Rsmas news spring 2016 (final ver4)

RSMAS/news UNIVERSITY OF MIAMI

ROSENSTIEL SCHOOL of MARINE & ATMOSPHERIC SCIENCE ALUMNI ASSOCIATION

President’s Message

Spring edition May 2016 2016 Underwater Photography Winners

Greetings from Miami!

On behalf of the RSMAS Alumni Board, congratulations to all of the new alumni! I cannot wait to hear where you go next and hope to see you at one of our future events. Please let us know if we can assist you in any way.

In this issue of the RSMAS Alumni newsletter, you will learn about the newsworthy research being done by some of our highly regarded alumni - Dr. Rebecca Albright on her coral research and Dr. David Richardson and Dr. Molly Lutcavage on their work with Bluefin tuna. We will also fill you in on what events we have had since the last newsletter in both Miami and Washington, DC. Lastly, I’d like to direct your attention to page 6 where we congratulate Alumni Association board member, Rachel Silverstein, PhD ‘12, for recent awards recognizing her efforts to protect the South Florida environment.

I hope you find some time to come back to RSMAS and see all the new improvements to campus – the auditorium renovations are complete and the work on our beloved Wetlab and Commons has just begun. We will be sure to give you a full update once the renovations are complete!

Best Overall Beth Watson Mangroves and Orbicular Batfish (Platax orbicularis) Raja Ampat, Indonesia

Don’t forget to stay connected with RSMAS and fellow classmates by registering for UM Connection at https:// www.miamialumni. net/Default.aspx

Cheers, Peter Chaibongsai, B.A. ‘00, M.A. ‘07 President, RSMAS Alumni Board

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ROSENSTIEL SCHOOL of MARINE & ATMOSPHERIC SCIENCE ALUMNI ASSOCIATION

RSMAS Alumni Association’s Rescue a Reef Trip The RSMAS Alumni Association took a trip with RSMAS’ Rescue a Reef Coral Conservation team the Sunday morning after Homecoming weekend 2015 in November, but unfortunately, due to a bit of bad luck, the charter boat broke down halfway to the dive site! Therefore, the alumni group was unable to participate, but we are hoping to reschedule this trip sometime soon. Rescue a Reef is a citizen science program designed to support coral reef restoration at the University of Miami and provide hands-on educational experiences to participants. For the alumni that missed out: check out the Rescue a Reef website to learn more (www.rescueareef.com) or call (305) 421-4209 to talk to a member of the team. You do not have to be on an alumni-specific trip to participate – there are excursions several times a month – weather

Spring edition May 2016 If you know any RSMAS alum who has been in the news for their work recently, or if you have any exciting news to share with us?

Please email us at alumni@rsmas.miami. edu. We’d love to hear what our alumni are doing now and highlight your achievements!

permitting!

DC Canes Alumni Happy Hour On Thursday, March 10th, 2016, the RSMAS Alumni Board teamed up with the DC Canes Alumni Club to host a networking happy hour at 1831 Bar in the Dupont Circle area. 1831 Bar is a new establishment owned by two Canes alumni, so it was a very Miami event! RSMAS Alumni Board President, Peter Chaibongsai, was in town from Miami for the ICCAT meeting in Silver Spring, MD, and because NOAA is headquartered in Silver Spring, DC is one of RSMAS’ biggest alumni markets. The event had a great turnout of over 25 alums from the greater

Wide-angle 1st Place Michael Gallagher Tall-fin Batfish Juveniles (Plantax teira) Raja Ampat, Indonesia

DC area, and the group was lucky enough to be joined by Assistant Dean Cara Mathison, who was also in town from Miami. After the event, some people stayed at the bar to

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cheer on the Hurricanes men’s basketball team in the ACC

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tournament semi-finals, but unfortunately the Canes lost to UVA. Nonetheless, the event was a big success, and we

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look forward to our next DC get-together!

UMiamiRSMAS

RSMAS/news UNIVERSITY OF MIAMI

ROSENSTIEL SCHOOL of MARINE & ATMOSPHERIC SCIENCE ALUMNI ASSOCIATION

Spring edition May 2016

Rosenstiel School Career Panels Over the last 6 months the RSMAS Alumni Association in conjunction with UM Rosenstiel Advancement and the Rosenstiel School Master of Professional Science Program hosted two career panels for undergraduate and graduate students at the RSMAS campus. The main focus of the event was careers in marine science outside of academia. Many students are curious about opportunities they may have after graduation that do not involve pursuing another degree, research, or a postdoc. The alumni panel consisted of three of the top experts in their respective fields during each session. The first session consisted of: Pamela Sweeney, Manager of Miami-Dade County Department of Environmental Resource Management, Coastal and Wetlands Section Jennifer Jurado, Director of Broward County Environmental Planning and Community Resilience Division Sarah Ferguson-Brown, Director of Environmental Operation at Norwegian Cruise Lines

Macro 1st Place Lau Tsz On Bigmouth Triple Fins on Sea Pen (Helcogramma sp. on Virgularia sp.)

