News
December 1, 2011
Dr. Teresa Greely selected to sail on the R/V JOIDES Resolution
Dr. Teresa Greely, Education & Outreach Coordinator at the USF College of Marine Science, has been selected to fill the Education Officer position on board the Integrated Ocean Drilling Program (IODP) R/V JOIDES Resolution for Expedition 340 to the Lesser Antilles from February 6th-March 18th, 2012.
The scientific objective of the "Lesser Antilles Volcanism and Landslide" project is to increase understanding of the "constructive and destructive processes occuring along island arcs using the Lesser Antilles arc as a prime example. This project involves drilling, coring, and logging along one transect with three sites southeast of Montserrat, one site southwest of Montserrat, one site southwest of Dominica, one site northwest Martinique, as well as one transect with three sites southwest of Martinique. The record of eruptive activity and volcanoclastic sedimentation obtained during coring and logging will be used to accomplish these goals" (Source: Scientific Prospectus for Expedition 340).
November 22, 2011
College of Marine Science student Ern Symonds wins poster award
Erin Symonds won the 2nd place award for the Best Student Poster Presentation at the 21st Annual Southwest Florida Water Resources Conference in Naples, with her poster titled "Viruses Found in Sewage and Their Potential to Indicate Fecal Pollution in Coastal Waters".
September 29, 2011
College of Marine Science Students receive awards for their academic achievements!
This year the College of Marine Science awarded over $300,000 as endowed fellowships to 26 CMS graduate students!
In addition to the endowed fellowships, many students receive additional awards for their academic achievements. Here are a few...
- Holly Rolls won an Early Career Scientist Award at the 2011 ICES Science Conference in Gdansk, Poland. Her talk was entitled "Resolving the relative importance of fish nursery habitats using otolith elemental fingerprints." As part of the award, she will get funds for traveling to her choice of future meetings in Bergen (2012) or Copenhagen (2013).
- Maria Vega-Rodriguez was awarded a 2011 Successful Latina Student Award.
- Claudia Baron Aguilar was awarded a 2011 Successful Latina Student Award.
September 21, 2011
Congratulations to Flo Cole, Jim Mulhollan and Desiree Woroner for receiving USF Outstanding Staff Awards for 2010!
Being selected for the most prestigious award for Staff and Administration employees at USF is a great testament to exceptional performance and commitment to the vision and values of USF. Out of twelve recipients from Academic Affairs, the College of Marine Science had three awardees!
Flo, Jim and Desiree were honored at an Outstanding Staff Awards ceremony at USF Tampa on Wednesday, September 21st.
Awardees Desiree, Jim (top, left and right) and Flo (bottom) with USF's Provost Ralph Wilcox and President Judy Genshaft.
September 9, 2011
College of Marine Science student Erin Symonds receives EPA STAR Fellowship
The EPA Science to Achieve Results (STAR) fellowship is a prestigous three year award given to Ph.D. students pursuing research in a variety of human and environmental health topics.
Erin's research focuses on the development of Pepper Mild Mottle Virus as a bioindicator of fecal pollution in commercial shellfish beds. This work is a continuation of her Master's degree research (College of Marine Science, '08). After graduating, Erin spent two years in Guatamala with the Peace Corps before returning to the Breitbart Lab at CMS for her doctorate.
August 29, 2011
USF College of Marine Science Awarded $11M for Gulf Spill Research
A research consortium led by the University of South Florida’s College of Marine Science has been awarded more than $11 million through BP’s Gulf of Mexico Research Initiative (GRI) to continue assessing the impacts of the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill on the Gulf of Mexico’s ocean and coastal ecosystems and to build a better ways for predicting damage from future spills
August 11, 2011
David Mearns, College of Marine Science graduate (M.S., '86), selected as co-recipient of USF's Distinguished Alumni Award
US-born marine scientist, author and deep-sea shipwreck hunter David Mearns has found and filmed some of the world’s most famous and controversial shipwrecks. His formidable reputation is built on a career finding notoriously difficult wrecks that others predicted would never be found or their mysteries solved. David and his company Blue Water Recoveries Ltd, have located 22 major shipwrecks and have been awarded three Guinness World Records, including one for locating the deepest shipwreck ever found at 5,762 metres – the German WWII blockade runner Rio Grande.
