FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE | Research Campaign to Advance Understanding of Gulf of Mexico Loop Current Moves Forward By Awarding $10.3 Million in Initial Grants WASHINGTON – Following recommendations from a National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine report released earlier this year, the National Academies’ Gulf Research Program (GRP) is developing a long-term research campaign to improve understanding and prediction of the Gulf of Mexico Loop Current System (LCS). In support of this effort, the GRP today announced $10.3 million in grant awards for eight new projects to conduct studies and collect data and observations that will inform the planning and launching of the long-term research campaign. The LCS is the dominant ocean circulation feature in the Gulf of Mexico. It influences all types of ocean processes and has implications for a wide range of human and natural systems, including oil and gas operations, storm and hurricane intensity, coastal ecosystems, and industries such as fishing and tourism. However, despite its far-reaching impacts, knowledge about the underlying dynamics that control the behavior of the LCS is limited. “The campaign being planned is a major undertaking. Scientists have been trying to get a handle on the Loop Current for decades, and they’ve made great progress, but there’s never been a long-term, comprehensive, internationally and multi-institutionally coordinated effort,” said Kelly Oskvig, program officer for the GRP. The National Academies report Understanding and Predicting the Gulf of Mexico Loop Current: Gaps and Recommendations identified existing knowledge gaps about the LCS and called for a long-term research campaign to help improve understanding and prediction of the LCS. The report outlined a series of recommendations for near-term and long-term activities needed for a campaign that is expected to take around 10-12 years and require collaborations among many different groups and funders. The GRP recently formed a standing committee of external experts to advise on planning and implementing a LCS research campaign. For more information, visit nationalacademies.org/ugos. “Over time this campaign could generate valuable knowledge able to help improve understanding of the Gulf’s complex oceanographic systems, promote safer offshore operations, facilitate disaster response, and protect coastal communities and ecological resources, among other things,” said Oskvig. Eight new projects were selected for grant awards through the first funding competition related to the LCS research campaign. The solicitation sought projects that would conduct specific studies or collect particular data and observations identified in the report as short-term needs to assist with the long-term research campaign. Planning for the next funding competition, which will also be directed at advancing the long-term LCS research campaign, is now underway and expected to open in 2019. The eight projects chosen to receive awards totaling $10.3 million through the first funding competition for the LCS research campaign were selected through the GRP’s standard external peer review process. Listed in alphabetical order by project title, the projects are: Dry Tortugas and Lower Keys High Frequency Radars Award Amount: $1,371,027 Project Director: Clifford Merz (University of South Florida) Project Team Affiliation: University of South Florida in cooperation with Rutgers University and University of Miami Overview: This project will procure, install, and operate high frequency radar systems to measure surface currents at three locations in the Straits of Florida region of the Gulf of Mexico: Fort Jefferson/Dry Tortugas National Park, Key West, and Marathon. Data from the systems will provide new, real-time data for model assimilation and validation to better understand the evolution of the LCS. Gulf of Mexico Loop Current and Eddy Observations from HF Radar Systems Award Amount: $1,229,424 Project Director: Stephan Howden (University of Southern Mississippi) Project Team Affiliation: University of Southern Mississippi in cooperation with CODAR Ocean Sensors, Shell, and Rutgers University Overview: This project will procure, install, and operate high frequency radar systems to measure surface currents from two offshore platforms at locations in the northeastern most areas of oil and gas operations in the Gulf of Mexico. Data from the systems will provide new, real-time data for model assimilation and validation to better understand the evolution of the LCS. Informing the Loop Current Campaign: Data Compilation to Improve Understanding, Simulation and Prediction of the Loop Current System Award Amount: $647,813 Project Director: Barbara Kirkpatrick (Gulf of Mexico Coastal Ocean Observing System Regional Association) Project Team Affiliation: Gulf of Mexico Coastal Ocean Observing System Regional Association in cooperation with Fugro, Harte Research Institute, Ocean Sierra, RPS, Texas A&M University—College Station, Texas A&M University—Corpus Christi, and Woods Hole Group Overview: This project will design, develop, deploy, and maintain an information system to digitally compile, update, analyze, and make publicly accessible physical oceanographic and hydrographic data from Gulf of Mexico Loop Current field studies. The system will be an important component of future data compilation efforts for a long-term LCS research campaign. Loop Current Floats: Near Real-Time Hydrography and Deep Velocity in the Loop Current System Using Autonomous Profilers Award Amount: $1,155,371 Project Director: Amy Bower (Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution) Project Team Affiliation: Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in cooperation with Centro de Investigación Científica y de Educación Superior de Ensenada (Center for Scientific Research and Higher Education at Ensenada) Overview: This project will procure, deploy, and maintain a fleet of autonomous ocean dynamics-instrumented profiling floats to measure temperature, salinity, and current velocities in LCS active areas of the eastern Gulf of Mexico. Numerical Modeling Award Amount: $2,100,946 Project Director: Ruoying He (North Carolina State University) Project Team Affiliation: North Carolina State University in cooperation with Centro de Investigación Científica y de Educación Superior de Ensenada (Center for Scientific Research and Higher Education at Ensenada), Chevron, Florida State University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, and University of California – Santa Cruz Overview: This project will perform assessments of existing Gulf of Mexico forecasting systems to test the performance and sensitivity of current models in resolving both surface and subsurface circulation and to evaluate long-range prediction capabilities. Passive Gulf of Mexico Loop Current Observations from HF Radar Across the Yucatan Strait Award Amount: $844,263 Project Director: Anthony Knap (Texas A&M University—College Station)

