photo: Greg Guron, student 2026

Monthly Newsletter

October 2026

This newsletter includes the following topics:

• Director's Note
• Return of the R/V Heiser
• Flooring Project
• Annual Fall Visit to Cornell
• Robert DuGrenier's TedX Talk
• A Special Moment for the Borror Award
• News from the AFA

Greetings Shoalers!

Fall has officially come to New England. Over a two week period I made several Shoals-related trips and had the opportunity to enjoy the fall colors. I had a beautiful drive to visit with Louise Kingsbury for her birthday at close to peak colors. My trip to see Art Borror and Betsy Cadbury was in the fall mist. Not only did I get to see their beautiful property, but they also shared some of Betsy’s homemade applesauce. The trip to Ithaca revealed how the colors of autumn change with proximity to the coast, elevation, and plant community. I have always had a soft spot for the bright reds of the maples and the brilliant yellows of aspen and birch, and the trees in transition that glow orange and yellow. 

Although life is never slow at Shoals, the pace feels a bit more manageable for (most of) the team in the fall. We have opportunities to do things that would be harder in the summer. During our trip to Ithaca, not only did we host our annual recruitment and alumni event on campus, we also met with many of our collaborators, planted the seeds for folks to visit the island next summer, visited with friends, and ate sushi with Eugene Won. We also had a wonderful curry meal at Eugene’s brother’s home—Henry has been helping during volunteer weekends on the island and Amy, his wife, was one of our Artists-in-Residence this summer. Jim Morin hosted me for a talk about SML at Kendal at Ithaca, and I was thrilled to see many friendly faces in that audience. In New Hampshire, the Shoals Alumni and Friends Association (AFA) on-shore gathering was a great opportunity to talk about the 2026 season and the beginning plans for 2027. 

While I miss being on the island, I love the colors of fall (and the temperatures). I hope you all are enjoying the joys of this season,

The Return of the R/V Heiser

Living on an island that is six miles from the mainland, the Shoals team routinely has to address unanticipated challenges. This summer, one of the biggest was the absence of the R/V John B. Heiser. For those who didn't hear, the Heiser had some power issues during a preseason trip to the island that were the result of a cracked block. This required the replacement of her engine. Despite extensive work by the SML team, particularly Zach Charewicz, it took the entire summer to get a new engine procured, installed, tested, and approved by the Coast Guard. She literally arrived back to the island just after our fall volunteers during the last weekend in August (you can see her arriving while the volunteers are passing luggage up the fire line in the last photo below). Those who have been aboard have shared that she is running smoothly and a bit faster than before. We are excited that she is back and looking forward to having her available for regular trips to the pier, some of our day trips and tours, and excursions deploying and retrieving hagfish traps next summer.

above photos: Zach Charewicz

photo: Sara Morris

Flooring in Kiggins Commons

Have you ever swept the Commons floor? Have you ever mopped the Commons floor? Have you rearranged furniture in the Commons? If you answered yes to any of these questions, you may be interested in a major project the engineering team has been doing since "close-up." Without the additional people on the island, they have been working to install a new floor. Using watertight luxury vinyl plank flooring, they have been providing a very durable floor that can withstand all of the cleaning, all of the water from mopping and during storms, and thousands of people moving chairs and tables. We are all looking forward to seeing the results of the team's work this spring when the island reopens. 

photo: Zach Charewicz

Annual Fall Visit to Cornell

Each fall, the academic team at Shoals spends a week at Cornell. We meet with the folks at the School of Continuing Education to discuss our prior season, understand any software changes occurring at Cornell that might impact Shoals' student experience, and plan for enrolling and offering scholarships to our next season's students. We meet with advisors, some faculty, and other key people in majors and minors that might utilize Shoals' courses in their curriculum. We connect with our CALS (College of Agriculture and Life Sciences) partners to debrief on the challenges and successes of the previous season and the planning for the next season. The highlight of the week is the Shoals' open house that provides an opportunity to reconnect with the students we have gotten to know, recruit new students to the Lab, encourage student alums to come back in the future for additional classes or as staff, and field questions about the research internships. This year, the team brought tuna from the seacoast to contribute to a dinner that Eugene and his wife, Andrea, hosted.  

Robert Du Grenier TedX Talk

Have you met Robert DeGrunier? He is an accomplished glass artist who has been an Artist-in-Residence at Shoals several times at the lab, sharing his craft with Shoals' students (and faculty and staff). Each year he makes glass shells for hermit crabs, providing an opportunity for students to see hermit crabs inside their shells. This year, he also developed a Glass Art Workshop as an overnight public program. During that program he gave a presentation about his lifetime of working with fire, a talk he prepared for TEDxWoodstock. His talk is a fascinating account of A Journey with Flame.

glass shell photo: Robert DuGrenier.

group photo: Glass Workshop participants and instructors, 2026. Robert DuGrenier is third from left. Photo contributed by unknown member of SML community

A Special Moment for the Borror Award

In 2025, SML initiated a new award for a UNH student exemplifying the Shoals spirit of learning and discovery. Aimee Bousquet (SML student, SURG research intern, and UNH class of 2027) was the inaugural recipient of the Arthur C. Borror Award for Excellence in Natural History at SML. At the AFA onshore gathering, she had the pleasure of meeting Dr. Borror for the first time. Pictured are: Betsy Cadbury (Art’s wife), Aimee Bousquet, and Art Borror, Professor Emeritus of Zoology at UNH, who was the longstanding Associate Director of the Shoals Marine Laboratory.

News from the AFA

We were so happy to see approximately 25 alumni, friends, staff, and faculty at our first On-Shore Gathering on Saturday, September 26, 2026. The weather (a Nor’Easter) cooperated with producing rain only as we were wrapping up at the end of the day!

In the morning, Ron Sher (SML alum, and Portsmouth native) did an amazing historic walking tour of Portsmouth. Then Mikayla Tilden (Volunteer and Outreach Coordinator at the Portsmouth Athenaeum) gave a fascinating tour of the Athenaeum, and arranged for a display of interesting Appledore/Celia Thaxter/Appledore House artifacts. This included the “Smuttynose Ax “ – yes, THAT ax (which is usually on display in their cabinet of curiosities in the Athenaeum). 

Thanks to SML Executive Director Sara Morris for giving a brief overview of SML's very successful 2026 season, and thanks to her and Amy Fish (Director, Community Relations) for bringing SML swag for us to buy. 

Finally, THANK YOU to the On-Shore Gathering Committee for their work on planning the event: Jim Warren (Chair), Ron Sher, Kate Siler, Carol Steingart, and Mark Wiley (See photo below: Jackie Webb, Carol Steingart, Ron Sher, and Kate Siler). Specifically..... 

-- Jim Warren (Committee Chair, AFA Secretary) did a lot of the legwork to choose a venue and then communicate with the Hammer about the menu and event logistics. Unfortunately, he could not join us, so Jackie Webb stepped in to make the final arrangements for the event.

-- Ron Sher (SML Alum) checked out the venue in person many weeks ago and gave it his thumbs up. In addition to leading an amazing walking tour earlier in the day, he brought brown sugar chocolate chip cookies baked by his daughter, Dana, who has been an SML fan from a young age and is a proud SML alum and UNH grad ’22, for dessert at the Hammer.

-- Kate Siler (member of AFA Council) contributed macaroons and strawberries for dessert at the Hammer.

photos: Jackie Webb

Shoals Marine Laboratory is jointly operated by the

University of New Hampshire and Cornell University.

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