Jeff Schilling's blog

The Center for Microbial Oceanography: Research and Education (C-MORE) is headquartered at the University of Hawaii at Manoa. C-MORE is organized around four interconnected themes: (I) Marine microbial biodiversity; (II) Microbial metabolism and biogeochemistry; (III) Remote and continuous in-situ sensing of microbial processes and their links to climate variability; and (IV) Ecosystem modeling, computer simulation and prediction. They are seeking highly motivated and qualified individuals to join the C-MORE team at the University of Hawaii as C-MORE Postdoctoral Scholars.

The CMOP science team is aboard the R/V Oceanus collecting and processing water samples in the Columbia River estuary. One person aboard the ship is  Michelle Maier, a graduate student of Dr, Tawnya Peterson. She is studying how environmental variables - like climage change - influence the aquatic food chain in river ecosystems.

We want to thank our field team member Danny Lockett for snapping this photo of the ship while he was working at the SATURN-03 station. Read the Oceanus cruise plan and view a live webcam aboard the ship.

CMOP graduate students Sheree Watson (top left), Estafania Lianeza-Garcia (top right), and Krissy Remple (bottom left) presented their findings at the OHSU Institute of Environmental Health's research symposium.  The 7th annual symposium took place March 15, 2013 on OHSU’s West Campus. The afternoon event showcased a wide range of research from 19 graduate students and four postdoctoral fellows.

Read the article about the symposium on the OHSU website.

The 2013 Marine Technology Society (MTS) student scholarship program is now open!

MTS offers thousands of dollars’ worth of scholarships to undergraduate and graduate students who are studying in the marine science, marine engineering and/or marine technology field. Scholarships are for MTS student members only. Student Membership for full-time college students and high school seniors is only $25 per year.

For more information, please visit their website: www.mtsociety.org/education/scholarships.aspx

Congratulations to Jim Carlson and John Dunlap, Sr. Principal Engineers at the Applied Physics Lab - University of Washington, for receiving the 2012 APL Science and Engineering Award!

They work with CMOP investigator Tom Sanford and received the award for their extraordinary scientific and engineering achievement to enhance APL's reputation as a premier center for science and technology. 

"They are a remarkable pair who have produced numerous successful ocean instruments, including the Winched and Sigma Profilers for CMOP," Sanford says.

The microbiologists at Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI) call their creation "Lab in a Can." We simply call her Clair. She is an Environmental Sample Processor (ESP), a highly sophisticated robotic instrument.

Antonio Baptista, director of CMOP, is currently in China giving presentations at several universities.  He is speaking on "Operational modeling of a complex estuary-plume system" at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong Observatory, South China Sea Institute of Oceanology, Xiamen University, and Ocean University of China.

To the right is a poster created by the Institute of Space and Earth Information Science at the Chinese University of Hong Kong to announce Dr. Baptista's talk.

(Craig McNeil, right, and Trina Litchendorf prepare AUV for deployment.)

There I was standing on the stern of the R/V Inferno as it came to a stop in the north channel of the Columbia River estuary. The sky had a broken overcast. The waves slowly rolled past. I wondered if Lewis and Clark - when they finally completed their route to the Pacific Ocean - viewed the same huge blooms of red water that I was looking at in the estuary.

(Jim Lerczak, center, goes over a new piece of equipment with the team.)

It was just another typical day in the Columbia River estuary. Typical in the sense that a heavy marine layer had visibility down to almost nothing. Yet the activities going on in the estuary were quite unique.
 

(Pictured left to right; Paul Tratnyek, Leslie Slasor, Joe Needoba, and Andrew Barnard)

Leslie Slasor, Oregon Health & Science University masters student, successfully defended her thesis today titled, "Slick Spectra: A Spectral Fluorescence Study of the Water-Accommodated Fraction of Crude Oil." Her oral presentation took us from the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill to her research of the fluorescence properties associated with the water accommodated fraction of a variety of crude oils in seawater to further refine in situ instrument sensitivity for targeting Polycyclic Aromatic Compounds. Leslie's advisors included Joseph Needoba (OHSU Division of Environmental and Biomolecular Systems), Andrew Barnard (WET Labs), and Paul Tratnyek (OHSU Division of Environmental and Biomolecular Systems). Congratulations Leslie!

Watch Leslie's thesis defense.