Congratulations to Emily Slesinger (and Grace) who received the School of Graduate Studies Distinguished Scholarly Achievement Award. The Distinguished Scholarly Achievement Award is the School of Graduate Studies’ most prestigious honor. Awarded to a student who demonstrates the highest possible level of academic excellence and achievement, this award celebrates extraordinary scholarship and research.

Congrats to RUCOOL Ph.D student Lauren Cook for receiving the Frank Marmin Memorial Scholarship from the International Women’s Fishing Association. The mission of the International Women’s Fishing Association Scholarship Trust is to grant research scholarships to graduate students who are committed to studies of the chemical, physical and biological processes of marine science with emphasis on conservation, preservation, and protection of the marine environment. “It was an incredible honor and extremely generous of the Marmin family — this funding was a huge help in getting my research off the ground for this Spring. I’m hoping I can thank them in person soon,” said Lauren. The International Women’s Fishing Association was established in 1955 to promote women’s fishing in an arena primarily dominated by men. Over the years, it has become one of women’s most prestigious fishing clubs, setting the standards for conservation and promoting angling competition among women. To help further one of its chartered objectives, the field of conservation, the IWFA established the IWFA Scholarship Trust to provide financial aid to marine science graduate students. The IWFA Scholarship Trust was established in 1965 to further one of the IWFA’s chartered objectives – promoting conservation.  The IWFA Scholarship Trust is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization organized for the purpose of providing financial assistance to marine science graduate students. The Scholarship Trust is funded by individual contributions from IWFA members and other private donations.

On March 29th, Elizabeth (Liza) Wright-Fairbanks (right in the photo) presented her Commemorative Lecture for the Walter Munk Scholar Award from Marine Technology Society. Laura Lawson, the Interim Executive Dean of Agriculture and Natural Resources (School of Environmental and Biological Sciences and the New Jersey Agricultural Experiment Station), introduced Liza and moderated the lecture. The full lecture can be viewed here. Congratulations, Liza!

RUCOOL grad student Joe Gradone was selected to receive the 2022 National Defense Science and Engineering Graduate (NDSEG) Fellowship Award.  This fellowship is awarded in recognition of academic excellence and Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) achievements, from over 3,000 applicants.  The award will cover all of his graduate school costs for the next 3 years. The NDSEG Fellowship Program is sponsored by the Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFOSR), the Army Research Office (ARO), and the Office of Naval Research (ONR) under the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering, OUSD (R&E), and administered by Innovative Technology Solutions JV, LLC (ITS-JV, LLC).

The Gulf Research Program (GRP) of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine has announced $5.4 million in research funding awarded to Texas A&M University from the Understanding Gulf Ocean Systems (UGOS) program. Dr. Scott Glenn will lead the Rutgers effort including underwater glider deployments in the Gulf of Mexico and processing of all surface current radar data. The funding will establish the Gulf Consortium for Offshore Risk Reduction Engaging Stakeholders (GulfCORES), which will be led by Dr. Steven DiMarco, professor in the Department of Oceanography at Texas A&M and team leader for ocean observing at Texas A&M’s Geochemical and Environmental Research Group (GERG). GulfCORES will complement and enhance existing modeling and observational capabilities by providing adaptive sampling observations from glider, float, and drifter platforms, DiMarco said. The consortium will also actively engage stakeholders and industry to ensure sustainable transitions to operations that support end-users. DiMarco said that GulfCORES will execute an observational program to support numerical modeling, and develop a plan to incorporate study outputs into existing operational agency and industry activities. “Our team is excited about the opportunity to work with the National Academies GRP and the other consortia on this project,” he said. “Because of the decades-long experiences in providing observations that are critical to accurate and reliable forecasts, we have a dream team positioned to improve the well-being of the Gulf of Mexico community. When coupled with Texas A&M’s unique relationship with offshore industries, I am confident that our work will lead to a safer and more sustainable Gulf.” The Texas A&M-led project is one of three awarded as part of UGOS’ third phase (UGOS-3), and the three consortia will work collaboratively to apply existing and emerging data to improve operational forecasting of the Gulf of Mexico ocean dynamics, including the Loop Current and its eddies. “One of the Gulf Research Program’s core priorities is to make data-rich scientific information available to decision-makers in the Gulf,” said Donald F. Boesch, National Academies senior scholar. “I am confident that our UGOS program will result in major advances in the practical use of scientific understanding of the highly dynamic Gulf of Mexico and how it is changing in our warming world.” Full article at the Rutgers University Newsroom

The ocean is a central part of Earth’s climate system. For example, it regulates temperatures and surface–atmosphere exchanges of gases around the planet. Yet the ocean is chronically undersampled, leaving vast gaps in our knowledge of its behavior. This lack of data presents a fundamental barrier to understanding, predicting, managing, and adapting to ongoing changes in ocean physics, chemistry, and biology. These changes, among others, include warming of the ocean, declining oxygen content, and shifting dynamics in ocean carbon content, which have direct and indirect effects on open-ocean, nearshore, and even terrestrial ecosystems. These effects remain only loosely constrained but appear to be predominantly negative for life in the water—from keystone species like coral and krill to large mammals like whales and walruses—and on land by way of degraded fisheries, for example. The need to reduce gaps in global ocean observing is becoming increasingly urgent as we look to advance the science upon which mitigation and adaptation approaches are based. To meet this observing challenge, scientists have been developing a global array of hundreds of ocean-profiling floats that expands on existing observing resources. The floats, equipped with biogeochemical (BGC) sensors, constitute the BGC-Argo system, which will transform our ability to observe the ocean. Beyond serving needs for basic research, science advances and real-time observations from BGC-Argo will also inform a diverse range of stakeholders and facilitate solutions for sustainable ocean management. For the full article, please visit Eos.

Fish reproduction is energetically costly, leading to a suite of energy allocation strategies for maximizing lifetime reproductive potential. Assessing energetic allocation for species that inhabit a wide distributional range can provide insight into different strategies found across individuals and populations. The Northern stock of black sea bass (Centropristis striata) inhabits the U.S. Northeast continental shelf from Cape Hatteras, NC, to the Gulf of Maine, and spawns inshore throughout this distribution from April to October. To assess energy allocation towards spawning, C. striata were collected in four regions across this distribution and throughout their spawning season. By assessing energetic allocation (lipid, energy density and total energy) in muscle, liver and gonad tissues, C. striata were identified as mixed breeders because while they mobilized somatic energy stores towards reproductive development, they also used energy acquired from their diet to sustain reproductive output throughout the spawning season. Unlike male fish, female fish both invested more energy into liver and gonad tissues and exhibited regional differences in energetic values. For both sexes, C. striata in the northern portion of the distribution had lower energetic values both in the somatic stores and towards gonadal development than the fish in the southern portion of the distribution, possibly because of longer migration distance. Overall, the authors found significant spatial variation in energetic constraints that may affect reproductive output and success (recruitment), a relevant result as C. striata are a popular recreational and commercial species throughout this distribution. Full article