Monthly Archives: January 2011

Registration nears for HMSC Career Day

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Young scientists build their own ROVNEWPORT – Registration opens Feb. 1 for “CSI: Careers in Science Investigation,” the popular Hatfield Marine Science Center program for high school-aged students interested in exploring careers in marine and natural sciences.

The career day program takes place on Friday, April 8 from 9:30 am to 3:30 pm at the HMSC Visitor Center in Newport. The cost is $15/student.

Presented each spring and fall by the Oregon Sea Grant marine education program, the day-long program offers 9th-through-12th-graders an opportunity to spend a day interacting with working scientists on field research projects, learning about current research, recent discoveries and cutting-edge techniques, and taking part in hands-on activities – including building their own Remotely Operated Vehicles.

A highlight of this spring’s program will send participants out onto the Yaquina Bay mudflats to work alongside scientists sampling the rate of parasitic isopods in local ghost shrimp populations. Budding scientists are advised to bring boots and  rain gear, and to expect to get very wet and muddy!

Other sessions will focus on marine mammals, deep-ocean vents, wave energy, and marine invertebrate biology.

Space is limited, and reservations go fast. Read more and download a printable registration form.

Sea Grant seeks marine program, research specialists

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CORVALLIS, OR. – Oregon Sea Grant is looking for marine science professionals to fill two non-teaching faculty positions supporting its research initiatives and collaborations – and some part-time educators to help teach children and adults more about the sea.

The program, based at Oregon State University, is seeking to fill two 12-month, fixed term professional faculty positions on campus. One, a marine program specialist, will be charged with developing and executing university-wide, statewide and regional initiatives in which Sea Grant is involved. The other, a research program specialist, will help run  OSG’s biennial research funding competition and Sea Grant Scholars fellowship programs, as well as reporting on their impacts. Both positions require at least a master’s degree in the marine sciences. Application deadlines are Jan. 30 for the Marine Program Specialist and Feb. 2 for the Research Program specialist.

Meanwhile, the Sea Grant education program at OSU’s Hatfield Marine Science Center in Newport is accepting applications for its marine educators’ pool.  These part-time, academic-wage appointments involve presenting informal marine education programs to K-12 school audiences and other groups. Applications will be accepted throughout the 2010-2011 academic year.

Read more about the positions and how to apply.

OSG beach publication solves a Great Lakes Mystery

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Beach Ball illustrationWhen a Duluth man walked into the Minnesota Sea Grant office recently seeking help identifying a couple of weird-looking balls of of stuff he’d found on the shore of  Lake Superior,  science writer Sharon Moen found the answer from a sister program in Oregon.

An Internet search led her straight to Oregon Sea Grant and its free publication, “Flotsam, Jetsam, and Wrack.”

The balls found by Glenn Maxham,  about 2½ inches in diameter and made of grasses, twigs, a bird feather and degraded polymer mesh,  match a similar phenomenon found on the Oregon coast, where locals (and some tourist shops) have dubbed them “whale burps.”

They have nothing to do with whales; rather, it’s the action of waves and surf that gather loose natural (and unnatural) debris and roll it over the sand until it compacts into a ball. The preferred name is “beach balls” or “surf balls,” according to retired OSG marine educator Vicki Osis, who helped develop the publication. Similar phenomena have been reported in Egypt, Australia, and on the shores of California’s Little Borax Lake.

“Flotsam, Jetsam, and Wrack” is among some 150 publications available free for the downloading from Oregon Sea Grant at Oregon State University. Topics range from enjoying the beaches to building your own water-conserving rain garden, salmon restoration,wave energy, tsunami preparedness and safe seafood preparation. Most are available in both printable .pdf format and accessible plain-text versions.

The Oregon and Minnesota Sea Grant programs are among 30 Sea Grant college programs across the nation, organized under NOAA’s National Sea Grant program.  Affiliated with major universities in the nation’s coastal and Great Lakes states, the Sea Grant programs conduct marine research, education and public outreach that  foster science-based  use and conservation of the nation’s aquatic resources.

NOAA PNW seminar videos now online

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How much will it snow?  What are we learning about ocean acidification? What would happen if a big oil spill hit Puget Sound? These and other topics were discussed by top scientists from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in the fall 2010 Seattle lecture series, “NOAA Science in the Pacific Northwest.”

