New Sea Grant Extension leader takes office Oct. 4

CORVALLIS – David Hansen, a former Extension program leader at the University of Delaware, joins the Oregon Sea Grant leadership team Oct. 4 as program leader for Oregon Sea Grant Extension at Oregon State University.

Hansen succeeds Jay Rasmussen, who retired earlier this year after serving 14 years as Sea Grant Extension program leader.

Sea Grant Director Stephen Brandt called Hansen “a first-rate choice to lead Sea Grant Extension at a time when time when coastal stakeholders need our services most. He brings both the scientific and academic background and the practical experience to help us achieve our goals of using sound science to create a more informed and engaged society around issues important to our coast, our region and our nation.”

Hansen will be based on the OSU Campus and will oversee a marine Extension program including agents, specialists and educators located on campus and on the Oregon coast from Astoria to Gold Beach, working in fields ranging from watershed restoration and fisheries policy to invasive species, climate change and tsunami preparedness. Oregon’s is one of the largest and most highly regarded Extension programs among the 30 Sea Grant programs nationwide.

Hansen will also serve on the Sea Grant leadership team, which coordinates an integrated program of ocean and coastal outreach, education, research and communications.

The new program leader was educated at Iowa State University, where he earned an MS in forest biology and a PhD in soil science and water resources. He has been an assistant professor of soil and environmental quality at UD since 2006, and since 2008 has also directed Delaware’s Extension Agriculture and Natural Resources program.

Hansen has served as Delaware’s representative on the Chesapeake Bay Program scientific and technical advisory committee and co-chair of the program’s Water Quality Goal Implementation Team.

In public presentations during his interviews at OSU this spring, Hansen emphasized the need to build strong teams and forge broad coalitions with others – inside and outside the university – to deepen Sea Grant Extension’s “diversity of expertise,” particularly in tight fiscal times. He expressed strong support for an “outcomes-based” approach to public outreach and engagement, with measurable targets and regular, quantitative assessment of results.

OSU, partners to lauch regional climate consortium

CORVALLIS, Ore. – Oregon State University has received a five-year grant from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to establish and coordinate a regional consortium of climate variability assessment, research and outreach.

The funding, which could surpass $3.5 million, will establish the Pacific Northwest Climate Decision Support Consortium – one of six new regional integrated sciences and assessments (RISA) programs funded by NOAA.

OSU researchers will work with colleagues from the University of Oregon, Boise State University, University of Idaho, and University of Washington – as well as the extension programs from Oregon, Washington and Idaho – to address climate assessment needs for businesses, state and federal agencies, municipalities, tribal leaders and non-governmental organizations in the Pacific Northwest.

Oregon Sea Grant expects to play a significant role in the new consortium’s research and public outreach efforts.

Read more …

Climate consortium seeks two for outreach effort

The Climate Decision Support Consortium, a Northwest partnership led by the Oregon Climate Change Research Institute at Oregon State University, is seeking applicants for two positions: one to act as a Program Manager and one a Regional Extension Climate Specialist. The consortium is the designated Pacific Northwest Regional Integrated Sciences and Assessments program under the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Climate Program Office.

The program manager will coordinate the project’s task teams, internal and external communications, and meetings fostering team integration, and has primary responsibility for carrying out the mission and goals of the project. Qualifications include MS (PhD preferred) in a relevant area of social or physical science, basic knowledge of climate science, and evidence of ability to manage a multidisciplinary multi-investigator project. Read more at the OSU Jobs site.

The Regional Climate Extension Specialist will work with CDSC researchers to develop and evaluate collaborative outreach and engagement pilot programs designed to help communities better prepare for, and adapt to, a changing climate. Qualifications include MS (PhD preferred) in a relevant area of social or physical science, demonstrated ability to communicate science to non-scientists, and experience with outreach/extension. Read more at the OSU Jobs site.

Both positions are fixed-term, 12-month appointments with faculty research assistant status in OSU’s College of Oceanic and Atmospheric Sciences.

Oregon State University is an affirmative action/equal opportunity employer.

Heceta Head Conference to focus on working waterfronts

Register now for “Oregon’s Oceans: Working Waterfronts,” the 6th annual Heceta Head Conference Oct. 28-29 at the Florence Events Center.

The conference is devoted to bringing new understanding of the Pacific Ocean off the Oregon coast through recent scientific advances and policy developments that  benefit coastal communities. This year’s program,  “Working Waterfronts,” examines the complexity of waterfronts in their multiple uses, diverse industries and environmental habitats.

For the first time this year, Oregon Sea Grant is partnering with the conference; Jamie Doyle, Sea Grant Extension agent in Coquille/Coos Bay, is developing the program of events, which begins on Thursday with a “discovery tour” of the Florence waterfront with the Port of Siuslaw and the Siuslaw Estuary Partnership.

Participants will view stormwater remonstration sites, port-led waterfront activities and projects, wetland restoration, natural resources as cultural resources, and salmon and trout enhancement projects – and the first 36 people to register will get a Siuslaw River boat trip.

The conference continues on Friday with a full day of presentations and panels on topics ranging from estuary conservation to “smart growth” for coastal communities and waterfronts.

Read more and register at http://www.hecetaheadconference.org