NJSGC’s 2021 Knauss fellow Arye Janoff has been busy last month. He presented a keynote presentation at the Community Surface Dynamics Modeling System 2021 Annual Meeting as the recipient of the Jaia Syvitski 2021 Student Modeler Award.
He attended staff meetings and conducted interviews with the Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation Subcommittee. He held informational interviews with the California Coastal Commission, US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) Engineer Research Development Center (ERDC), American Bird Conservancy, National Ocean Protection Coalition, RRM Designs (planning consultancy), and others.
He staffed the CG&MT subcommittee on various agency briefs (i.e., Coast Guard, Government Accountability Office, Maritime Administration, Centers for Disease Control, National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Homeland Security, Customs and Border Protection etc.)
He attended and participated in policy meetings with the Administration and House Leadership on the American Jobs Plan. He took a course on markup procedures from Committee Clerk in preparation for upcoming bill markups.
He helped to draft a letter to President Biden and Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas on Customs and Border Protection determinations on the Jones Act.
He plans to visit the West Coast in August with stops at many ports in California, Oregon and Washington.
NOAA’s Office for Coastal Management is pleased to announce the release of the FY 2022 – 2023 Margaret A. Davidson Graduate Fellowship request for proposals. This program offers graduate students admitted to or enrolled in a Master’s or Ph.D. program the opportunity to conduct estuarine research within a National Estuarine Research Reserve. The request for proposals can be found here.
Marine Science Day Camp at New Jersey Sea Grant Consortium (NJSGC) offers science lessons for children interested in learning about the ocean and marine life. Summer 2021 brings 2 exciting formats: choose from a 1-week virtual interaction offering or 3-weeks of in-person sessions for specific grades, listed below.
Held on Sandy Hook, in-person camp weeks are filled with outdoor explorations of the ocean beach and Sandy Hook Bay using scientific methods and laboratory experiments together with fun, educational games and crafts. Instructor-to-camper ratio is 1:6. In-person weeks are limited to 24 campers total. Each camp cohort will be divided into 2 groups of 12 children that will be together all week, overseen by 2 Camp Instructors per group. Please note that each session is geared towards specific grade levels.
NJSGC will be adhering to all New Jersey Department of Health Guidelines to maintain health and safety for in-person camp weeks – click here to learn more.
For more information and session dates of sessions, please click HERE.
Explore Sandy Hook from Your Classroom with the EVERY KID OUTDOORS Program – FREE to 4th & 5th Grades!
Whether your students are in class or learning from home, we can enhance their educational experience with a fun “virtual” field trip! For more than 30 years, school groups from New Jersey and neighboring states have enjoyed learning about coastal ecosystems with New Jersey Sea Grant Consortium (NJSGC) at Sandy Hook, a unit of Gateway National Recreation Area. NJSGC is proud to partner with the National Park Service and Jamaica Bay-Rockaway Parks Conservancy to offer FREE virtual programs to 4th and 5th grade students for Spring 2021.
The State of the Shore Report was presented at the State of the Shore Media Event May 27 by Dr. Jon Miller, Coastal Processes Specialist. Click on the link to read the full report.
Other speakers included Acting Commissioner of NJDEP Shawn LaTourette, Coastal Resilience Specialist Dr. Tom Herrington, and Dr. Peter Rowe, Acting Executive Director of NJ Sea Grant Consortium.
In the summer of 2020, at the height of the pandemic, as well as the middle of beach season, New York Sea Grant and the New Jersey Sea Grant Consortium developed and implemented a nine week social media campaign called “#BEachSAFEly”. The campaign was supported by a COVID-19 Rapid Response grant from National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)’s National Sea Grant College Program.
While social distancing rules and limited public gathering limits were in place last summer due to the pandemic, outside public spaces remained open and beaches became one of the few places people could escape. Recognizing the need to develop and promote messages that would encourage people to continue enjoying the beach while remaining aware of both COVID-19 and water-related hazards, the NY and NJ Sea Grant programs developed a digital media campaign to reinforce beach safety and COVID-19 restrictions.
The nine bilingual (available in English and Spanish) illustrated messages, created by freelance designer Joel Davenport, not only focused on standard “ocean hazards” tips such as “Break the Grip of the Rip,” but also incorporated general safety and health concerns related to COVID-19. Other messages included: “Stay social, be distant”; “Don’t let your mask become marine debris!”; “Stay dry when waves are high”; and “Grab your sunscreen and sanitizer,” among others.
Over a nine week period between July and September, #BEachSAFEly posts reached more than 9,345 stakeholders and received 738 engagements on Facebook and 22,724 impressions and 653 engagements on Twitter. Overall, the average engagement rate for this campaign was almost 10 times higher than what is considered high engagement. In a virtual ceremony held in April, the #BEachSAFEly campaign was recognized for both its design and effectiveness of conveying valuable health and safety information, receiving a Folio Award from the Fair Media Council (FMC) for best “Social Media Public Awareness Campaign.”
This summer, NY and NJ Sea Grant will build on the success of this all-virtual campaign by making the messaging and images available through individual postcards and combined posters to distribute to beach communities, public venues, and other community organizations. Financial contributions to partially cover the costs for printing and dissemination of the postcards and posters has been provided by the Jersey Shore Partnership, the Northeast Shore & Beach Preservation Association and the Monmouth University Urban Coast Institute.
