News

An informational session was held at the UVM Davis center to provide an overview of the NSF EPSCoR Research Infrastructure and Improvment (RII) Track-1 grant proposal process. The session was led by Arne Bomblies, PhD, PE, State Director of Vermont EPSCoR.

BREE graduate research assistants Kevin Andrew and Brittany Lancellotti presented research posters at the UVM Student Research Day on April 17, 2019.

BREE Integrated Assessment Co-Leader Asim Zia, PhD and Graduate Research Assistant, Kevin Andrew, each presented at the Second Northeast Regional Conference on Complex Systems (NERCCS) in Binghamton, New York on April 5, 2019.

DORSET — Long Trail School junior Langston Quail and seniors Zachary Lee and Hope Soucy were awarded gold medals as top students at this year's Vermont Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics Fair at Norwich University on March 30. These three students presented their research on the influence of stream velocity and habitat (upstream and downstream side of river rocks) on macroinvertebrate taxa from the Mettowee River. They were also recognized as state finalists for the International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF) and were presented with the prestigious Air Force Science Fair Award.

Alan Betts, PhD, a climate scientist with the Vermont EPSCoR BREE program, visited Lothrop Elementary School in Brandon, Vermont on April 3, 2019 to introduce students to weather and climate science.

BREE postdoctoral associate Dr. Dustin Kincaid, BREE graduate research assistant Brittany Lancellotti, and CWDD Coordinator Dr. Veronica Sosa-Gonzalez introduced students at JJ Flynn Elementary School in Burlington, VT to stream research on March 25, 2019. They brought microscopes, magnifying glasses, and macroinvertebrate species for students to examine at the JJ Flynn Elementary School Maker's Faire for grades 1 through 5.

We know the predictions are dire; we know there are urgent conversations to be had about policy. But to answer this listener question, we stay focused on the present.

The 11th annual Vermont EPSCoR Student Research Symposium showcased the work of student researchers in the Basin Resilience to Extreme Events (BREE) program. The event took place on Tuesday April 2, 2019 in the Dion Student Center on the Saint Michael's College campus and was hosted by the Center for Workforce Development and Diversity. The symposium offers student researchers an opportunity to practice their science communication skills in a professional environment, and provides a critical capstone to the year-long high school research projects and summer undergraduate internships. BREE research provides valuable insights on the Lake Champlain Basin for many stakeholders throughout Vermont. The many contributions from this year’s young scientists will help improve our understanding even more! Thank you to all for your effort and dedication.

Dr. Asim Zia, Co-Leader of the BREE Integrated Assessment Team, organized a workshop titled "Advancing Public Service Through Big Data and AI." The workshop, held on March 7, 2019 in Washington, DC, at the American Society for Public Administration Meeting. The workshop included a panel of experts who discussed the opportunities and challenges posed by “rapidly spreading digital revolution, internet of things, drones and ubiquitous computing. While these new disruptive technologies have led to the widespread diffusion of big data, service delivery, machine learning and AI technologies in the private sector, the public sector agencies are lagging far behind in both regulating the adverse impacts of AI (e.g. strategic spread of fake news and rumors in elections through advertising campaigns in social media) as well as harnessing AI technologies for addressing persistent public sector issues (e.g. social equity, infrastructure resilience, sustainable development, and government accountability).”

BREE Ecological Systems Team Co-Leader Andrew Schroth, PhD and Vermont EPSCoR GRA Wilton Burns attended the 2019 Association for the Sciences of Limnology and Oceanography (ASLO) Aquatic Sciences Meeting, which ran from February 23rd through March 2nd in San Juan, Puerto Rico. While there, they presented a poster titled "Understanding the timing and intensity of cyanobacteria blooms in St. Albans Bay and Missisquoi Bay," which featured BREE research.

On February 5th and 7th, the CWDD traveled to Lyman C. Hunt Middle School in Burlington, VT to lead students through a Macroinvertebrate Mystery. Approximately 40 students participated in the event. Each student received macroinvertebrate samples to examine. They then found, grouped, and tallied as many insects as they could in order to figure out whether the streams the samples came from were healthy or polluted.

VT EPSCoR post-doc Erin Seybold and CWDD members LeeAnn Trusela, and Janel Roberge traveled to Lyman C. Hunt Middle School on February 14 2019 and led roughly 40 students through hypothesis creation and testing.

The middle school students had received visits from the CWDD the week prior, where they gained some background knowledge about macroinvertebrates. This time, students learned about land use and its impacts on macroinvertebrates. They then created hypotheses that they tested using data taken from VT EPSCoR's Streams Database.

We are happy to share with you the latest news from Vermont EPSCoR in this 2019 winter
Magazine.

Come mid-January, when I’m acclimatized to Vermont’s winter, I enjoy an occasional stroll on the icy surface of Lake Champlain. I favor bays sheltered from the brunt of winter winds where the ice has had ample time to thicken. I pull microspikes on over my boots and off I go.

Decisions farmers make over the spring and summer can dramatically increase greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions later in the winter, a new study from the University of Vermont concluded.

Dr. Alan Betts, a member of the BREE Climate and Integrated Assessment teams, spoke to a student group of ecologists, economists, and environmental scientists at Rutland High School on January 17, 2019. Approximately 40 people attended the talk titled "The Climate Change Challenge." Additionally, students from Rutland High School's Environmental Club participated in an extended discussion after the talk's conclusion.

Vermont EPSCoR hosted an Alan Alda Communicating Science Workshop on January 19, 2019.

Instructors Nancee Moes and James Rea from the Alda Center at Stonybrook College facilitated an all-day workshop composed of 20 Vermont EPSCoR faculty, GRAs, Post-Docs, and additional students and scientists. The workshop began with an introduction and group exercises, then split into two tracks in the afternoon which allowed attendees to work in small groups and receive more intensive training.

CWDD Coordinator Veronica Sosa-Gonzalez attended the 2018 Annual Biomedical Research Conference for Minority Students (ABRCMS), which ran from November 14 to November 17, 2018 in Indianapolis, IN.

Dr. Scott Hamshaw, a post doc with Vermont EPSCoR's BREE project, was selected for Hydroinformatics Innovation Fellowship funding from the Consortium of Universities for the Advancement of Hydrologic Science, Inc. (CUAHSI) in December 2018. The funding will support a project that Dr. Hamshaw is collaborating on with UVM Computer Science PhD student Ali Javed, building a small software implementation that uses some of Dr. Hamshaw's research on storm event analysis.

A large contingent of BREE scientists attended the American Geophysical Union (AGU) 2018 Fall Meeting, which ran from December 10th to December 14th in Washington, DC. More than a dozen BREE faculty members, post docs, graduate students, and undergraduate interns made oral and poster presentations. Topics of these presentations included evaluating climate model parameter specifications, estimating sediment and phosphorous transport during floods, modeling impacts of watershed management on lake cyanobacteria blooms, and more.