, A. (2024). Feeding behavior of blue whales (Balaenoptera musculus) during austral summer in northern Chilean Patagonia. Ethology Ecology & Evolution, 1-17.
Iuchi, K., & Finn, D. (2024). Recovery for Resilience: Exploring the Disconnect Between Collaborative Planning and Project Implementation in Post-Hurricane Sandy New York City. Journal of Disaster Research, 19(6), 956-970.
Shipley, O. N., Nicoll, A., Cerrato, R. M., Dunton, K. J., Peterson, B. J., Sclafani, M., … & Frisk, M. G. (2024). Performance of a fine-scale acoustic positioning system for monitoring temperate fish behavior in relation to offshore marine developments. Animal Biotelemetry, 12(1), 1-14.
Cochran, J. K., Wei, Z., Horowitz, E., Fitzgerald, P., Heilbrun, C., Stephens, M., … & Charette, M. (2024). 210Po and 210Pb distributions along the GEOTRACES Pacific Meridional Transect (GP15): Tracers of scavenging and particulate organic carbon (POC) export. Global Biogeochemical Cycles, 38(11), e2024GB008243.
Pagenkopp Lohan, K., DiMaria, R., Martin, D. L., Hughes, A. R., Peterson, B. J., Boyer, K., … & Ross, C. Phylogeography of Labyrinthula species and strains shows high connectivity and low genetic variation across seagrass hosts and geographic locations in North America. Frontiers in Marine Science, 11, 1463968.
Hall, A., Rahimi, S., Norris, J., Ban, N., Siler, N., Leung, L. R., … Reed, K. A., … & Qian, Y. (2024). An evaluation of dynamical downscaling methods used to project regional climate change. Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres, 129(24), e2023JD040591.
Miller, N., Finn, D., & Reed, K. A. (2025). Comparing extreme rainfall exposure to climate-focused planning efforts: A mixed methods analysis in the northeastern United States. Urban Climate, 59, 102258.
Qiu, M., Kelp, M., Heft-Neal, S., Jin, X., Gould, C. F., Tong, D. Q., & Burke, M. (2024). Evaluating Chemical Transport and Machine Learning Models for Wildfire Smoke PM2. 5: Implications for Assessment of Health Impacts. Environmental Science & Technology.
Socuellamos, J. M., Rodriguez Monje, R., Lebsock, M. D., Cooper, K. B., & Kollias, P. (2024). Dual-frequency (Ka-band and G-band) radar estimates of liquid water content profiles in shallow clouds. Atmospheric Measurement Techniques, 17(23), 6965-6981.
Lin, A., & Colle, B. A. (2025). Long-term trends in heat wave gaps for the New York City metropolitan area. Urban Climate, 59, 102247.
Espinosa, E. P., Farhat, S., & Allam, B. (2024). In silico identification of neuropeptide genes encoded by the genome of Crassostrea virginica with a special emphasis on feeding-related genes. Comparative Biochemistry and Physiology Part A: Molecular & Integrative Physiology, 111792.
Ko, H. C., Chun, H. Y., Geller, M. A., & Ingleby, B. (2024). Global Distributions of Atmospheric Turbulence Estimated Using Operational High Vertical-Resolution Radiosonde Data. Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, 105(12), E2551-E2566.
Frappi, S., Klein, S. G., Arossa, S., Bervoets, T., Ciocanaru, I. A., Dixon, O. F., … Shipley, O. N., … & Duarte, C. M. (2024). An integrated multi-source dataset of elasmobranchs in the Red Sea following the Red Sea Decade Expedition. Scientific Data, 11(1), 1425.
Latest Press Headlines
New York Times: World’s Oldest Known Wild Bird Lays an Egg at 74
- Carl Safina, a marine ecologist at Stony Brook University who has studied seabirds, said that Wisdom is aptly named because of her ability to survive despite increasing environmental dangers to albatrosses, including plastic pollution and rising sea levels that threaten their nesting grounds.
The Statesman: Michael E. White to lead WRMI in tackling Long Island’s trash challenges
- Stony Brook University named Michael E. White, an adjunct faculty lecturer in the School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences, the interim director of the Waste Reduction and Management Institute (WRMI) on Thursday, Nov. 21.
The Punch: 74-year-old world oldest known wild bird lays egg
- Her most recent mate, Akeakamai, has not been seen in years. When she returned to Midway on November 26, Wisdom paired with a new mate, who is now incubating the egg while she resumes her time at sea. “She is aptly named,” noted Carl Safina, a marine ecologist at Stony Brook University. “Her survival amid threats like plastic pollution and rising sea levels is nothing short of astonishing.” Wisdom’s advanced years stand as a testament to her resilience.
Verve News: A 74-year-old wild bird just laid an egg, astonishing researchers – National
- Carl Safina, a marine ecologist at Stony Brook University who studies seabirds, told the New York Times that Wisdom is impressive not only for her age and continued ability to lay eggs, but also for avoiding threats that have increasingly endangered albatrosses, including climate change and pollution.
Newsday: Smithtown civic group appeals Flowerfield Fairgrounds lawsuit dismissal
- Chris Gobler, a professor at Stony Brook University’s School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences, filed an affidavit in support of the appeal. Gobler said the environmental review focused on the impact of a storm that can produce eight inches of rainfall. Citing the August storm, Gobler said a new study should use a higher metric of 10 inches. A new review should assess what infrastructure is needed to retain large amounts of stormwater runoff on the property.
Newsday: Long Island Sound conservation efforts land $12.5 million in grants
- The grant money will pay for the design and permitting of the installations at 10 residential sites on the North Shore within the Long Island Sound watershed of Suffolk County, said Stuart Waugh, a Stony Brook University research scientist with the project. The next step will use the designs to apply for installation grants.
Times Beacon Record: Michael E. White named interim director of The Waste Reduction and Management Institute at SBU
- Stony Brook University has named Michael E. White the interim director of The Waste Reduction and Management Institute (WRMI), which resides in the university’s School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences (SoMAS) and is overseen by Dean Paul Shepson.
Newsday: Nassau testing wastewater for drugs like oxycodone, cocaine and heroin, a first for the county
- CCWT has been testing the levels of viruses like COVID-19 in Long Island’s wastewater since the pandemic began, according to Christopher Gobler, a professor at Stony Brook University and lead researcher of the program. “Nassau County was interested in expanding this effort, recognizing the promise of wastewater-based epidemiology as a public health tool,” Gobler wrote in an email.
E&E News: Rising tides are coming for Lee Zeldin’s hometown
- Warmer ocean temperatures, which are linked to climate change, have also heightened the risk of extreme storms, said Richard Murdocco, an adjunct professor of public policy at Stony Brook University. Winter nor’easters are increasingly destructive, Murdocco said. Then there’s the looming threat of a major hurricane, which was once unthinkable for Long Island, he said.
Long Island Press: Nassau County to test wastewater for diseases, opioids
- Under contracts that were authorized unanimously on Oct. 7 and Dec. 16, researchers from Stony Brook University’s Center for Clean Water Technology estimate testing 18 wastewater samples per week from nine sewage treatment plants in Nassau County for over 25 different drugs and metabolites.
Newsday: Suffolk Exec Romaine wants new sewer projects to help recharge local aquifers
- In a July 23, 2023 paper in response to Romaine’s, Christopher Gobler, a professor at Stony Brook University’s School of Atmospheric Sciences, said Romaine’s findings, while “on point for New York City” and to a lesser degree Nassau County, have “almost no relevance for Suffolk County.”