Tulamben, Bali

The second panel consisted of: Brendan Mackesey, Assistant County Attorney for Pinellas County Margarita Wells, Environment Resources Manager for the City of Miami Beach Melissa Perez, Project Manager for Royal Caribbean Panelists spoke to the large audience of undergraduate and graduate students about what their jobs entail, and the paths they took to get to where they are now. The big question of the night was what qualities panelists look for in a perspective hire or intern. Hard work, staying true to one’s self, and civic engagement were among the top things panelists cited in looking for someone to hire. All in all it was a very popular and successful event. The RSMAS Alumni Association looks forward to planning additional panels throughout the year.

Please consider supporting our efforts with a donation to the RSMAS Alumni Association today!

Learn more...

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ROSENSTIEL SCHOOL of MARINE & ATMOSPHERIC SCIENCE ALUMNI ASSOCIATION

Alumni Spotlight: Rebecca Albright Rebecca Albright (Ph.D. ’11, MBF) has recently published a study in the prestigious journal Nature that sent corals “back in time” to pre-industrial water chemistry levels. Since the industrial revolution in the late 1800s, the oceans have been absorbing carbon dioxide from the burning of fossil fuels. The uptake of carbon dioxide in the ocean is causing a phenomenon called ocean acidification whereby increased carbon dioxide reacting with sea water yields an increase in hydrogen ions creating more acidic waters. Ocean acidification is known to have adverse growth impacts on marine life like shellfish and corals that build shells or skeletons out of calcium carbonate.

Spring edition May 2016

Don’t forget to stay connected with RSMAS and fellow classmates by registering for UM Connection at https://www. miamialumni.net/ Default.aspx

In her new study, RSMAS alumna Dr. Albright showed that by changing the chemistry of seawater in an enclosed tidal lagoon back to pre-industrial conditions, she and her colleagues could encourage corals to grow better. For 3 weeks, the team of scientists pumped water with a pink dye over a section of the Great Barrier Reef that was separated from the rest of the ocean at low tide – creating a small natural laboratory. For 15 days, they added an alkaline, or more basic/less acidic, solution to mimic pre-industrial waters. When the water was less acidic, the corals grew better than under normal, present day conditions, showing that ocean acidification is contributing to the slowed coral growth scientists have been observing for the last few decades.

Unfortunately, this isn’t a quick fix on an ocean-wide scale because the world doesn’t have the resources to add alkaline material to degraded reefs. This work highlights that the only real, lasting way to protect coral reefs of the future is to reduce our global carbon dioxide emissions.

Rebecca Albright earned her Ph.D. under the direction of Dr. Chris Langdon and just took a position at the California Academy of Sciences.

Fish or Marine Animal Portrait 1st Place Richard Flunk Spiny devilfish (Inimicus didactylus) Lembeh Strait, Indonesia

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ROSENSTIEL SCHOOL of MARINE & ATMOSPHERIC SCIENCE ALUMNI ASSOCIATION

Evidence for New Bluefin Tuna Spawing Grounds RSMAS Alums Dr. David Richardson and Dr. Molly Lutcavage and their colleagues, scientists for NOAA’s National Marine Fisheries Service (NOAA Fisheries) and the Large Pelagics Research Center, respectively, found evidence of Atlantic Bluefin tuna spawning activity off the northeastern United States.

The findings, published March 7 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, suggest that the current life-history model for western Atlantic Bluefin, overestimates age-at-maturity. This new region, an area south of New England and east of the Mid-Atlantic states called the Slope Sea, the authors conclude that western Atlantic Bluefin may be less vulnerable to fishing and other stressors than previously thought.

This research may help to resolve a longstanding debate in Atlantic Bluefin tuna how old Bluefin tuna start spawning and that they only spawn the Gulf of Mexico and Mediterranean Sea. Dr. Lutcavage, one of the co-authors, believed that fish that did not visit the Gulf of Mexico and Mediterranean Sea were spawning elsewhere. The research team used electronic tagging data from the Lutcavage lab to present an alternate model of western Atlantic Bluefin tuna spawning migrations.

Spring edition May 2016 Upcoming Events: Heading to ICRS during the week of June 20th?

Be on the lookout for a RSMAS Alumni Social to be announced soon!

Homecoming Nov. 3-6 Nov. 4th - Homecoming Happy Hour at Wetlab Nov. 6th - Resuce a Reef trip. Contact Dalton for more information

Their studies showed that the largest Bluefin tuna, 500+ pounds, migrate to the Gulf of Mexico spawning area.

After these fish exit the Gulf of Mexico, they swim through the Slope Sea rapidly, on their way to northern feeding grounds. On the other hand, smaller fish, ranging in size from 80 to 500 pounds, generally spend more than 20 days in the Slope Sea during the spawning season, duration consistent with spawning.

Researchers also found that individual tuna do not exhibit site fidelity to a spawning site. Reproductive mixing between the eastern and western stocks may occur in the Slope Sea and Dr. Richardson explained how this adds to the already complex nature of Bluefin tuna stock structure.

The authors expect these findings could potentially lead to a lower estimated age-at-maturity, a critical component of the stock assessment, and could reopen consideration of the nature and level of mixing between the western and eastern Atlantic populations.

