Updates from SoMAS Faculty

Dec 16, 2020

The semester may be winding down, but the research enterprise never sleeps! Check out the latest updates from our faculty!

Congratulations to Distinguished Professor Bob Aller, who has received a 2020 Outstanding Mentor Award from Stony Brook University! This award recognizes excellence in mentoring of early career faculty. Dean Shepson offered his hearty congratulations and a thank you for Bob’s generosity with his time, and sage guidance. “We all appreciate and benefit from that!”

Dr. Roger Flood has received a new award in support of his project, “Continuing Studies of Acoustic Mapping, Long Island Sound Cable Fund – Seafloor Mapping Phase 2“, for the period 7/30/20-12/30/20, in the amount $$23,500.  An abstract for the project is provided below.

Roger Flood

Dr. Roger Flood

New York State and the State of Connecticut border Long Island Sound and underwater cables and pipelines connect the energy infrastructure of the two states to each other and to facilities at offshore locations. These underwater connections are important to the economies of each state and to the stability of their energy systems. However, when this kind of underwater infrastructure is proposed there is often little or no attempt of those who propose that infrastructure to identify or avoid areas of potential ecological importance or to mitigate any impacts. In 2002 a Connecticut legislative task force found there was a lack of substantial scientific information regarding the seafloor habitats of Long Island Sound (LIS) which hampered the ability of the State to properly respond to and address topics such as the placement of large scale in-water utility infrastructure in Long Island Sound.

This substantial need for information on seafloor habitats resulted in the formation of a fund to, in part, emphasize benthic mapping as a priority need for improving management decisions. SoMAS at Stony Brook University is currently participating in Phase 2 of the Long Island Sound Cable Fund Seafloor Mapping project which is collecting essential information for delineating and understanding benthic habitats in Long Island Sound. In Phase 2, the SoMAS expertise in high-resolution bathymetry and backscatter mapping and side-scan sonar mapping to image the sea floor in 25 survey blocks in eastern Long Island Sound.  This acoustic data is being merged with sediment analyses, benthic faunal data and visual sea-floor imaging to characterize and delineate benthic habitats in the Phase 2 study area.  As part of this funding extension we will continue our collaboration with our Connecticut, New York and NOAA partners, update and finalize our survey results, complete the archiving of raw and processed data files, finalize metadata for the survey results, and integrate our acoustic data into the main Final Project Technical Report which is expected mid-2021.

 

From Dean Paul Shepson:

I am writing to report on the outcome of two internal SoMAS opportunity competitions, the Minghua Zhang/SoMAS Early Career Awards, and the SoMAS Dean’s Seed Grant opportunity.
The former has a SoMAS-funded component because the MZ award agreement (with the donors) makes this opportunity only available to MAR and ATM and not to SUS faculty.  But of course, all faculty and divisions are created equally, and so the Dean’s office has taken efforts to identify funds for SUS faculty.  That is challenging, but we have made it happen.
The Seed Grant is a new opportunity, intending to stimulate new research areas and collaborations, including across campus.
The following Early Career Awards (now expanding the definition of “Early Career” to mean within 6 years of promotion to Assoc. Prof.) have been made:
1. (MZ) – Ali Farhadzadeh, in support of the project “Bio-Mediated Soil Improvement for Bluff Erosion”.
2. (Dean) – Donovan Finn, in support of the project “Temporal and spatial factors contributing to local resilience capacity: A pilot study in the northeastern US”.
3. (Dean) – David Taylor, in support of the project “Theatres of Engagement: Five Cuban Theatre Groups at Work for the Environment”.
 
The following Seed Grant Awards have been made:
1.  Sara Hamideh and Kevin Reed, in support of the project “Establishing the Coastal Resilience through Inclusive Science and Education (C-RISE) Hub“.
2.  Qingzhi Zhu and Chris Gobler, in support of the project “In-situ and long-term monitoring of nitrate in coastal aquatic systems“.
3.  Jackie Collier, Joshua Rest (E&E), and David Matus (Biochem.), in support of the project “A unique organelle at the interface of the carbon cycle and marine food webs”.
4.  Gordon Taylor and Elena Yakubovskaya, in support of the project “Understanding interactions between marine viruses and phytoplankton through
advanced imaging technologies: a case study with E. huxleyi and the EhV virus“.
 
The Early Career Awards were reviewed by the Faculty Council.  The Seed Grant proposals were reviewed by a three-member panel (2 MAR and one ATM) of faculty who were not conflicted on the proposals, coordinated by Anne McElroy. The decisions were made by Dean Paul Shepson, with the information from the reviews, and taking into account the stated terms and intent of the opportunity–that we are investing in new opportunities that are likely to bring in new resources/discovery, resulting from the seed research. We have these opportunities because of the passionate support for SoMAS that we have from the Dean’s Advisory Council.  We are fortunate indeed to have these resources.  I look forward to opportunities to give back to them by reporting on your new research successes, so that they are happy to continue supporting us in this way. Not all proposals could be funded in this round, but there will be more opportunities to come.

Press Briefs

UPI: Disaster awaits if aging Red Sea oil tanker isn’t emptied soon, scientists warn
The Pioneer: Scientists warn of catastrophic oil spill from abandoned ship in Red Sea
Eurasia Review: Likely Massive Oil Spill Endangering Red Sea, Region’s Health
Gizmodo: Deteriorating Oil Tanker Threatens the Red Sea, Scientists Warn
The Independent: Abandoned tanker containing 1 million barrels of oil could cause ‘devastation’ in Red Sea, scientists warn   Also ran in The Week, Outlook India, Health Medicine Network, Yahoo News, Science Alert, and Deccan Herald.
Phys.org: Scientists warn of likely massive oil spill endangering the Red Sea, region’s health  Also ran in Science Magazine, Sci Tech Daily, Science Codex and  Science Magazine. Eco Magazine
Nature World News: Looming Massive Oil Spill Disaster Feared from Abandoned Ship in the Red Sea
Lab Roots: The Safer is definitely not safe
Jewish Press: Oil Spill 4-Times the Exxon Valdez Anticipated in the Red Sea Also ran in Jerusalem Post, Jewish News & Israel News, Cleveland Jewish News and  Israel 21

Staten Island Live: DEC looking into why large number of dead fish are washing up on nearby shores, including on Staten Island
Upper West Side Patch: Throngs Of Fish Are Dying Again Along The Hudson River: See It
The Marine Animal Disease Laboratory is working with the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation to test samples of a large group of fish found dead in the Hudson River.

Large Groups of Fish Found Dead in Hudson River Again; Scientists Testing Samples

Dr. Kevin Reed interviewed during PBS NewsHour on November 21, 2020.

 

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School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences, SoMAS, at Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY 11794-5000, USA
Phone: 631-632-8700
somas@stonybrook.edu