David’s most important finds include Lucona – a cargo ship at the centre of a sensational European murder trial; Derbyshire – a bulk carrier lost with all hands which led to new rules covering survivability and structural requirements for bulk carriers; Esmeralda – a Portuguese Nau in the fleet of Vasco da Gama that is the oldest colonial wreck ever found; and HMS Hood – the much loved and feared British battle cruiser sunk in an apocalyptic battle with the German battleship Bismarck, which was also filmed by David and his team.
David Mearns and co-recipient, Thomas Kennedy ('73) will be honored during USF's Homecoming weekend, October 20-22 by the USF Alumni Association.
David is one of two recent USF's Distinguished Alumni Award recipients from the College of Marine Science. The 2009 Distinguished Alumnus Award went to Lee Kump (Ph.D., '86) who is currently a Professor at Penn State and one of the leading Earth systems scientist in the world.
David Mearns and College of Marine Science Professor Al Hine
July 21, 2011
College of Marine Science students teach two Duke TIP field studies courses
Christin Murphy, USF College of Marine Science (CMS) student, developed and taught the Sensory Biology of Marine 
Organisms course for Duke’s Talent Identification Program (TIP) last year and returned as Instructor this year with the teaching assistance of Matthias Elliott, another CMS student. Together with the help of other Duke TIP employees, they taught the basics of marine biology, focusing on sensory organs, to 25 advanced high school students in a two week summer program this past June at New College in Sarasota, Florida.
Sennai Habtes, another CMS student, also instructed Duke TIP’s newest course, Wonders in the Waves: Sea life and Marine Research in the Gulf of Mexico, with the assistance of CMS students Kara Radabaugh and Erin Symonds this past June at New College. The 28 advanced high school students learned the basics of Marine Science, explored the marine environment of Sarasota Bay, and paid visits to the College of Marine Science to learn about physical oceanography with Jay Law and received a tour of the Center for Ocean Technology lead by Chad Lembke. Mya Breitbart, USF Assistant Professor, also participated as a panelist in the career forum and Carlie Williams, CMS student, gave an excellent guest lecture on paleoceanography.
More about the courses and the Duke TIP program can be found here.
June 6, 2011
College of Marine Science students and faculty attend the National Meeting of the ARCS
USF Marine Science students Julie Galkiewicz and Holly Rolls, along with faculty members Mya Breitbart and Pam Hallock-Muller, presented their research experiences on a science panel for the National Meeting of the ARCS (Achievement Rewards for College Scientists) Foundation in Amelia Island, FL on June 3, 2011. The ARCS Foundation advances science and technology in the United States by providing financial awards to academically outstanding U. S. citizens studying to complete degrees in science, engineering and medical research. To learn more about the newly formed Tampa Bay chapter, visit http://www.arcsfoundation.org/TampaBay/
May 8, 2011
Breitbart Lab at CMS publishes high impact paper on marine phages in the ISME Journal
The Breitbart Lab recently published a paper describing the diversity and distribution of single-stranded DNA phages in the North Atlantic Ocean. As the first study to examine the biogeography and diversity of ssDNA marine phage, this paper has been featured on the ISME Journal website (http://www.nature.com/ismej/journal/v5/n5/full/ismej2010188a.html), where it is one of the Top 10 most downloaded papers in the last 30 days.
Photo: Co-authors Erin Symonds and Kim Tucker in Bermuda
Apr 22, 2011
Bob Weisberg inducted into the national honor society, Phi Kappa Phi
Dr. Bob Weisberg was inducted this past Sunday into the national honor society, Phi Kappa Phi, which at USF is the highest honor society open to all disciplines.
He was also awarded "Artist Scholar of the year" by the USF chapter of Phi Kappa Phi.
Mar 22, 2011
CMS Graduate Students Lobby at Florida Oceans Day in Tallahassee!
