SERCDemocratizing Science

Democratizing Science

Democratizing Science in the Chesapeake Bay   Citizen science creates a participatory pathway for the public to engage in the scientific process and data collection. Through our conversations with the community, we’ve learned that the term “citizen science” can be exclusive and wanted to clarify the use of the term in this article. Citizenship, or the perception that a volunteer may or may...

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Research During COVID-19

Research in the Time of COVID-19   In the midst of great uncertainty brought on by the global COVID-19 pandemic, the Chesapeake Research Consortium’s (CRC) seven member institutions have shown resilience and adaptivity in conducting research, both in maintaining essential research but also in pursuing new and innovative research avenues. While we highlight how members of this consortium...

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COVID-19 Response and Resources

How member institutions are managing under the new COVID-19 restrictions   As states across the U.S. have issued social distancing orders to slow the spread of the COronaVIrus Disease 2019 (also known as COVID-19), universities and research centers have had to make major adjustments to their scientific operations. Like everybody else, this is also true for the member institutions that make...

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SERC Spring 2020 Updates

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 terminology. The lack of a...

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SAV in the Bay

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 SAV...

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Wetland Soil Microbes

Warming Temperatures May Be Better for Wetlands   The Global Change Research Wetland (GCREW), located at the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center (SERC), is home to several long-term experiments designed to predict the effects of sea-level rise and climate change on coastal wetland ecosystems. Genevieve Noyce, a coastal wetland biogeochemist and research scientist at SERC, works on the...

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