(Sandy Hook, NJ) — The New Jersey Sea Grant Consortium (NJSGC) has welcomed Ryan Orgera on board as Coastal Community Resilience Project Manager. The new position was established in partnership with the Monmouth University Urban Coast Institute (UCI) to help translate and apply the best available science and tools to assist communities recover from Superstorm Sandy and take actions to become more resilient to future coastal hazards, the impacts of sea level rise and changing climate. Ryan will work to enhance the capacity of the UCI and NJSGC’s extension program by improving public understanding of community hazard mitigation and making climate resilience science, data products, information, and decision support tools more accessible. Ryan will be based at Monmouth University in West Long Branch.
(Sandy Hook, NJ) — Fourteen new Girl Scout programs and five new Cub and Boy Scout programs have been launched by the New Jersey Sea Grant Consortium (NJSGC). Programs range from traditional seine net fishing or hiking along beach trails to high-tech Geocaching using GPS devices. These have been added to the roster of the six existing popular scout programs already offered by the NJSGC.
New programs all utilize the unique maritime environment at Sandy Hook, but vary widely in focus. Some explore salt marshes through seine fishing and outdoor water chemistry; some use laboratory experiments to discover the secrets of the beach and its creatures; and some use games and crafts to learn about Native American culture. What they all have in common is that they are primarily outdoors-based and highly interactive.
(Sandy Hook, NJ) — The finalists for the 2014 Rain Barrel Art Project coordinated by the New Jersey Sea Grant Consortium (NJSGC) and Rutgers Water Resources Program have been selected to showcase original designs celebrating the Jersey Shore using rain barrels as an innovative canvas. Dozens of New Jersey artists applied for a chance to paint the recycled containers repurposed to catch and reuse rain water and turn them into functional works of art. The barrels will be sponsored by businesses, tourism groups and other organizations to help support this and other NJSGC education and outreach projects.
According to artist Norma Wokas, a participating artist from Highlands, NJ who is also Artist Group Coordinator for the project, “All the applications we received were excellent and the selection committee had a truly difficult time narrowing down the designs to the small field of finalists. Because we received such a high volume of applications, and so many designs were qualified and fit the criteria we set forth, in the end it was impossible to limit the selection to just ten barrels. As a result, we were moved to add two additional barrels to the line-up that will be used as marketing and educational tools for this project and rain barrels in general.”
(Sandy Hook, NJ) — The New Jersey Sea Grant Consortium (NJSGC) is sending out a second wave of requests for applications to students interested in fisheries and aquaculture to apply for its 2014 Stew Tweed Fisheries and Aquaculture Scholarships. The Consortium awards two scholarships annually to a graduating high school senior ($1,500) and an undergraduate/graduate student ($2,000) pursuing studies or an outstanding research or technology project focusing on fisheries or aquaculture.
Established in 2007 to honor Stew Tweed, a former 27-year veteran of the organization’s marine advisory program, the scholarships have quickly become a reliable resource for students who plan to continue their studies in the fields of fisheries and aquaculture. Scholarship selection committee members are looking forward to receiving strong applications that demonstrate the best of what New Jersey has to offer and exemplify Tweed’s passion for applying the results of science-based research into outreach activities to related groups.
NOTE:For a full list of the 10 projects funded under this program visit click here
(Sandy Hook, NJ) — New Jersey Sea Grant, Connecticut Sea Grant, and New York Sea Grant have awarded funds totaling $1.4 million to support ten social science research projects to improve community understanding and response to coastal storm hazard information as part of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Sea Grant “Coastal Storm Awareness Program” (CSAP).
(Sandy Hook, NJ) –The New Jersey Sea Grant Consortium (NJSGC) has issued its annual call for graduate students interested in policy issues related to marine, ocean and/or Great Lakes resources to apply for the prestigious Dean John A. Knauss Marine Policy Fellowship for 2015. The 34-year old fellowship, sponsored by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Sea Grant College Program, places select graduate students within the legislative or executive branches of the United States government or other related federal organizations in Washington, D.C.
(Sandy Hook, NJ) — NOAA Sea Grant is pleased to announce the award of $1.8M in grants to New Jersey, New York, and Connecticut to enhance the Nation’s ability to respond to disasters by closely examining how people responded to the warnings associated with storms like Sandy, what influenced the choices they made, and how they can be reached more effectively in the future.
Sandy caused 140 deaths and over $62 billion in economic losses, despite the warning, support and information from emergency managers, community leaders and the media. Many of these deaths were the result of human choices and actions. Sandy was the second most costly storm event in U.S. history.
(Sandy Hook, NJ) — The New Jersey Sea Grant Consortium (NJSGC) has announced that Rutgers University Graduate Research Assistant Anna Hermes was recently selected for the prestigious Knauss Fellowship.
The Knauss Fellowship Program, created in 1979 as a Sea Grant vehicle to match marine science-interested graduate students with hosts in the legislative and executive branches of the federal government, is a unique and competitive institution. Each year, graduate students from across the country apply for the highly competitive fellowship, and selected by merit of their academic record, interests and experience. The finalists are students whose achievements and initiative paint the promise of a stellar future. Hermes will represent New Jersey Sea Grant as a Knauss Fellow in the executive branch, an honor that recognizes her strong commitment to science and the environment.
(Sandy Hook, NJ) — Papers from a recent Regional Ocean Governance Symposium hosted at Seton Hall University School of Law in April 2013 have been published in a special on-line issue of the Sea Grant Law and Policy Journal at http://nsglc.olemiss.edu/sglpj/archive/vol6.1/ The issue features eight articles that emerged from the Symposium that provide insight about legal and policy issues related to regional ocean planning in the Mid-Atlantic, from New York to Virginia.
(Sandy Hook, NJ) — The New Jersey Sea Grant Consortium (NJSGC) is one of four programs selected to receive federal funding for a special NOAA Sea Grant initiative supporting community climate adaptation. The 2013 Community Climate Adaptation Initiative was developed by the NOAA National Sea Grant program to support projects that will help prepare for current and predicted impacts of climate variability and change on America’s coastal communities. Priority was placed on projects that best identified and addressed the vulnerabilities a coastal community may face adapting to climate change and would produce demonstrable outcomes by the end of the project period. The projects also had to involve active partnership with local (county or municipal) leadership, and include cooperation with relevant state, NOAA, and other Federal agencies, or other appropriate organizations.