News Release | Rutgers Today | Outreach Rutgers Partners With Pioneering Research Outreach Center to Promote Scientific Research The national initiative will translate scientific research to educate and engage the community Rutgers recently became a partner in an innovative center – funded with a $5.2 million National Science Foundation grant – to translate the importance of scientific research to the general public. The Center for Advancing the Societal Impacts of Research (ARIS Center) is housed at the University of Missouri with participants around the country, including at Rutgers. Partners include Brown University, Duke University, Iowa State University, Madison Area Technical College, Michigan State University, Northeastern University, Northwestern University, Oregon State University and University of Wisconsin-Madison. “Ultimately, my job is to help researchers find innovative ways to share the exciting science and engineering projects they are doing with a broader range of audiences,” said Janice McDonnell, an associate professor and science engineering technology agent in the Department of 4-H Youth Development at Rutgers University-New Brunswick. “This is critical in an era of increased skepticism about the impact and value of science and a time when we need to build a competent and productive STEM workforce.” The new center will support scientists, engineers and other researchers in developing broader outreach projects that support and explain their work, she said. “That means coming up with opportunities and ways in which they can think about their research beyond just communicating with their peers,” said McDonnell, ARIS Center coprincipal investigator. “The goal is to integrate thinking about how you will work with communities and the public to understand and sometimes participate in university research. The goal is to share the impact of government-funded research on taxpayers.” The ARIS Center will benefit researchers who drive discovery and “broader impact professionals” who collaborate with researchers and community stakeholders. It will engage members of the public who benefit from research and educational advancements. The center will stress support for traditionally underserved populations and inclusiveness to ensure a diverse science workforce. “Most importantly, it can improve the diversity of those entering STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) fields,” said McDonnell, who works in the School of Environmental and Biological Sciences. “This is very important. People of color are woefully underrepresented in STEM fields, and we need to increase diversity to include a range of talents, skills and ideas in STEM.” McDonnell is helping to develop the training program for broader impact professionals and STEM researchers at all stages of their careers. She will travel throughout the United States to provide training and develop new resources. The National Science Foundation requires scientists to do outreach on the broader impact of their research, and funding is hard to get. The agency funds only a small percentage of proposals submitted, McDonnell noted. A major center goal is to help scientists enhance their communication and outreach skills and build on the intellectual merit of their research without burdening them, she said. “The public’s understanding of science and scientists’ ability to communicate their research and its impact vary dramatically,” she said. “Some scientists are really good at it and some are not. It’s all over the map. This project will train and encourage them to think more deeply about their research and how it can improve society.” The project will be redeveloping a tool she created with a previous National Science Foundation grant called the Broader Impact Wizard (coseenow.net/wizard), among other resources. “We have so many challenges – climate change, pollution, energy – that require STEM skills,” McDonnell said. “I recently toured an exhibit in a Pittsburgh museum marking the anniversary of the Apollo mission. It was a time in our nation when everyone was excited about science and technology. We are hoping for a renaissance of that kind of hope.” About Janice McDonnell: Janice McDonnell, Center for Advancing the Societal Impacts of Research coprincipal investigator and an associate professor in the School of Environmental and Biological Sciences at Rutgers University-New Brunswick. Article Credit: https://news.rutgers.edu Photo Credit: Nick Romanenko/Rutgers University

