NEW | Massachusetts Sea Grant Graduate Research Fellowship
|
|
MIT Sea Grant and Woods Hole Sea Grant have announced a Massachusetts Sea Grant Graduate Research Fellowship, which anticipates supporting two students applying to Massachusetts programs and engaging in coastal or marine research.
Application deadline: October 1, 2021
Fellowship period:
September 1, 2022 – August 31, 2024
Informational Webinar:
September 9, 2021 at 12pm Eastern
|
|
|
NOAA and Sea Grant are pleased to announce 74 finalists for the 2022 Knauss Marine Policy Fellowship Program. The finalists will be placed in federal offices in Washington, D.C. for one-year fellowships.
Sponsored by MIT Sea Grant, Hannah Baranes is studying coastal dynamics for a geosciences PhD at UMass Amherst, and Sheron Luk is a PhD candidate bridging economics and environmental science with the MIT-WHOI Joint Program.
|
|
|
“I look forward to applying my expertise in coastal hazards
toward reducing harm to communities disproportionately
impacted by climate change.”
- Hannah Baranes | 2022 Knauss Fellow sponsored by MIT Sea Grant
|
|
MassBays Science Walk in Boston and Brewster |
|
MassBays worked with partners across Massachusetts to create an outdoor Science Walk, where visitors to the Bays can learn about the research, restoration and monitoring activities underway. The posters – including a river herring migration poster by MIT Sea Grant Assistant Director for Advisory Services Dr. Robert Vincent – were on display through July at Martin's Park in Boston.
The Science Walk will also be on display August 13 – September 10 at the Cape Cod Museum of Natural History in Brewster, Massachusetts.
|
|
|
Summer 2021 MIT Sea Grant UROP Projects |
|
Autonomous Surface Vehicle
Climate Adaptation in Chelsea, MA
-
Nadine Eichenlaub (Urban Studies)
Image Processing NASA Satellite Data of Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary
-
Chloe Langley (EECS)
-
Emma Rutherford (MechE)
-
Jake Chuharski (Mathematics)
Implementing Model Predictive Control for AUVs with Deformable Fins
-
Suparnamaaya Prasad (EECS)
Lobster Lore
-
Marina Santos (Wellesley College)
Did prisoners in colonial Massachusetts really riot over too much lobster? Learn about the history and folklore of lobster in this StoryMap (Marina Santos, Wellesley).
|
|
Ocean Acidification and Mollusks of New England
Oystamaran Project
-
Arianna Ilvonen (MechE)
-
James Xiu (EECS)
S3D Power Corridor Component
Design
Smart Ship System Design
-
Ashley Margetts (MechE)
-
David Hernandez (MechE)
|
|
A Clearer Understanding of Ocean Acidification in the Northeast |
|
Challenging conditions for species like lobsters and scallops loom by mid-century. MIT Sea Grant Research Scientist Dr. Carolina Bastidas contributed to a report with a team from across New England and the Canadian Maritime Provinces, providing up-to-date information on the Gulf of Maine and actionable solutions towards resiliency.
|
|
|
Meet Zippy, the Coastal Monitoring Robot |
|
A student team working with MIT Sea Grant Education Administrator Dr. Andrew Bennett is developing a robot to enable data collection in challenging conditions, especially nor’easters and storms. |
|
Zippy, equipped with a suite of sensors to measure data like depth, turbidity, and salinity, attaches to a cable anchored with one end on shore and the other end submerged offshore. |
|
Zippy deployed for the first time this August in Mattapoisett, MA and is currently completing an extended test – over 24 hours – at the Scallop Bay Marina in Bourne. |
|
The Oystamaran, also known as the autonomous aquaculture robot Flippy, has been testing cage flips at Ward Aquafarms this summer with the student team, including UROP students Arianna Ilvonen (MechE) and James Xiu (EECS).
Updates for the next design iteration:
- new hulls
- an improved vision system for autonomous maneuvering
- remote access to monitor or control the robot from anywhere
|
|
|
Blue Carbon Work with Beneath the Waves |
|
MIT Sea Grant Coastal Ecologist Dr. Juliet Simpson has been working with Beneath the Waves, a nonprofit interested in adding blue carbon assessment to their approach to protecting ocean habitats. Simpson is sharing field methods for measuring carbon sequestration in eelgrass meadows, and assisting with processing cores.
|
|
Last week, the Beneath the Waves team took samples with Simpson from a meadow off Saquish Head in Plymouth, MA. |
|
Nantucket Water Quality Public Interface |
|
The goal is to facilitate easy access to local water quality and encourage engagement in protecting harbors and ponds.
|
|
On June 2, MIT Sea Grant Web Developer Ben Bray talked with Andrew Cromartie at ACK97 FM about the WQAV system, its collaborative development, and plans for future development.
Listen On:
|
|
Connecting Students with the Charles River Floating Wetland |
|
MIT Sea Grant worked with UROP student Andrea Lo (Biology '21) and the Charles River Conservancy to develop a science kit and curriculum to teach students about the Charles River Floating Wetland and connect them with local ecology during at-home learning.
With funding support from the MIT Community Service Fund, the kits allowed students to build their own living wetland models, complete with planktonic daphnia and plants, and a paint-with-algae activity.
|
The Floating Wetland kits have been piloted in two Cambridge classes:
-
Morse School, Cambridge Public Schools (Grade 3, May - June 2021)
|
|
|
Charles River Depth Chart at Harold W. Pierce Boat House at MIT |
|
During renovations at the Harold W. Pierce Boat House at MIT, a new wall map of the Charles River has been installed.
The bathymetric depth map was created through a partnership between MIT Sea Grant and the Charles River Alliance of Boaters (CRAB). AUV Lab Research Engineer Michael Sacarny and UROP student Madonna Yoder used fish-finder sonar and sidescan sonar to chart the Charles, and Web Developer Ben Bray worked on the mapping.
|
|
The installation was made possible by Peterson Architects / Jeff Peterson and
DS Parker Design, Inc. / Debra Parker.
|
|
Knauss Fellow sponsored by MIT Sea Grant |
|
“This year I'm learning from the brightest minds how science
and people actually fit in and inform the policy and
decision-making process, and how I can [help] my
communities with coastal resiliency.”
- Lucila Houttujin Bloemendaal | 2021 Knauss Fellow
NOMEC Executive Secretary, NOAA NOS Office of Coast Survey
|
|
Summer Snapshot from Olin College
MIT Sea Grant-funded researcher Jeff Dusek (Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering at Olin College) and his team of summer researchers are working to develop sensing technologies for offshore aquaculture applications.
The team visited a fish farm in the Gulf of Maine, where they learned first-hand about offshore aquaculture operations.
|
|
|
Connect with @MITSea Grant
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
