Monthly Archives: May 2015

Oregon Sea Grant seeks grants/contracts technician

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Oregon Sea Grant is seeking applicants with training and experience in accounting for a full-time classified staff position as a grants/contracts technician. Responsibilities include managing awarded grants and contracts, bookkeeping and associated tasks (Reviewing/verifying accounts for accuracy, meeting audit trail requirements, reconciling transactions, etc), budget tracking and preparation, and preparing outside grant proposals.

Minimum requirements include 12 quarter hours (8 semester hours) of accounting courses AND two years of experience, an Associate’s degree in accounting or equivalent education and experience. Preferred qualifications include experience with grant proposal development and with FIS Banner, Data Warehouse, GRRS, and Cayuse information systems.

Application deadline June 12, 2015. Visit OSU Jobs for details and to apply.

STEM Hub sends teachers to sea

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Newport, OR — Two Oregon educators head out to sea this weekend to take part in a research buoy deployment aimed at learning how changing ocean conditions affect sea life in Pacific Northwest waters.

The deployment, aboard the University of Washington’s R/V Thomas Thompson, takes place over Memorial Day weekend in  NOAA’s Olympic Coast National Marine Sanctuary.

Ben Ewing of Lincoln County School District’s Toledo High School and Cindy Bryden from the Haystack Rock Awareness Program are joining others from from Washington state to learn more about oceanographic research addressing critical issues affecting the region’s coastal and inland waters. The teachers plan to incorporate the research and their cruise experiences into their classroom and education programs.

This cruise will deploy a moored buoy system with sensors to monitor ocean and weather conditions off the coast. A Seaglider, an autonomous underwater vehicle, is part of the observing array and will be deployed as well. These instruments are part of a larger observing system known as NEMO (Northwest Enhanced Moored Observatory). While at sea, the team will conduct water and plankton sampling as part of Washington Ocean Acidification Center monitoring for ocean acidification.

Toledo High School teacher Ben Ewing with the SS DolphinEwing will also be deploying the SS Dolphin, a five foot unmanned sailboat built by Sunset Middle School students in Coos Bay. This student-built sailboat is equipped with a GPS unit (Global Positioning System) so Oregon students and the public can track its journey as it rides the wind and currants across Pacific waters.  Funded by the Oregon Coast Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) Hub, the SS Dolphin is the second student-built boat to be deployed in the Pacific by research vessels this school year. Plans are underway for Hatfield Marine Science Center researchers to deploy a third student-built boat at the Marianas Trench near Guam in June.

Based at Oregon State University’s Hatfield Marine Science Center, the Oregon Coast STEM Hub is one of six regional STEM Hubs funded by the Oregon Department of Education. With more than 50 active partners, including Oregon Sea Grant, the Oregon Coast STEM Hub serves coastal teachers, students and communities along the Oregon coast, connecting them with regional resources and providing world-class STEM experiences.

For more information contact Tracy Crews at OregonCoastSTEM@oregonstate.edu.

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New pale ale benefits sea star wasting research

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Rogue Wasted Sea Star Ale labelNEWPORT – Sales of  a new starfish-purple ale from Rogue Brewery will benefit researchers’ efforts to study and address sea star wasting disease, a serious epidemic among starfish up and down the West Coast.

As part of a larger effort to learn more about the deadly disease that has devastated sea stars in some places on the Oregon coast, a craft brewery in Newport, Ore., has announced the sale of Wasted Sea Star Purple Pale Ale . Rogue Ales and Spirits planned a celebration today including a beer christening and discussion about the outbreak.

The Rogue Ale brewers plan to donate a portion of the income from sales of this product to support research done by scientists at Oregon State University and and PISCO scientists. More information on Rogue Ales and Spirits’ new ale is available online at www.rogue.com/roguenews

“We are extremely excited about this new partnership with Rogue to raise awareness about the importance of sea stars to healthy ocean ecosystems,” said Bruce Menge, the lead PISCO-OSU investigator. “Rogue’s new beer also recognizes the efforts of investigators across the country who are collaborating to understand this disease and its impacts.”

The brew is described as “light and crisp, with a red or purplish hue and a unique flavor that comes from the purple corn nectar used to brew it.”

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Communications manager applicants sought

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Oregon Sea Grant is seeking qualified applicants for a full-time position leading its communications team in developing products and strategies that interpret Sea Grant-funded research, support the program’s administration and contribute to outreach and engagement activities which help inform and engage the public in learning, discussing and acting on ocean and coastal issues.

At minimum, candidates should have

  • Specialized skill in science writing, graphic design, or multi-media development
  • A bachelor’s degree, or equivalent work experience, in a communications related field, with an emphasis on science communications. A master’s degree is preferred
  • At least five years relevant work experience
  • Evidence of experience supervising or leading other communications professionals
  • Evidence of actively engaging personnel in development, planning and implementation of project communications
  • Effective written and oral communication skills
  • Demonstrated ability to represent complex scientific or environmental concepts in a way that will excite interest and can be understood by the various audiences as appropriate.

Based at the Oregon Sea Grant office on the Oregon State University campus in Corvallis, OR, the communications manager is expected to travel as needed to the Hatfield Marine Scence Center Visitor Center in Newport, OR, and to other project locations on the Oregon coast. 

Duties include planning and development of print, digital media and other communication projects, scholarly activities supporting the science of science communication, managing media relations, and overseeing a team that, among other duties supports special projects of the National Sea Grant Network and oversees exhibit design for our HMSC Visitor Center in Newport.

For full details and to apply, see the posting on the OSU Jobs site. The deadline to apply is June 15, 2015.

Corvallis Science Pub: An acidic ocean?

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It’s been called the “evil twin” of climate change. As the oceans absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and surface waters become more acidic, changes to marine ecosystems are likely to follow. Coral reefs, shell-forming organisms and the fish and marine mammals that depend on them are at risk.

At the May 11 Corvallis Science Pub, George Waldbusser will describe what scientists know about the biological effects of ocean acidification. The Science Pub presentation is free and open to the public. It begins at 6 p.m. at the Old World Deli, 341 S.W. 2nd St. in Corvallis.

On average, the oceans are about 30 percent more acidic today than they were a century ago, and impacts are already being seen along the West Coast. Waldbusser and his students have turned their attention to the region’s oyster industry, which had $73 million in sales in 2009.

Oyster larvae are sensitive to acidification and Waldbusser, an assistant professor in Oregon State’s College of Earth, Ocean, and Atmospheric Sciences, is working to understand why.

“With larval oysters, what we see are developmental issues,” he said. “From the time eggs are fertilized, Pacific oyster larvae will precipitate roughly 90 percent of their body weight as a calcium carbonate shell within 48 hours.”

His research has been supported by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Oregon Sea Grant and other agencies.

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