Rising Tides Newsletter - August 2021
Dear CMS colleagues and friends,

Welcome back! I hope you have enjoyed your summer.

There is no doubt we continue to live in challenging times: COVID, and the suite of profound physical, emotional, and practical tolls it continues to spread; a(nother) historically epic tropical storm season; a summer red tide and a massive fish kill in Tampa Bay and our Gulf beaches. The list goes on.

I humbly ask for your continued help in remaining as resilient as we can in the face of these and any new challenges that come our way.

As you’ll read below, not only have we survived amidst these challenges, we have thrived. Your productivity has been remarkable. To our faculty, staff, and students: thank you for all of your hard work. Let’s work together to stay safe, healthy, and productive. I appreciate you. I remain excited about, and committed to, our growth potential -- and look forward to reflecting back on this upcoming year as yet another remarkable one for our College.

To our broader CMS community of family and friends, near and far, stay safe and thank you for your continued support. I welcome hearing from any and all of you as we forge ahead. Let’s have a great year.

Go Bulls,

Tom
The latest projections of US high-tide flooding: rapid increases and extreme months
High-tide flooding events are projected to increase rapidly in the mid-2030s, according to a study published in Nature Climate Change that includes Gary Mitchum. 
OCG turns 30!
Billed as a model for STEM learning for young women, describing the OCG as a STEM program alone is like describing a Dali painting as “nice.” It falls short.
Alarming declines in the Gulf’s deepest dwellers
“Jellies are usually everywhere,” said Isabel Romero, “and yet this time I think we caught about five of the species we are studying.”
2021: another banner year for brown seaweed
CMS scientists led by Chuanmin Hu have used NASA satellite imagery to track Sargassum, a brown seaweed, for 20 years. This year has broken records.
Red tide: a doozie for Tampa Bay 
An unusual red tide made its way into the heart of Tampa Bay in late spring – something that hasn’t happened since 1971. CMS scientists were in the news, and serving on panels. 

Unraveling the mysteries of trace elements in the ocean
Trace elements, found in exceedingly low amounts in the ocean, are tricky to study. A special issue of Chemical Geology, edited by Tim Conway and highlighted by NSF, provides a big help in summarizing progress by the GEOTRACES program and beyond.
 
New DEI Standing Committee at CMS

We have taken an important step in the College to establish a standing committee of the Dean’s Advisory Council that will focus on issues related to diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI). The following individuals were appointed as inaugural members (alphabetized): Ana Arellano, Laura Azevedo, April Ellis, Ali Graham, Sarah Grasty, Matt Hommeyer, Frank Muller-Karger, Lisa Rose-Mann, and Brad Rosenheim. In addition, David Naar and Tim Trowbridge will serve as ex-officio members of the committee, and Isabel Romero is a member at large.
Leveling the playing field for grad students
First-year courses that address the “hidden curriculum” of graduate school are critical to student retention and success, according to a new publication in Nature Geoscience.


  • Congrats to the Byrne lab: 3 students set sail on 45-day cruise in June 2021.
  • Congrats to this summer’s CMS graduates: Alexandra Burns, Jing Chen, and Kara Vadman
  • Congrats to the following awardees:
  • The new 2021-2022 student fellowship winners: Olivia Blondheim (Presidential Fellow), Rosemary Burkhalter-Castro (Auzenne Fellow), and Dylan Halbeisen (GSS Fellow)
  • Ryan Venturelli (Sackett Prize for Innovative Research) and Katelyn Schockman (Renate E. Bernstein Outstanding Authorship Award)
  • And the previously announced award winners. All will be celebrated in this year’s ceremony, scheduled for the evening of November 4th. Stay tuned!
  • Congrats to Macarena Martin Mayor, whose story was featured on the Sigma Aldrich site.

  • Congrats to alum Dr. Dinorah Chacin, who landed a job with NOAA’s Habitat Conservation Division in St. Croix!
  • Congrats to recent grad Ryan Venturelli, whose pub was referenced on page 500 of the latest IPCC report. Impressive!
  • Congrats to alum and Sloan scholar Michael Martinez-Colon, now at FAMU, who landed a four-year project approved by the Swiss National Science Foundation. He was a student of Pam Hallock Muller. At FAMU, he has secured over $1M in funding (NSF, Dept of Energy, National Academies, Sloan Foundation, and others).
  • Congrats to alum Melanie McField, who won the ICRS Coral Reef Conservation Award.

If you’re an alum with news to share – big, small, and in-between! -- please reach out to fellow alum Kristen Kusek.
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