Breaking Waves

Registration is now open for the Free-Choice Learning Professional Certificate, an online program offered by Oregon State University.

The program helps museum, zoo, aquarium, and science outreach professionals and volunteers discover more about free-choice learning, the study of what, where, and how we choose to learn over the course of our lifetimes.

Courses are taught by experienced Oregon State faculty and researchers Lynn Dierking, Sea Grant professor and interim associate dean for research in the OSU College of Education; John H. Falk, Sea Grant professor and interim director of the Center for Research in Lifelong STEM Learning; Shawn Rowe, marine education and learning specialist at Oregon Sea Grant Extension; and Jennifer Bachman, instructor and Free-Choice Learning program coordinator.

To learn more about this and other OSU Professional and Noncredit Education certificate programs, visit https://pne.oregonstate.edu/certificates.

Oregon Sea Grant and the Oregon State University Marine Mammal Institute are jointly seeking to fill a new, full-time assistant- or associate-level professorship in marine mammal behavioral ecology.

The new faculty member will be based at OSU’s Hatfield Marine Science Center in Newport, and will also serve as Sea Grant Extension marine mammal specialist. Duties include a combination of research, teaching and public outreach.

This is a fulltime, tenure-track position, with tenure offered at .50 FTE. A PhD. is required. Rank will depend on qualifications.

The selected candidate will be expected to conduct original research and provide statewide, national and international expertise on marine mammals with an emphasis on cetacean ecology. He or she will conduct programs on appropriate basic science, conservation, wildlife management and natural resources issues, and will be expected to raise funds for annual research objectives and to help build the OSU marine mammal endowment.

The full position description and application is available on the OSU Jobs site. For full consideration, applications must be submitted by Dec. 15, 2012.

Learn more:

• OSU Marine Mammal Institute
• Oregon Sea Grant Extension

A new university-level discussion guide, developed by the National Sea Grant Law Center, is now available for the  documentary film, Ocean Frontiers: The Dawn of a New Era in Ocean Stewardship.

The film features a profile of Port Orford, Oregon, where commercial fishermen and other community members are teaming with scientists to understand and protect the region’s marine fisheries.

The Sea Grant Law Center describes Ocean Frontiers as “an ideal communication tool to help audiences understand key principles of ecosystem-based management and coastal and marine spatial planning. These complex topics come to life and are easy to grasp through the stories and people featured in Ocean Frontiers.”

This discussion guide was produced for Green Fire Productions by the National Sea Grant Law Center with the assistance of the Ocean and Coastal Law Committee of Vermont Law School’s Environmental Law Society to help professors incorpo­rate Ocean Frontiers into the classroom. The guide is available for download here: http://bit.ly/OFdiscussionguide

Learn more:

• Visit oceanfrontiers.org to learn more about the film.
• Interested in using the film in the classroom, or hosting a public screening? Fill out the online form.

Susan Hilber Piacenza, an Oregon State University PhD candidate, has been awarded a prestigious National Marine Fisheries Service fellowship to study population dynamics of threatened and endangered sea turtles.

The fellowship, will provide $115,000 over the next  three years to support Piacenza’s work on the green sea turtle, Chelonia mydas. The turtle, considered threatened or endangered in most US and Mexican waters, appears to be recovering in other parts of the world.  “Not only is this good news for green sea turtles,” Piacenza said, “but it also represents an invaluable opportunity to study what happens to a large vertebrate population as it recovers from serious population decline.”

So far, signs of positive population growth among C. mydas colonies in Hawaii and Florida has been inferred from nesting beach surveys. What’s missing – and what Piacenza plans to study – is broader data on what happens to the animals after they hatch, and throughout their lives, and how that information fits into population estimates and trends.

The research could be useful to biologists and managers seeking to understand how populations of other threatened and endangered animals change over time, and as a population comes back from the brink. Solid, data-driven forecasting could also help scientists and the public understand how different conservation and management strategies might affect threatened animal populations.

Piacenza is working with researchers at the Southeast Fisheries Science Center Turtle Program in Miami, FL, and the Pacific Island Fisheries’ Marine Turtle Research Group in Honolulu, HI. Her PhD adviser in the OSU Department of Fisheries and Wildlife  is Dr. Selina Heppell.

The award is one of five population dynamics fellowships nationwide by NOAA/NMFS this year, and the first ever to an OSU graduate student. Piacenza’s application was sponsored by Oregon Sea Grant.

