February 2025 News and Press from SoMAS

Feb 21, 2025

Photo above: Bruce Brownawell, Associate Professor Emeritus from SoMAS, and a founding member of the Center for Clean Water Technology

Dr. Chris Gobler wrote a tribute to Bruce, who passed away on February 2, 2025:

Dr. Bruce Brownawell passed away last week after a year-long battle with ALS. Bruce joined the SoMAS faculty in the early 1990s establishing a lab focused on organic contaminants in coastal ecosystems, pioneering new approaches and making novel discoveries with his graduate students, many who have had a great impact in their fields. I was privileged to take Marine Pollution with Bruce in 1995 and to collaborate with him on regional projects in the Forge River and the ‘Western Bays’ (Hempstead Bay) when I first joined SoMAS as a faculty member.

 

Bruce was also a pioneering member of the New York State Center for Clean Water Technology and has left an indelible mark on CCWT, having had significant contributions to three distinct research initiatives of the Center. His first contributions were examinations of the fate and transport of organic contaminants in onsite wastewater traversing through the Center’s nitrogen-removing biofilters (NRBs) as he mentored one of the first doctoral students collaborating with CCWT, Tricia Clyde. Bruce helped perfect the methods required to quantify more than two dozen drugs, pharmaceuticals, and personal care products within the complex matrix of wastewater. Their research demonstrated that NRBs remove a large fraction of organic contaminants and that most treatment occurred by biological removal in the sand layers of the NRBs, a finding that has been a point of pride and advantage for the Center.

 

Bruce also played a key role in the development of CCWT’s drinking water research team. When this arm of the Center was founded, the first hire made was a research scientist to help run the program. Bruce was on the search committee and took a strong stance in advocating for a certain candidate whom the committee was prepared to ignore. The individual did not have the precise attributes the committee was searching for but did come from a renowned lab that Bruce was very familiar with. After some resistance, the committee decided to interview the candidate, who ended up outshining all others and became the first drinking water hire by CCWT, Dr. Arjun Venkatesan. Arjun went on to bring great success to CCWT for many years. When, after more than six successful years at CCWT, Arjun announced he would be leaving the Center, the first person I called was Bruce, and explained to him: “Bruce, I need your help”. Bruce unflinchingly heeded the call and worked side-by-side with me to execute a search for a new Associate Director for CCWT. Beyond serving in a normal role on the search committee, Bruce and his wife, Anne McElroy, went above and beyond, hosting each candidate at their Bed and Breakfast and touring Long Island with them. Bruce’s kindness, warmth, and intellectual prowess were instrumental in bringing Dr. Lokesh Padhye to CCWT, an outcome both Lokesh and I will always feel indebted to Bruce for. Bruce then played a key role in the hiring of the rest of the emerging contaminants staff, having been on the hiring committees for Dr. Philip Wang, Dr. Rahul Kumar, Dr. Sheng Lin, and Mahima Hariharan.

 

And for the ‘hat trick’, Bruce has been a key member of phosphorus initiatives at CCWT. In helping to develop this program, Bruce showed his strength as a scientist. While not an expert in phosphorus geochemistry, Bruce always had a propensity to dig into any subject (sometimes for days and nights on end) to get down to a bedrock of understanding within a field as well as the key open questions. Bruce was open and honest in scientific dialogue, ensuring research teams had a key grounding in the science they were engaged in and sharing insight. He played a key role in shaping the direction of the phosphorus research initiative, collaborating with Dr. Xin Wei Mao and Dr. Stuart Waugh, attending weekly research meetings, and providing invaluable feedback on research progress and directions.

 

We will all greatly miss Bruce Brownawell. As should be clear from the above, Bruce has left an indelible mark on CCWT. His attention to detail and standard of excellence will continue to be a guiding principle for all that the Center does. Bruce’s insatiable quest to gain the deepest possible understanding of science through deep dives into the literature serves as a model for us all. As importantly, Bruce also found the time and space for balance, appreciating good food, good wine, sports, fishing, dancing, gardening, music, and good conversation. His recent work for CCWT was post-retirement, part-time, as he concurrently ran his bed and breakfast with Anne and enjoyed many hobbies. Bruce’s well-roundedness also serves as an equally important model of work-life balance.

 

I hope we will all take the time to reflect on and remember with fondness the important role Bruce has played in our lives, as well as reflect on the attributes of his life that made him a great scientist and a great person. In continuing to pursue excellence in contaminant science, we will be honoring Bruce’s great contributions to our Center.

 

Thanks to the contestants and spectators who attended Souper Bowl IX on Thursday February 13.  This year’s event had the most entries ever!