The G. Evelyn Hutchinson award honors a limnologist or oceanographer who has made considerable contributions to knowledge, and whose future work promises a continued legacy of scientific excellence. Dr. Oscar Schofield is the 2019 recipient of the G. Evelyn Hutchinson Award for transforming our understanding of the physical and chemical processes that govern marine phytoplankton physiology and ecology through the application of novel ocean observing tools, and for his skillful and enthusiastic leadership of the collaborative science necessary for addressing broad scale oceanographic challenges. Schofield is Distinguished Professor in the Department of Marine and Coastal Sciences at Rutgers University. The award will be presented at the ASLO Aquatic Sciences Meeting in San Juan, Puerto Rico in February 2019. Schofield is widely known in the oceanographic community as a champion of autonomous underwater vehicles such as buoyancy driven gliders, which allow for unprecedented sampling of aquatic systems. Schofield has successfully utilized the capability of these technologies to sample at a higher frequency, higher resolution, and at a greater scale to address questions of phytoplankton ecology and the effects of climate change on habitats from coastal New Jersey to the open North Atlantic to the Southern Ocean off Antarctica. In addition to his highly productive research career, Schofield has held key leadership roles in the community, chairing and serving on national and international steering committees for ocean observatories. He is regarded in the field as an enthusiastic and inspirational mentor, collaborator, and spokesperson for oceanography. The trans-Atlantic crossing of the RU Scarlett Knight glider, a key accomplishment of his career, was marked with fanfare on both sides of the Atlantic and is featured in the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History. Schofield’s research was also showcased in the documentary film, “Antarctic Edge: 70 South”. ASLO President Michael Pace said, “The Hutchinson Award emphasizes quality and innovation – two words easily applied to Schofield’s body of work. Through his contributions to methodologies and his leadership in the field, Schofield’s work will pave the way for many more discoveries. Schofield is richly deserving of this honor.” https://youtu.be/UsW0WV1Atu8 Article Credit: aslo.org

Dredging of the boat basin at the Rutgers University Marine Field Station in Tuckerton, NJ has been begun. At approximately 8:53 a.m. on Monday morning, December 3rd, 2018, the dredge operation began cutting into the mud that has prevented the University’s research vessels from berthing at their typical location at the end of Great Bay Boulevard. Last dredged in 2003, this area has experienced sedimentation rates exacerbated by storms such as Hurricane Sandy in 2012 that have prevented access to all but the smallest of vessels. The hydraulic dredge will remove approximately 10,500 cubic yards from an area approximately 2 acres in size, and dredge the basin to a depth of 8 feet below mean low water. Now that the recent dredging over the winter has allowed for dock access with 10ft depths, the R/V Arabella returned Monday May 20th to the RUMFS boat basin after being dry-docked for years due to inability to access docks due to siltation.

Dr. Hugh Roarty delivered a talk to the cadets of the United States Coast Guard Academy on Thursday November 29, 2018, on behalf of MARACOOS. His talk was entitled “The Use of Ocean Surface Currents for Coast Guard Search and Rescue” and was part of the Coast Guard Academy Science Lecture Series.

On behalf of MARACOOS, Dr. Hugh Roarty presents a plaque to Mr. Art Allen on the occasion of his retirement from the United States Coast Guard. Mr. Allen was recognized for his pioneering vision, decades of technological innovation and enduring commitment to partnerships within the global ocean observing community. His work with the Coast Guard Office of Search and Rescue (SAR) focused on determining the drift trajectory of common search objects and application of survival and hypothermic models in SAR planning. He served as liaison between the USCG and the oceanographic community to articulate USCG mission needs and determine which environmental data products were best for USCG search and rescue missions.

Assistant Professor Travis Miles is the 2018 Ocean News and Technology/Marine Technology Society Young Professional. This award which recognizes an MTS Member, 35 years old or younger, who has demonstrated leadership in MTS and work in a professional capacity in management, engineering or research and development in a marine technology field. Assistant Professor Miles was selected based on his work adapting autonomous underwater gliders for use in hurricane intensity research. The use of these systems has enabled new understanding of how our coastal oceans can intensify or weaken Hurricanes in the critical last hours before landfall. This work has lead to the enhancement of coastal ocean observing networks across the eastern US, Gulf of Mexico, and Caribbean Sea. In addition to research, Miles has contributed numerous papers and proceedings to the MTS journals, regularly supported student engagement, and developed a new MTS summer course on glider training with colleagues at Rutgers.