Learn more about the NOAA/NMFS Fellowships

Applications due April 17, 2012 for the Oregon Sea Grant Summer Scholar program for undergraduates. The program will place students in a natural resource management agency and is designed to help prepare undergraduate students for graduate school and careers in marine science, policy, management, and outreach.

Read more at http://seagrant.oregonstate.edu/fellowships/summer-scholars

To learn more about the Summer Scholars experience, visit our Sea Grant Scholars blog.

CORVALLIS – Sam Chan, Oregon Sea Grant’s invasive species expert, will be among the instructors for Oregon State University’s first-ever Natural Resources Leadership Academy this summer.

NRLA – Applying Risk Analysis to Invasive Species and Sustainable Natural Resources with Sam Chan from Oregon State University – PNE on Vimeo.

The academy, June 15-29, is aimed at natural resources professionals and graduate students who want to enhance their leadership skills,  gain knowledge and connect with others in their fields. The courses, available with or without academic credit, also satisfy curriculum requirements for several OSU degrees.

Participants may choose up to two courses, offered in week-long, all-day sessions, in natural resources conflict management, communication, leadership and sustainability. A $50 fee covers registration for both weeks; additional course fees vary for credit and non-credit registration, and depending on the number of credits taken. Academy pre-registration is required by April 18; course registration runs from April 15-May 7.

Fees do not cover textbooks or lodging; discount lodging is available in OSU dorms and local motels.

For complete information visit the OSU Natural Resources Leadership Academy on the Web.

CORVALLIS – A new College of Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences has been formed with the merger of Oregon State University’s College of Oceanic and Atmospheric Sciences and Department of Geosciences.

The new college, dubbed CEOAS, will focus on the basic sciences of the Earth system. “The new name captures both the existing strengths of Geo and COAS and opens the door for new programs in research and education regarding our home planet,” wrote Rebecca Warner, Senior Vice Provost for Academic Affairs, in an email formally announcing the merger to the campus community on Friday.

CEOAS will house OSU undergraduate programs in Earth Science, Geography, Geology, and Environmental Sciences, as well as a new BS in Earth Sciences  with options in Earth Systems, Geology, and Geography, replacing the existing degrees in Earth Science, Geology and Geography.

Remaining unchanged are graduate programs in oceanic, earth and atmospheric sciences, geology, geography, and Marine Resource Management, as well as bachelor’s degree programs in environmental sciences.

Several Oregon Sea Grant faculty are affiliated with oceanic and atmospheric sciences, and Extension Sea Grant  Community Outreach specialist Flaxen Conway was recently named director of the Marine Resource Management program.

This summer a group of nine recent graduates and undergraduate students  participated in the Oregon Sea Grant Scholars Program. The program provides student fellows with a meaningful opportunity to work side-by-side with mentors who are marine scientists, policy makers, and resource managers. One mentor, Steve Rumrill (South Slough National Estuarine Research Reserve), highlighted all the students and their experiences in the September newsletter of the Coastal and Estuarine Research Federation (CERF). Read: CERF_SEPT_11_OSG_Summer_Scholars

Oregon’s Ocean: Catching the Next Wave of Discoveries

FLORENCE – This year’s Heceta Head Coastal Conference, Oct. 29, will feature the fresh faces of ocean research in Oregon. Participants will learn about the cutting edge of marine science in our waters, focusing on new discoveries and future directions, including a student research poster session highlighting the next generation of Oregon’s scientists from colleges and universities throughout our state.

Graduate and undergraduate students who have conducted ocean-related research are invited to submit their projects, and researchers with promising students are encouraged to spread the word.  The poster submission deadline has been extended to September 30. Download the .pdf announcement for details.

Join us as we look ahead to confronting the challenges facing our ocean, how they are being addressed, and how results will affect YOU!  Oregon Sea Grant is co-sponsoring and organizing the conference. Watch for the full program announcement here this summer.

Oregon Sea Grant is accepting applications for the fourth annual Robert E. Malouf Marine Studies Scholarship, open to graduate students enrolled at any college or university in Oregon working toward a degree  in a  field compatible with Oregon Sea Grant’s mandate and areas of interest.

Relevant fields could include (but are not limited to) biological, geological, physical and chemical sciences; marine resource management and policy; marine resource economics; social sciences; engineering; geology; education or public health.

This annual scholarship is intended to support the efforts of students focusing on marine-related   research, education or public engagement. The program is named for Robert Malouf, Oregon Sea Grant director from 1991-2008.

Applications for the 2011-2012 scholarship are due by 5 pm June 17.  The scholarship will provide up to $10,800 dispersed in 12 monthly payments beginning September 1, 2011

Read more information…