NEWS & UPDATES | SPRING 2021

Autonomous aquaculture boat assembly at MIT Sea Grant with students in 2.017: Design of Electromechanical Robotic Systems

Right: Andrea Badillo (AeroAstro '21) Bottom left: Michelle Kornberg, MIT Sea Grant Research Education Assistant (Mechanical and Ocean Eng. '20) Photos: Dr. Andrew Bennett

Students work outside at MIT Sea Grant this spring, making progress on the autonomous boat for oyster aquaculture. Watch a video of test flips in the Ocean Engineering and Education Lab at the bottom of the newsletter!

Pre-proposals due May 14 for Northeast community-focused ocean energy research

The Northeast Sea Grant Consortium, the U.S. Department of Energy, and NOAA’s Northeast Fisheries Science Center partner to invest over $1M+ to support research for the co-existence of ocean energy with Northeast fishing and coastal communities. >> View the funding opportunity >> Read the announcements

>> Pre-proposals due May 14 by 5:00 pm ET through the MIT Sea Grant eSeaGrant portal

Announcing five MIT Sea Grant core funded research projects

MIT Sea Grant provides competitive funding opportunities through our annual core RFP for Massachusetts university-based research scientists who seek to address marine issues. >> Explore all core funded projects Congratulations to our FY2021 funded researchers from:

>> Ecosystem Characterization in the US North East Coast using Big Data and Machine Learning Lead PI: Themistoklis Sapsis, MIT >> Implementation of Large-Scale Pervasive Ocean Acidity Monitoring Using a Distributed System of Autonomous Mobile Robots Lead PI: Dick Yue, MIT  >> Low-Cost Underwater Robotic Tools for Automated Inspection and Monitoring of Offshore Aquaculture Farms Lead PI: Erin Fischell, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution  >> Multi-Sensor Reconstruction of pH and Temperature in Gulf of Maine Lead PI: Justin Ries, Northeastern University  >> Real-Time Ocean Environment and Aquaculture Structure Load/Motion Predictions through Physics-Informed Machine Learning Lead PI: Yuming Liu, MIT

Welcoming the 2021 Doherty Professor in Ocean Utilization

MIT Sea Grant welcomes MIT Associate Professor Serguei Saavedra as our 2021 Doherty Professor in Ocean Utilization for his proposal, Reverse Engineering to Maintain and Restore Marine Ecosystems. The Doherty Professorship provides a two-year stipend to young MIT faculty pursuing new ideas in ocean technologies. >> More about the Doherty Professorship

Serguei Saavedra Associate Professor, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering

Researchers from Maine Sea Grant, MIT Sea Grant, and Woods Hole Sea Grant shine a spotlight on the American lobster

How are American lobsters dealing with a changing environment? Researchers participating in the National Sea Grant American Lobster Initiative created an interactive StoryMap – A Fishery in a Sea of Change – exploring the latest science explaining how warming waters in the Gulf of Maine impact the species at all life stages. >> StoryMap: A Fishery in a Sea of Change

A developing lobster embryo (Photo: The Rivest Lab, Virginia Institute of Marine Science)

MIT Climate Portal: Coastal Ecosystems and Climate Change

MIT Sea Grant Coastal Ecologist Julie Simpson, MIT Civil and Environmental Engineering Professor Heidi Nepf, and MIT Environmental Solutions Initiative student Elizabeth Gribkoff created an Explainer on the MIT Climate Portal exploring Coastal Ecosystems and Climate Change. These unique habitats are formed by plants and organisms that can thrive at the borders between ocean and land, where they must live in saltwater and changing tides. Many of these areas are full of plants that help regulate the Earth’s temperature.

(Photo: MIT Climate Portal; Andreas Weilguny) >> Explore Coastal Ecosystems and Climate Change on the MIT Climate Portal

Over 3,000 pounds of chowder with sustainably-caught haddock served at MIT residence halls this spring

MIT Sea Grant teamed up with the Cape Cod Commercial Fishermen's Alliance (CCCFA) and MIT Dining to serve over 3000 pounds of chowder at 10 MIT residence halls this March and April. The chowder contains locally-caught haddock, supporting independent fishermen and sustainable ecosystems through the Small Boats, Big Taste program. >> More about the chowder at MIT

Fishermen with the CCCFA catching haddock (Photo: Doreen Leggett)

Learning from the Restoration of Wetlands on Cranberry Farmland

MIT Sea Grant, in partnership with multiple organizations, contributed research, education, and outreach opportunities in support of understanding the effects of coastal wetland restoration on climate impacts, fisheries, and ecosystem processes. The program, guided by the Living Observatory and Massachusetts Division of Ecological Restoration, led to the creation of the Cranberry Bog Restoration Program. >> Read the Living Observatory Learning Report >> View the Executive Summary

Cranberry bog cross-section (Graphic: Ravenmark)

Student spotlights

>> MIT Sea Grant announces the winner of the 2021 Dean A. Horn Award for Undergraduate Study in Marine Research  From lunar tower infrastructure to marine communication systems - Congratulations to Alex Miller (Electrical Engineering and Computer Science & Physics '21), for his work on a low cost acoustic modem for remote marine sensing.

>> Watch the autonomous boat test flip It's trial and error this week in the MIT Sea Grant Ocean Engineering and Education Lab! Herbert “Herbie” Turner (AeroAstro '22) and our Research Education Assistant Michelle Kornberg test the oyster bag-flipping boat developed with Course 2.017: Design of Electromechanical Robotic Systems. (Video: Dr. Andrew Bennett)

>> MIT News: Innovations in water accessibility Last fall, Flora Klise (MechE '21) worked as an MIT Sea Grant student researcher helping develop an autonomous robot for oyster farming. Flora has also followed her passion for increasing access to water and plans to pursue a path in water innovation. (Photo: John Freidah)

>> NOAA Office of Education: Career advice I didn’t take How one Knauss Marine Policy Fellow from Cape Cod learned to forgo traditional words of wisdom in favor of her own ‘sustainable’ career. (Photo: Brianna Shaughnessy) "There is no one-size-fits-all approach. Each of us needs to find our own personal 'triple bottom line' of sustainability."

Brianna Shaughnessy | 2020 Knauss Fellow sponsored by MIT Sea Grant NOAA Aquaculture Education Coordinator

Connect with MIT Sea Grant! Email: seagrantinfo@mit.edu Visit: seagrant.mit.edu

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