Keep an eye on our website for updated postcards and information.
New Jersey boasts some of the most picturesque beaches along the East Coast. NJSGC’s revamped “Favorite Beaches of the Jersey Shore” photo contest featuring all this beauty, has closed. 53 photos were entered and 24 finalists were selected. Now it’s time to vote for the 12 that will enhance our 2022 desktop calendars. Click on each photo to see the full version. And thanks to all the photographers who entered. Selection was not easy!
New Jersey’s “Favorite Beaches” Photo Contest Finalists
1 Sandy Hook
2 Magical Sunset
3 Alas Poor Crab
4 Holgate Reflection
5 Squirming Coil Sunset
6 Celebrate the Fourth
7 Winter White Beach
8 My Favorite Spot
9 Fishing Pier Sunrise
10 77th Street
11 Storm Coming
12 Barnegat Inlet
13 Black Lab Jumping
14 Blowout Tide
15 Splash of Colors
16 Morning Reflections
17 Animal Visitor
18 Summer Serenity
19 Star Studded Sand
20 Juxtaposition Mt Mitchell
21 Once in a While
22 Day Ends Sunset Bch
23 Sunrise with Friend
24 Lighthouse Sandy Hook
Click HERE to cast your vote! You can select up to three images. Voting ends June 30th. Winners will be announced July 3rd.
On Saturday, April 20 the Education Program was honored by the Central Jersey Club of the National Association of Negro Business and Professional Women’s Clubs, Inc. (CJC-NANBPWC) for these efforts with a Community Service Award at their 57th Annual Founders Day Celebration.
This virtual event celebrated the history and service of CJC-NANBPWC membership, awarded scholarships to outstanding high school seniors, and recognized community heroes who work to make a difference in the lives of local residents. The Education Department was acknowledged for providing hands-on STEAM- (science, technology, engineering, art and math) based marine and coastal science learning opportunities to minority and under-resourced students in grades 3-8 and for fostering understanding of and appreciation for the coastal environment in which the students live. These in-person programs consisted of after-school enrichment sessions and field trips to local beaches, as well as underwater robotics workshops at the Neptune Aquatic Center. This year’s efforts transitioned to a virtual format, with interaction taking place during class time, and provided “gamified” programs that supplemented schools’ science curricula. A career awareness component was added as well, thus giving students the opportunity to “meet” black and Hispanic scientists and introducing them as role models.
According to Diana Burich, Director of Education at NJSGC, “Our collaboration[with CJC-NANBPWC] is one that is not only part of New Jersey Sea Grant’s mission, but one that is close to our hearts as well. Our goal is to educate and inspire children with our ocean sciences programs, to ignite their sense of curiosity as they learn about the world around them, and to empower them to grow into the leaders that will be making decisions for us and for future generations. Together, we are working towards a STEM workforce that is more representative of our population, one that includes and embraces people of all colors, and one that is equipped to manage the environmental benefits and burdens that they are sure to face in the future.”
For more information on this and other partnership opportunities, contact Diana Burich, Director of Education.
The 5th Jersey Shore Junior Science Symposium (JSJSS) was held virtually on March 19, 2021 and hosted by Ocean County College. The virtual symposium included presentations of 10 student research papers, 6 posters and a guest speaker. The primary goal of the JSJSS is to promote research and experimentation in the sciences, engineering, and mathematics at the high school level, and to publicly recognize students for outstanding achievement. The event includes presentations from New Jersey high school students on their individual science research projects.
The NJSGC provides awards to the students with the Top Environmental Paper and Top Environmental Poster. At the 2021 Symposium, NJSGC presented a $300 award for the Top Environmental Paper to Lana Van Note, Marine Academy of Technology and Environmental Science, Stafford Township, NJ for her paper presentation on Comparing the Biodegradability of Petroleum-based Plastic with a Novel, Sustainable Bio-plastic Alternative and a $200 award for the Top Environmental Poster was presented to Cassandra Vongrej, Marine Academy of Technology and Environmental Science, Stafford Township, NJ for her poster on Land Based Seagrass (Zostera marina) Germination to Determine Optimal Plant Growth and as a Restoration Initiative.
As a member of the Executive Committee, the New Jersey Sea Grant Consortium proudly serves many JSJSS activities such as recruiting members to be Technical Paper Reviewers, Student Mentors, and Symposium Judge for Presentations and Poster Session. NJSGC’s Diana Burich and Jody Sackett served as volunteers.
Dr. Arye Janoff is the 2021 Knauss Fellow working with the U.S. House Transportation and Infrastructure Subcommittee on Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation.
He recently visited the Port of Baltimore along with officials from the US Army Corps of Engineers, the Port of Baltimore and Ports America Chesapeake. They visited the marine terminals and the dredge containment management facilities at Masonville and Cox Creek. Inflow from the Seagirt dredging project was in full operation at Masonville. During the visit the Ever Faith of Evergreen, a 12,000 TEU container ship called on the Port. He is pictured third from right with officials during the visit.
Arye was awarded the 2021 Syvitski Student Modeler award for his submission “From Coastal Retreat to Seaward Growth: Emergent Behaviors from Paired Community Beach Nourishment Choices.”
