Nov 2018Science Communication Position

Science Communication Position

Virginia Sea Grant (VASG) and the Alan Alda Center for Communicating Science are excited to announce a joint Postdoctoral Research Associate in Communicating Science position, with an emphasis on climate change and resilience in coastal communities. The Postdoctoral Associate will conduct research as well as design, test, and deliver training in the Virginia and mid‐Atlantic regions. Located in...

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Virginia Tech and STAC

Virginia Tech has a long history of supporting CRC’s Scientific and Technical Advisory Committee (STAC). Brian Benham serves as chair of STAC, and Kurt Stephenson was recently appointed to the Executive Board. In addition, several VT researchers also serve on STAC, including Tess Thompson, Gene Yagow (retired), and Zach Easton, who recently led the review of the Chesapeake Bay...

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Modeling Reef Restoration

Scientists across the Bay have long speculated that oysters improve water quality, leading managers to restore oyster reefs as a best management practice. Researchers Lisa Kellogg and Mark Brush at the Virginia Institute of Marine Science (VIMS) and Jeff Cornwell of the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science (UMCES) have developed a web-based, interactive computer model to help...

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Crab Migration Study

Researchers from University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science (UMCES)  joined researchers from Shedd Aquarium in Chicago and University of Florida to study crab population migrations across the east coast. Scientists have generally understood that crabs spawn in Virginia’s salty waters and then make their way north to Maryland. Since their movement is determined by weather,...

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Invasive Plants Can Boost Blue Carbon Storage

When invasive species enter the picture, things are rarely black and white. A new paper has revealed that some plant invaders could help fight climate change by making it easier for ecosystems to store “blue carbon”—the carbon stored in coastal environments like salt marshes, mangroves and seagrasses. But other invaders, most notably animals, can do the exact opposite. “We were aware of the...

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Catching Some Rays

Since 2014, a team of researchers at Smithsonian Environmental Research Center (SERC) has been tracking the migration of cownose rays. The rays are often spotted in the Chesapeake Bay in the summer, but until now nobody knew where the rays went for the winter. During a three-year tagging study published in August, Matt Ogburn and Charles Bangley tracked the rays all the way down the east coast...

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