Coastal & Marine Conservation

Jessica Davenport's opinion article in the San Francisco Estuary News highlights the importance of equitable access to nature and community engagement in conservation in the Bay Area.

The moment she saw her first iceberg, marine scientist and Switzer Fellow Cassandra Brooks felt a visceral compulsion to protect Antarctica. She helped create the Ross Sea MPA in 2016, and continues to contribute mightily to preserve Antarctica’s icy beauty. Cassandra was recognized as one of five women leaders in Only One's Women Making Waves Series.

How is the earth changing? NASA earth scientist Kimberley Miner uses observational science to study #climatechange​! #MissionUnstoppableTV​

The Biden administration appointed a new political team to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) that will help guide policies on the oceans and atmosphere. Dr. Karen Hyun, who earned a PhD in Marine Affairs from URI, will serve as chief of staff. Hyun was previously vice president for coastal conservation at the National Audubon Society and worked as a senior policy adviser at NOAA in the Obama administration.

Antarctica has been a beacon of international diplomacy, scientific and peaceful cooperation for 60 years. History will judge us harshly if we fail to protect the world’s last large and unique wilderness, writes Cassandra Brooks and participants in the Homeward Bound Project on which she served as a faculty member.

Anna Robuck is doctoral student working with Rainer Lohmann, Ph.D., at the University of Rhode Island SRP Center. For her externship, Robuck will travel to Research Triangle Park, North Carolina to work with Mark Strynar, Ph.D., and James McCord, Ph.D., at the U.S. EPA's Office of Research and Development.

While PCR-based diagnostic tests have been used in medicine for decades, they have never been used as they being used now, for broad screening of the general public, with a single positive result accepted as proof of infection without regard to clinical signs or symptoms or epidemiological exposure. Andrew Cohen had the opportunity in the environmental setting—unlike anyone in the medical profession—to observe the disaster that unfolds when these tests are used in this way. His research is now informing medicine, as many scientists who usually have nothing to do with viruses or infectious disease are turning their attention to COVID-19.