Click here to learn more about the study.

Student 3rd Place Christopher Schenker Shallow Coral Egyptian Red Sea

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ROSENSTIEL SCHOOL of MARINE & ATMOSPHERIC SCIENCE ALUMNI ASSOCIATION

Spring edition May 2016

UM Alumna Receives Abess Center’s Environmental Stewardship Award Congratulations to current board member and Miami Waterkeeper, Rachel Silverstein, for the recent recognition of her conservation efforts in South Florida. She was named one of the “Best Environmentalists in South Florida” by The New Times of Palm Beach/Broward Counties for her work dedicated to protecting Biscayne Bay, its watershed, and its wildlife. She was also awarded the Reitmeister-Abess Center Environmental Stewardship Award by the University of Miami for her work on and shedding light on how the dredging in the Port of Miami and now Port Everglades damages fragile seagrass and coral ecosystems that are critically important to the local communities.

Best Student Entry David Goldstein Caribbean Reef Squid (Sepioteuthis sepioidea) Providenciales, Turks and Caicos

Homecoming Alumni Happy Hour As is our annual tradition, the Alumni Association hosted a happy hour and networking event at the Wetlab during 2015 homecoming weekend. We had a great crowd of alum from both near and far. The Association had the opportunity to provide those in attendance a vision of our current and future fundraising projects, which include both our ongoing fellowship program and improving the RSMAS campus by providing access to the beach directly from the wetlab deck. If you are interested in supporting either of these projects, you can donate online or call the business office at 305-421-4002.

Save the Date for the 2016 Alumni Weekend Happy Hour, November 4th

Macro 2nd Place Richard Fluck Ornate Ghost Pipefish (Solenostomus paradoxus) Lembeh Strait, Indonesia

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ROSENSTIEL SCHOOL of MARINE & ATMOSPHERIC SCIENCE ALUMNI ASSOCIATION

Spring edition May 2016

Congratulations to Our Spring Graduates!

M.S. Alohi Leimakani Nakachi

M.P.S. Stephen Thomas Cain Kelly Jean Cox Ayssa Marie Dipietro Caitlin Anne Langwiser Jerry Gerald Lin Joshua Ryan Nash Tracy Nolan Emily C Northrop Charlotte A Pechtl Edward Harold Pritchard Ashley E Siana Matthew James St Clair Kandice Margaret Starr Kristen Key Szpak Chad Nicolas Teal Ian Robert Tomcho Emilia Allison Wakamatsu Bethany Mae Wallace Jing Zhang

Ph.D. Matthew Robert Archer Francesca Cassell Forrestal Matthew Kenneth Gough Johnna Maria Infanti Sarah Michelle Larson Dominique Marie Lazarre Yang Liu Sean Timothy Murray Jan Henrik Norbisrath Matthew John Onderlinde Patrick Forde Rynne Nathan R Vaughan Peng Wang

Wide-angle 2nd Place Miguel Pereira Dusky Grouper (Epinephelus marginatus) Madeira Island, Portugal

Student 2nd Place Ana Palacio Giant Hawkfish (Cirrhitus rivulatus) Gorgona Island, Colombia

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ROSENSTIEL SCHOOL of MARINE & ATMOSPHERIC SCIENCE ALUMNI ASSOCIATION

Spring edition May 2016

Meet your RSMAS Alumni Association Board of Directors: Peter Chaibongsai, B.A. ‘00, M.A. ‘07 - President Erica Towle, B.S. ‘10, PhD ‘15 - Immediate Past President Lauren Ordway, B.A. ‘08, M.A. ‘09 - Vice President Brendan Mackesey, B.B.A. ‘07, J.D. ‘12, M.P.S. ‘13 - Secretary Lainey Grossman, B.A. ‘07, M.A. ‘11 - Treasurer Andrew Baker, Ph.D. ‘99 Laura Bracken, M.A. ‘ 07 Fernando Bretos, M.A. ‘06 Dan DiNicola, M.S. ‘14 Rachel Silverstein, Ph.D. ‘12 Sandra St. Hilaire, B.A. ‘ 08, M.A. ‘11 Elizabeth Wheaton, B.A. ‘05, M.A. ‘07

Fish or Marine Animal Portrait 2nd Place Maurizio Pasi Mauve Stinger (Plagia noctiluca)

Capo Noli, Savona, Italy

Upcoming Events: Heading to ICRS during the week of June 20th? Be on the lookout for a RSMAS Alumni Social to be announced soon!

Homecoming Nov. 3-6

If you would like to contact the board with suggestions, personal updates/accomplishments, or questions, please email alumni@ rsmas.miami.edu.

Header Photo Macro 3rd Place Judy Townsend Jellyfish (hydromedusa) West Palm Beach, Florida

Header Photo Fish or Marine Animal Portrait 3rd Place Beth Watson Frogfish (Antennariidae) Puerto Galera, Philippines

Nov. 4th - Homecoming Happy Hour at Wetlab Nov. 6th - Resuce a Reef trip. Contact Dalton for more information

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