  • Kaitlin Giglio – Citrus Tomato Soup
  • Christina Heilbrun – Winter Tomato and Celery Soup With Rice
  • Lucas Merlo – Creamy Vegan Greek Lemon Rice Soup (Avgolemono)
  • Maureen Murphy – Irish Soda Bread, Cornbread, and Shortbread Cookies
  • Erica Shannon – Cream of Turkey Soup
  • Jody Shepson – Lobster Bisque
  • Tom Wilson – Cream Cheese Chicken Chili
  • Karen Warren – Pumpkin Spice Snickerdoodle Cookies

Kim Knoll and Chris Paparo were lucky winners of the raffle for beautiful hand knit “Earth-Sea-Sky” caps donated by Karen Warren.

After tasty and somewhat fattening deliberation and secure paper balloting by the attendees, the accounting firm of Lang and Ortega certified the following three entries for special recognition:

  • Bronze ladle – Christine Santora – Lentil Soup
  • Silver ladle – Kim Knoll – Cheeseburger Soup
  • Gold ladle – Diane Vigliotta – Lasagna Soup

Generous donations raised $265.00 for the Nuria Protopopescu Memorial Endowment, which funds our annual award for excellence in teaching by a SoMAS graduate student. Thanks to everyone who helped to make this event a success.  See you next year!

The Nuria Protopopescu Memorial Fund Committee
Bob Aller, Christina Heilbrun, Quinzhi Zhu, and Tom Wilson

 

Congratulations to Kurt Bretsch, who has been promoted to the position of Advanced Sr. Lecturer, in recognition of his many achievements as an inspiring and highly effective lecturer for our students, including his impacts in MAR104, the Semester by the Sea program, and his mentoring of internship students

Congratulations to Jackie Collier, who has been promoted to Full Professor, effective 9/1/25!

 

SBU News Features

 

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Southworth, E. K., Qiu, M., Gould, C. F., Kawano, A., Wen, J., Heft-Neal, S., Voss, K. K., … & Burke, M. (2025). The Influence of Wildfire Smoke on Ambient PM2.5 Chemical Species Concentrations in the Contiguous US. Environmental Science & Technology Article ASAP DOI: 10.1021/acs.est.4c09011

Knopf, D. A. (2025). Microanalysis Techniques to Study Atmospheric Ice Nucleation and Ice Crystal Growth. Microanalysis of Atmospheric Particles: Techniques and Applications, 223-252.

Ren, Q., Zhang, Y., Yin, J., Han, D., Liu, M., & Chen, Y. (2025). An evaluation of vulnerability settings in Ecopath with Ecosim on ecosystem hindcast and forecast skills. Ecological Informatics, 103040.

Kaplan, R. L., Bernard, K. S., Derville, S., Fisher, J. L., Phillips, E. M., Daly, E. A., … Warren, J.D., & Torres, L. G. (2025). Krill swarm biomass, energetic density, and species composition drive humpback whale distribution in the Northern California Current. ICES Journal of Marine Science, 82(1), fsaf005.

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, 263, 120169.

Wiernicki, C. J., Curtis, T. H., Block, B. A., Shivji, M. S., Vaudo, J. J., Wetherbee, B. M., … & Carlisle, A. B. (2025). Considerations for using sharks as ocean observing platforms. ICES Journal of Marine Science, 82(2), fsaf011.

McGuire, B. T., Sanderson, M. P., Smith, J. L., & Gobler, C. J. (2025). Clearance rates and diarrhetic shellfish toxin accumulation by North Atlantic bivalves fed on North American strains of Dinophysis acuminata. Marine Pollution Bulletin, 213, 117613.

Tao, C., Zhang, M., & Xie, S. (2025). Cloud radiative effect dominates variabilities of surface energy budget in the dark Arctic. Scientific Reports, 15(1), 2976.

Evans, T. C., Record, N. R., Ross, C. H., & Thorne, L. H. (2025). Beyond Calanus: changes to the copepod community in the northeast USA and implications for North Atlantic right whale foraging energetics. Endangered Species Research, 56, 1-17.

Foley, M., Lato, K. A., Fuirst, M., Veit, R. R., Cerrato, R. M., & Thorne, L. H. (2025). Spatial and temporal predictability drive foraging movements of coastal birds. Movement Ecology, 13(1), 5.

Xiang, T., Khosravi, M., Khosravi, A., Bokuniewicz, H., & Farhadzadeh, A. (2025). Hydromechanical factors influencing erosion and recession of compacted sandy bluffs under random waves actions. Engineering Geology, 107957.