The five hour-long seminars were videotaped and are now available online, courtesy of the agency’s Alaska Fisheries Science Center.

Speakers include Will Stelle, NW regional administrator for the NOAA Fisheries Service; National Weather Service meteorologist Brad Colman, Bill Douros,  director of the National Marine Sanctuaries West Coast Region, and  NOAA research oceanographer Simone Alim.

NOAA’s history in the Pacific Northwest goes back almost 200 years. NOAA’s predecessor agencies have surveyed waters, forecast the weather, and managed fisheries in the Pacific Northwest since the 1800s.

As Kitzhaber is sworn in, a look back

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The last time John Kitzhaber was Oregon’s governor, he made a major policy address at Oregon State University in January 2000, on the “Oregon Approach to Environmental Problems.”

Now, with Kitzhaber returning for a new four-year term, his reflections  on the environment and politics and on salmon recovery 11 years ago may have renewed interest. The 30-minute speech, introduced by then-OSU President Paul Risser and produced by Oregon Sea Grant as part of the John Byrne lecture series:

Oregon Sea Grant a major contributor to OSU’s community engagement

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When OSU President Ed Ray announced “wonderful news” on January 5, 2011, that OSU had received a special designation by the Carnegie Foundation for its work in “community engagement,” Oregon Sea Grant shared in the pride at that achievement.

Four of the 15 partnerships listed in OSU’s successful application involved university leadership from Oregon Sea Grant–and clearly Sea Grant is by no other measure 4/15ths of OSU! Oregon Sea Grant’s partners included local communities, school districts, community colleges, and science centers.

In addition, Oregon Sea Grant’s engagement role was highlighted in the Carnegie application as one example of OSU’s distinctive contribution to broader community engagement. “Stop the Invasion,” a comprehensive public campaign focused on invasive species, was a partnership between OSG, Oregon Public Broadcasting (OPB), the Salem Statesman Journal, and the Oregon Invasive Species Council. It included a 10-month Statesman Journal series and an OPB documentary that won the Dupont-Columbia award (equivalent to a Pulitzer Prize for documentaries).

The program was followed by a year-long action campaign to further engage Oregonians in learning about and taking action against invasives. Follow-up strategies included: A garden guide and web site that the public used to identify and report invasives, and action-oriented activities to alleviate the impacts of invasives (such as beach cleaning). A major outcome of this campaign was the passage of five pieces of new legislation in the 2009 Oregon legislative session on invasive species prevention. OSG’s Sam Chan, Lynn Dierking, and Joe Cone led the program’s activities in the campaign.

In his announcement to the university community, President Ray expressed our sense of value very well: “There are many attributes that we hope Oregonians associate with our university, but our outreach to and engagement with the people of this state is certainly at the top of that list.”

Shark Day at the Visitor Center – now with live Web stream!

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Sharks of OregonNEWPORT – Shark Day is returning to the Hatfield Marine Science Visitor Center this Saturday (Jan. 8) – and this year, Internet audiences are invited to join in learning more about these fascinating marine animals via a live-streamed shark dissection and “ask the scientist” chat.

At 1:30 pm (Pacific Time), Bill Hanshumaker, Sea Grant public education specialist, will be dissecting a seven-foot salmon shark  (Lamna ditropis), which has been in the deep freeze since it was hauled up as by-catch by a hake trawler last summer and donated to the center.  Dr. Hanshumaker will systematically dissect the shark to reveal its nervous, circulatory, digestive and reproductive systems, and talk about shark biology and adaptations.

This year’s Shark Day dissection will be streamed live over the Web via the center’s ScienceCam – and a new feature will allow Internet visitors to join in a live, moderated chat where they can ask questions about shark biology and behavior.

Follow this link to view the dissection live and find out how to take part in the live chat.

Samples of the shark’s tissue and vertebrae will be collected and passed on to researchers who will determine the animal’s age and test test for parasites and mitochondrial concentration.

The specimen is on display at the Center today and through Saturday, until the dissection.

The ScienceCam is one of the Visitor Center’s new initiatives to expand marine education and outreach offerings to those unable to visit the Oregon Coast. In addition to occasional public presentations, it is being used to stream marine science demonstrations to school classrooms, many of them far from the ocean.

(Illustration: Sharks of Oregon poster, available from Oregon Sea Grant)