Global Impact of Microplastics Microplastics are any type of plastic fragment that is less than 5mm in length. These microscopic particles can be specifically fabricated for products like facial scrubs, or broken down from larger pieces of plastic debris. There has been growing concern from scientists and the public about the impact these microscopic fragments [...]
Dutton Institute Help Faculty Transtion to Online Learning Allen Kimel, associate teaching professor of materials science and engineering, successfully transitioned a course that requires group presentations to a dozen outside judges to Zoom with help from learning designers at Penn State. Credit: Penn State The Dutton Institute at Penn State had been working [...]
Study Predicts Heavier Rains for Five Eastern Shore Towns A new study conducted by researchers from the University of Maryland gives a detailed look into how climate change will influence extreme storm rainfall in Maryland’s Eastern Shore. Overall, their findings suggest that by the mid-21st century, a 100-year storm will bring heavier and more intense [...]
Old Dominion University Partners With Hampton Roads Community Foundation to Speed Severe Weather Recovery ODU researchers have received a five-year $500,000 grant from the Hampton Roads Community Foundation to help vulnerable communities quickly restore damaged homes following severe storms and flooding. The research team will begin by creating a Convergence, Inventory, Matching & Assignment (CIMA) [...]
Tracking COVID-19 Johns Hopkins University has been a global leader throughout the duration of the COVID-19 crisis. Not only has their plan for continuing research in these unprecedented times become the industry standard, but they have also created the go-to COVID-19 Dashboard. Launched in the early days of the crisis, Johns Hopkins’ dashboard has become [...]
A New Vocabulary for an Increasingly Polluted World SERC researcher, Linsey Haram, has spearheaded an effort to standardize the language used to discuss the increasingly widespread plastic pollution in our environment. The development of the use of plastics in our society has happened so rapidly that many related phenomena have managed to escape any agreed-upon [...]
Virginia Water Center Nationally Recognized for Water Issues The Virginia Water Resources Research Center, housed at Virginia Tech, was one of 12 institutes to be nationally recognized as “outstanding” by the U.S. Geological Survey. This designation was recently given after a panel of scientists reviewed the center’s progress between 2011 and 2015. In particular, the [...]
Chesapeake Bay Program Spring 2020 Update Chesapeake Bay Program releases 2018-19 Bay Barometer The 2018-19 Bay Barometer was released on March 25, with a decidedly different look and feel than in previous years. As only seven indicators had been updated in the past year (blue crab abundance, blue crab management, oysters, protected lands, public access, SAV and watershed [...]
NOAA Chesapeake Bay Office Spring 2020 Update Oyster Reef Ecosystem Services Project Leads Discuss Findings Primary investigators for projects that are part of the NOAA Chesapeake Bay Office's Oyster Reef Ecosystem Services Project met virtually in mid-April to talk through research findings. The group is also collaborating on sharing their research findings in a NOAA Fisheries [...]
Aerial SAV Surveys Support Collaborative Science, Management, and Restoration Submerged aquatic vegetation (SAV) is a vital component in the health of the Chesapeake Bay and worldwide coastal ecosystems. The SAV program, centered at the Virginia Institute of Marine Science (VIMS) is world-renowned for its monitoring and restoration projects. Robert “JJ” Orth, program director of the [...]