Shaffer, K. W., Ye, X., Lee, C. S., Shipley, O. N., McDonough, C. A., Venkatesan, A. K., & Gobler, C. J. (2025). Accumulation and trophic transfer of per-and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in estuarine organisms determined via stable isotopes. Science of The Total Environment, 967, 178742.

Ladds, M., & Gobler, C. J. (2025). Zooplankton grazing can facilitate and control the proliferation of harmful algal blooms caused by Dinophysis acuminata in NY, USA, estuaries. Harmful Algae, 102789.

Arsenault, S., Linner, R., & Chen, Y. (2025). Evaluating effects of data quality and variable weighting on habitat suitability modelling. Ecological Informatics, 103086.

Schenck, F. R., Baum, J. K., Boyer, K. E., Duffy, J. E., Fodrie, F. J., Gaeckle, J., …, Peterson, B. J., … & Hughes, A. R. (2025). Host traits and temperature predict biogeographical variation in seagrass disease prevalence. Proceedings B, 292(2040), 20243055.

Grouzdev, D., Espinosa, E. P., Tettelbach, S., Tanguy, A., Boutet, I., Tobi, H., & Allam, B. (2025). Survival of the fittest: genomic investigations of the bay scallop reveal a shift in population structure through a summer mortality event. BMC genomics, 26, 146.

 

Latest Press Headlines

Newsday: Stony Brook University researcher turns to AI to predict Long Island Sound water quality problems

  • Researchers on coastal ecology have studied for decades the conditions that can lead to plummeting oxygen levels in sensitive marine ecosystems, trying to parse how the combination of nutrient levels, water temperature, bacteria and other factors can lead to die-offs of fish, shellfish and aquatic plants. But previous models and analyses aiming to describe how hypoxic zones emerging were missing something, according to Kamazima Lwiza, a marine physicist at Stony Brook University’s marine science division.

Crain’s New York: Take a sneak peek at $700 million Governors Island climate hub

  • The city’s efforts to transform Governors Island into a $700 million environmental research center are taking shape. The design includes a structure made of climate-friendly mass timber, linked by a curvy canopy of solar panels, that’s intended as a model for large-scale sustainable development.

Times Beacon Record: SBU names Princeton’s Andrea Goldsmith as its new president

  • Stony Brook University has named Andrea Goldsmith as the downstate flagship public university’s seventh president. Goldsmith, who will start her tenure at Stony Brook on August 1st, has been the dean of engineering and applied sciences at Princeton University since 2020. She has been a dean, researcher in engineering, technology company founder and faculty member at Princeton and at Stanford University and Caltech.

NY YIMBY: Updated Renderings Showcase SOM’s $700 Million New York Climate Exchange on Governors Island

  • Updated renderings have been revealed for the New York Climate Exchange, an environmental research facility and climate solutions center planned for Governors Island in New York Harbor. Designed by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill in collaboration with MNLA, Buro Happold, and Langan Engineering, the $700 million project will consist of a 400,000-square-foot research and education hub anchored by Stony Brook University.

Gothamist: Long Island funeral home’s illegal cesspool highlights region’s water risk

  • Long Island’s septic tanks and cesspools have been identified as the source of contamination harming water quality and the local shellfish industry since at least the 1980s, according to the Nature Conservancy. There were about 220 beach closures or advisories due to poor water quality on Long Island in 2023. A Stony Brook University study found a record number of algal blooms and dead zones on Long Island’s coastal waters last summer. Scientists found 36 dead zones, or waters where oxygen levels are so low that nothing can survive.

Newsday: Can oysters filter nitrogen from local waterways? Boston University scientists will head to Stony Brook Harbor to find out.

  • Chris Gobler, a professor at Stony Brook University’s School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences, has been leading a research team into oyster populations at Stony Brook Harbor for several years. “Too much nitrogen can be a problem, particularly during the summer months,” Gobler said in an interview. “It can lead to harmful algal blooms, which can be damaging in some cases to ecosystems and marine life; and in other cases, they can create toxins harmful to animals and humans.”

Newsday: 2024 Peconic Bay scallop season was ‘awful’ as efforts continue to rebuild population

  • Cornell researchers and their counterparts at Stony Brook University have been working for years to identify a pathogen they believe is responsible for the die-offs and propagate scallops that have a resistance to the disease. As Newsday has reported, that has led Cornell staffers to recruit new generations of scallops from Moriches Bay and Martha’s Vineyard to become the primary brood stock for scallops that are set in Cornell’s long-line hatchery in Orient, to grow and eventually breed in the wild.

 

 

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