News

RACC Post Doc Yayaong Xu has accepted a tenured faculty position with the Chinese National Academy of Sciences in Xiamen, China. The position is under the Hundred Talents Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences at the Institute of the Urban Environment. This prestigious position will provide Yaoyang with startup, his own laboratory (tentatively titled the Urban Aquatic Sciences and Watershed Ecology Laboratory) and 3 fully funded research associates to continue his water quality research in China.

RACC PhD Student Peter Isles was awarded a GLEON travel grant, which will fully fund his travel and accommodations for participation in GLEON’s annual meeting in Chuncheon, South Korea.

Montpelier, VT - On August 5, CCV student Tiffany Martin was one of seven Vermont college students to receive an EPSCoR Native American and First Generation College Student Scholarship for Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) at the Vermont State House in Montpelier.

On August 11th, eighteen NEWRnet interns returned to Vermont for the NEWRnet Undergraduate Research Symposium. NEWRnet interns spent the past 10 weeks studying topics related to water quality and agent based modeling in three EPSCoR states: Delaware, Vermont, and Rhode Island. Interns presented their summer research in two formats: the 2-minute talk served as an introduction to their research, and the research poster allowed for more time to learn about individual projects, methods, and findings.

Department of Environmental Conservation and UVM's Lake Champlain Sea Grant ...
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Kari Dolan, manager of DEC's Ecosystem Restoration Program, adds “We are truly excited about this collaboration. The Shumlin Administration has been promoting clean water innovations for some time now because they can make a difference.

Elliot Lopez, together with students Kristopher Santa and Keisha Mestey from the Juan Ponce de Leon High School of Florida, Puerto Rico, and Glenda Lee Almodóvar, together with students Grecia C. Izquierdo Torres and José G. Izquierdo Torres from Áurea E. Quiles Claudio High School of Guánica, Puerto Rico, participated in the High School Student and Teachers Training Week of the VT EPSCoR Research on Adaptation to Climate Change (RACC) Program. This program integrates high school teachers and students who participate as a team in a research effort.

Seven Vermont college students were awarded a total of $35,000 in VT EPSCoR Native American and First Generation College Student Scholarships for Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) at the Vermont State House on August 5, 2015.

New technology installed in Lake Champlain's Missisquoi Bay measures multiple factors driving bloom severity

Interns Erica, Erin, Nicolas, Hope, Grant, Lorraine, Jake, Alia, Joshua, and Monica spent the summer working on the policy and governance aspects of climate change as well as modeling and researching weather patterns and other watershed wide conditions. This included work as varied as understanding how different watershed organizations contribute to efforts in a particular area to how people communicate about topics on Twitter.

Two RACC interns, Jacob Page and Joshua Klavens, spent the summer working with Dr. Gabriela Bucini (VT EPSCoR Post-Doc) and Dr. Patrick Clemins (VT EPSCoR Cyber Specialist) in the UVM Climate Downscaling Laboratory.

In peaceful streams, aquatic macroinvertebrates such as crayfish, stoneflies, and caddisflies travel over and under submerged rocks, foraging for other invertebrates, leaves, and algae. When rain falls, their world turns upside down. At first only the surface is disturbed, but before long, runoff reaches the stream and increases its flow many fold. Silt and sand blast every exposed rock surface. At peak flow, boulders are propelled downstream by powerful currents.

On Tuesday, August 4, CWDD hosted a career panel and send-off dinner for the EPSCoR interns and mentors. The evening began with a panel of four speakers who shared their stories of majors, jobs, and tips on building a successful and rewarding career path. The speakers were Keith Macchione, Project Engineer for Keurig Green Mountain, Tina Heath, District Wetlands Ecologist for the State of Vermont, Elise Schadler, Community Outreach Professional for Vermont Urban and Community Forestry, and Bonnie Waniger, Executive Director of the Central Vermont Regional Planning Commission. They answered questions and offered advice to the interns. The EPSCoR mentors then joined the group for a final dinner to celebrate a successful internship. Congratulations to everyone who participated in EPSCoR research this summer!

RACC interns Mohamed Fofana, Kaylee Jackson, and Mariah Witas spent the summer working on the Saint Michael's College campus working with Laboratory Technician Janel Roberge and Dr. Declan McCabe (Biology Department) collecting, analyzing, and evaluating in the Missisquoi and Winooski watersheds.

On August 3, 2015, three RACC undergraduate interns, along with Research Technician Janel Roberge, hosted four elementary school students on the Saint Michael's College campus. Students met under a maple tree and soon began to play with the subject of their next activity: the maple tree seed 'helicopters' that are found scattered all around in nature. RACC interns Mohamed Fofana, Kaylee Jackson, and Mariah Witas helped the students form hypotheses about which 'helicopters' would fly farther or spin faster. By the end of their time together, the students had supported their hypotheses surrounding these fun, nature-provided play things.

On July 30, 2015, the EPSCoR Macroinvertebrate and Water Quality Laboratories at Saint Michael's College hosted several high school students from New York and Kentucky. During their visit, these future first generation college students learned about what it means to do summer research at the undergraduate level. EPSCoR interns touched on highlights of their summers, answered general questions about college life, and talked about their day-to-day activities and responsibilities as undergraduate researchers. Some College for Every Student participants even got to run Total Suspended Solid (TSS) samples in the Water Quality Lab and help to identify an insect in the Macroinvertebrate Lab!

Four RACC interns, Danya AbdelHameid, Jelissa Reynoso Garcia, Lindsay Coitnoir, and Hannah Klein, spent the summer working with Dr. Stephanie Hurley (Stormwater Management & Landscape Design) and graduate student Paliza Shrestha (Ecological Landscape Design) at the UVM Bioretenetion Laboratory.

National Geographic
Arctic Diplomacy requires Convergence of Military and Scientific Interests
National Geographic
In opening the conference, the director of IEDS, Dr. Asim Zia spoke of the importance of science as an agent of diplomacy. The Dean of the RSENR, Dr. Nancy Matthews, particularly spoke about the importance of holding such forums at universities that ...

We welcomed 11 high school teachers, 20 high school students, and one curriculum developer to Saint Michael's College from July 20th through 23rd for the 2015 Leaves of Green Workshop.

RACC interns have been working in the Mad River watershed this summer using time-integrating suspended sediment samplers, ISCO automated samplers, and tipping bucket rain gages. Graduate students Kristen Underwood, Scott Hamshaw and Jordan Duffy are mentoring students Nathalie Simoes and Wimara Rubia Sa Gomez through the 10-week RACC summer internship.

During the RACC High School Training Week, three teams visited the Pine Street Canal Superfund remediation site in Burlington. This site was heavily impacted by contaminants associated with nearby coal gasification plants during the first half of the twentieth century. The State became concerned about potential release of organic compounds into the canal and Lake Champlain if a proposed construction project were to take place. So, a large, multi-party effort was organized involving the 21 potentially responsible parties, the landowners, U.S. EPA, U.S. Fish and Wildlife, the State of Vermont, City of Burlington, and several local business, residential, and environmental groups.