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The Island View
Monthly Newsletter
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Dear SML Community,
It is twig season in Southern Maine – the leaves have fallen and the temperatures are wildly vacillating from 75 to 25 degrees Fahrenheit in a single day. This is the season when we New Englanders have both windbreakers and down jackets hanging on the coatrack. I love the stark darkness of this time of year when we transition from summer and enter a more reflective time, and when we ponder and cultivate what we will become in the spring.
I deeply appreciate working for an organization that follows the seasons as we are reflecting on all that we grew last summer and all that we will become the next. Of course, this is an especially important time to reflect as COVID, political change, and social justice movements offer countless opportunities for growth. We especially appreciate having you by our side as we continue to learn how we can best serve our students, community, and natural world. Our success in this moment relies on a beautiful combination of your support and our ability to run with it. I can say with confidence that over the past year the Shoals team has proven their ability to adapt. With your support, we will advance towards a more inclusive, prepared, and stronger SML.
For over 50 years, the island has been a platform that offers transformative educational and research opportunities to young scientists who will become the next generation of environmental ambassadors. Regardless of if we are operating on the island, virtually, or a hybrid of the two, we can continue to make this happen together. Please consider supporting SML this year to ensure that science, the oceans, and our students are given the foundation they need to flourish in 2021 and beyond. We are grateful to have you in our community, and we wish you and your family peace and wellbeing this Thanksgiving season.
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Jennifer Seavey, Ph.D.
Kingsbury Executive Director
Shoals Marine Laboratory
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Your support can change a student's life! |
“I was truly impressed by Dr. Moore’s ability to engage the class during the live streams as if we were alongside him on Appledore. Reading about these habitats is fascinating, but seeing them up close and interacting with the teaching assistants who were live in the field was something I never imagined achieving through an online course.” |
– Steven, Cornell University '22 |
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For the first time in history, SML's island campus laid silent this summer as our country and world braced for the unknown. When COVID-19 induced a national shutdown of in-person learning in March, students globally worried about their educational careers.
Like many field stations around the country, SML exhausted every resource to determine how we could serve our students and community while keeping public health as our top priority. Through the support of our dedicated community, faculty, and staff, we shifted our programs online, employed new technology, and proved that together, we can accomplish our goals and deliver on our mission. Between six courses, we were able to bring Appledore Island to over 100 students!
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Dr. Gregg Moore conducting a livestream |
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Read Steven's story and learn about how you can change a student's life today. Our success this summer would not have been possible without the generous support of our community members. As we plan for the future, we hope you will consider making a gift towards the SML Annual Fund.
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#BlackinMarineScienceWeek: November 29 - December 5 |
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#BlackinMarineScienceWeek is just around the corner! This online event was organized to connect and engage Black marine scientists and allies around the world. Each day will feature new opportunities to join conversations on topics ranging from careers and ongoing research in marine science, to Black and LGBTQIA+ contributions to the field of STEM. Whether you're a student, faculty member, researcher, or member of the general public, we encourage you to check out the schedule for ways to get involved. We hope to see you there!
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Join us TODAY for the Waterbird Society Diversity Panel! |
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As our world works to address systemic racism in STEM, academia, and beyond, we encourage our community to join important conversations surrounding diversity, equity, and inclusion. Members of the SML staff are actively involved in the Waterbird Society (WBS) Diversity Committee and helped to organize a diversity panel that will take place today, November 19th from 1:00 PM - 4:00 PM ET!
This virtual panel hosted by WBS will highlight the experiences of BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and People of Color) scientists and start a dialogue to improve our collective understanding of the barriers to participation and success that exist within our society and waterbird biology more generally.
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Shoals faculty publish a paper highlighting an SML course! |
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Investigative Marine Biology Lab (IMBL) is one of SML’s hallmark courses. It takes advantage of the island’s unique marine environment and challenges students to engage in the scientific method – the process of asking questions, developing hypotheses, experimentation, analyzing data, and drawing inferences.
Dr. Doug Fudge (Chapman University) has led students through this process on Appledore for more than ten years as faculty of IMBL. In recent years, Dr. Andy Turko (McMaster University) has joined Doug on Appledore and brings his considerable strength in statistics to help hone students’ skills in data analysis. Although we could not host this course in 2020, Doug and Andy recently published an essay in the Journal of Experimental Biology that draws heavily from their experiences teaching students in IMBL about the scientific method, particularly how one gets from generating a hypothesis to conducting the appropriate experiment.
"The paper Andy and I wrote was a direct result of the science conducted with IMBL students. In 1991, I took Denny Taylor’s class at SML, Adaptations of Marine Organisms. This was the first course I had taken that allowed me to engage with the process of science and not just the products. I came back to TA this course with Denny and eventually co-taught it with him for many years. This course evolved into IMBL, and teaching students how to do science became its singular focus. The insights that appear in this paper arose from countless sessions at the chalkboard with IMBL students as we struggled to design and execute the best possible experiments. I should also point out the example provided in the paper - rafting behavior of intertidal springtails - is based on an observation an IMBL student made that quickly became an obsession for the entire class. Andy and I like to think we have taught our students a thing or two about how science works, but it is also clear that working with SML students over the years has transformed how both of us think about and do science." - Dr. Doug Fudge
Doug, Andy, and others that have supported the IMBL course over the years have been instrumental in providing hands-on, active learning opportunities for students and providing the kind of mentorship that helps foster lifelong learning and a passion for all things marine. We are fortunate to have them as part of the SML community!
To read the full scientific article published by Dr. Doug Fudge and Dr. Andy Turko, please contact SML Communications Coordinator, Collin Love.
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FYI: CARES Act changes deducting charitable contributions |
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The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act makes a new charitable deduction available to individual taxpayers who do not itemize their deductions. This new benefit, also referred to as a universal deduction, allows for a charitable deduction of up to $300 per individual. As an above-the-line contribution, this is deducted from the individual taxpayer’s income prior to the calculation of their adjusted gross income. This charitable giving benefit will extend beyond the 2020 tax year. We hope this information is helpful to you as you navigate your charitable giving tax deductions for 2020!
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Shoals Marine Laboratory is a joint partnership between
Cornell University and the University of New Hampshire.
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