Graduate students Julie Galkiewicz, Regina Easley, Maria Vega-Rodriguez, Natasha Mendez-Ferrer and Lara Henry are lobbying for the support and co-sponsorship of Representatives to 2 different bills: the HM 363 Deepwater Horizon Disaster/Penalties and the HJR 383 Ban of Oil Exploration, Drilling, Extraction and Production in Territorial Seas.
They have scheduled 5 official meetings with Representatives from the State Affairs Committee and 1 meeting with a Representative's aide. In addition, they will have a table to showcase CMS and USF with magazines, brochures and bookmarks highlighting the College. Lastly, they have created handouts that include key lobbying arguments on the above mentioned bills. In addition to weeks of preparation, these students are also taking Dr. Frank Muller-Karger and Mark Luther's Ocean Policy Class at the College of Marine Science
Click on the images below for more information on the HM 363 Deepwater Horizon Disaster/Penalties and the HJR 383 Ban of Oil Exploration, Drilling, Extraction and Production in Territorial Seas.
For more on Florida Oceans Day go to: http://www.floridaoceanalliance.org
Julie Galkiewicz, Maria Vega-Rodriguez, Lara Henry, FL Representative Luis Garcia, Regina Easley and Natasha Mendez-Ferrer
Mar 2011
Pure Ice - Article by Vickie Chachere
Featured in the Winter 2011 edition of the USF Magazine out own Joseph Torres and Paul Suprenand in an article by USF's Vickie Chachere titled "Pure Ice: USF scientists study disappearing link in Antarctic food chain". Joseph Torres let a group of scientists aboard the NSF icebreaker, the Nathaniel B. Palmer into the Antarctic. Photos for the article were taken by Paul Suprenand.
View the Winter 2011 edition of the USF Magazine
Also mentioned in the magazine is Graham Tilbury's work with Project Icecube (see the Dec 30, 2011 News article).
Mar 8, 2011
FIO Director Hogarth on Capitol Hill Tuesday
William Hogarth – former dean of the University of South Florida's College of Marine Science and now the director of the Florida Institute of Oceanography – testified before a U.S. subcommittee Tuesday examining the laws designed to protect against overfishing in U.S. waters.
View full article by USF's Vickie Chachere.
Feb 23, 2011
College of Marine Science researchers are featured on the front page of EOS
Congratulations to Yonggang Liu, Bob Weisberg, Chuanmin Hu, and Lianyuan Zheng for their extremely high profile and very informative article that just appeared on the entire front page of the latest issue of EOS, Transactions "Tracking the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill; A Modeling Perspective" (v. 92, no. 6, 8 Feb 2011).
It is a terrific review of their ceaseless efforts last summer to provide accurate oil trajectory predictions during the BP event. Their predictions were widely used by all sectors involved with containing, mitigating, predicting, understanding, and reporting that environmental disaster.
Click here for more information on the College of Marine Science's involvement with the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill!
Jan 20-21, 2011
College of Marine Science students host the 29th Annual Graduate Student Symposium!
The Graduate Student Symposium (GSS) is annual event where College of Marine Science graduate students educate their peers and the broader St. Petersburg science community about the exciting research they are involved in. Presentation topics range from DNA sequencing and identification of bateria and fungi in marine systems to reconstructing past climate using fossils in marine sediments and studying modern climate with remote sensing satelites.
15-minute student presentations will be held from 3 to 5 pm on Thursday, January 20th and from 8 am to 5 pm on Friday, January 21st.
Download the Presentation Schedule
Dec 30, 2010
College of Marine Science Engineer Graham Tilbury works in Antarctica on "Project IceCube"
Nine months out of the year, Graham Tilbury’s workplace is at the University of South Florida’s College of Marine Science’s balmy, waterfront complex on Tampa Bay. But for the other three months, the engineer for the Center for Ocean Technology plunges himself into the icy, forbidding world of the South Pole as a volunteer in a monumental effort to build one of the world’s most advanced scientific instruments.
Tilbury spends months in Antarctica as a part of Project IceCube, a $271 million effort led by the National Science Foundation and the University of Wisconsin to build a telescope that will explore the cosmos by peering into the polar ice cap.
View full article by Vickie Chachere
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