Posts by Stephanie Murphy
2024 Knauss Fellowship Finalists
WHOI Sea Grant is proud to sponsor two successful Knauss Fellowship finalists. The finalists will begin their fellowship placements in 2024. Jordanna Barley Barley is a student in Organismic and Evolutionary Biology program at UMass Amherst, working with Dr. Brian Cheng and Dr. Renae Brodie. Her dissertation focuses on climate change effects on marine…
Read MoreBoat Shrink Wrap Recycling Results
We’re happy to report our 2023 Boat Shrink Wrap Recycling program was the best yet — collecting an amazing 22 tons. Transfer stations in Bourne, Chatham, Dennis, Eastham, Falmouth, and Wellfleet generously served as drop off locations. Thanks to their staffs for monitoring the wrap to be sure boaters properly cleaned and prepared it for…
Read MoreVisualizing Sea Level Rise
Can you visualize sea level rise? Don’t worry, you’re not alone! That’s why WHOI Sea Grant staffers Shannon Hulst and Grace Simpkins worked with high school art and science students on a visualization project. The students painted waves on five pilings in Millway Marina in Barnstable Harbor to designate future high tide levels.
Read MorePreserving Our Homelands Camp Comes to WHOI
WHOI Sea Grant’s Leslie Jonas and Grace Simpkins were instrumental in bringing the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe’s Preserving Our Homelands camp to WHOI as part of an ongoing effort to develop knowledge exchange with the Tribe. Among other attractions, the campers learned about 3D printing & tested an underwater robot at WHOI’s AVAST lab. What a…
Read MoreA Virtual Transition for Shellfish Farming Education
The WHOI Sea Grant marine extension team has been teaching a class on the fundamentals of shellfish farming for over 20 years. During COVID, our education specialist Grace Simpkins helped update the curriculum and transition the program to the virtual world. In July, Grace Simpkins gave educators at the National Marine Educators conference the inside…
Read MoreFrom Classrooms to Coastlines: Young Innovators Shape Sustainable Futures
This spring a small group of middle school students from Mashpee gathered in their school’s Indian Education room at lunchtime to meet with a group of educators from UMass Boston. The educators, who included Asa Peters, a graduate of UMass and a member of the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe, were recruiting students from the Mashpee Wampanoag…
Read MoreInsights on Coastal Resilience and the Future from the 2023 Islands Conference
“A world without ice sheets? Is this our future?” These were questions posed in June at the Islands Conference on Nantucket by keynote speaker Sarah Das, a physical oceanographer at WHOI. Sea level rise – the result of warming water and melting glaciers – is a global concern but holds heightened significance to those living…
Read MoreSafeguarding Shores: Training Conservation Agents in Wetland Boundary Delineation
Each year in Massachusetts, dozens of wetlands are threatened by development projects that, if permitted, could degrade their functions. Wetlands provide food and habitat for fish and wildlife, improve water quality and help control flooding and shoreline erosion. Determining if a project is in a wetland is an important step in permitting a project, and…
Read MoreUnleashing Curiosity at the Woods Hole Science Stroll
This month, WHOI Sea Grant had the opportunity to participate in the Woods Hole Science Stroll, an outdoor event involving all the Woods Hole science organizations. Nearly 2000 people passed through the tents to explore highlighting our work in shellfish aquaculture, storms, erosion, flooding, as well as education and outreach. WHOI Sea Grant Director Matt…
Read MoreOcean STEAM-Powered Women in Woods Hole
Ten young women interested in exploring ocean science arrived in Woods Hole on August 6, 2023 to spend a week conducting bioacoustic research with WHOI biologist Laela Sayigh and investigating different marine Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Math (STEAM) careers. They are now amongst a group of 60 high-school aged young women in Massachusetts who…
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