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After Historic 2020 Hurricane Season, LSU’s Coastal Research Highlights Post-Storm Impacts
BATON ROUGE—The year 2020 now has the most named storms ever recorded in the Atlantic in a single year. In the summer and fall, the coastal bays of Louisiana have experienced impacts from a number of tropical storms and hurricanes in close procession, including Tropical Storm Marco and Hurricanes Laura, Sally, Beta, Delta and Zeta. These events have provided LSU scientists with a rare opportunity to assess how storms can exacerbate coastal erosion even when they do not directly strike vulnerable areas. This is especially concerning for Barataria Bay, Louisiana, which has one of the fastest coastal land loss rates in the nation. While studying marsh edge erosion in the bay, the scientists discovered that, even when excluding any direct strikes to the coastal basin, erosion rates were up to 60 times higher than the four-year long-term average, due to this year’s storms.
Scholarship, Stewardship, and the Sea: Mike Callais' LSU Legacy
Charles "Mike" Callais (B.S., Business Management, 1984) is, in every way, the product of the great men who came before him. His love of education, desire to serve his community, and respect for the environment are values that were instilled in him by his father, and his grandfather before him, for his entire life. So, it is especially fitting that he would create a scholarship that combines all three -- the Callais Scholarship for the Advancement of Louisiana's Coastal and Marine Industries.
The Quiet, Multi-Million-Dollar Song from the Sea
Crystal Johnson, associate professor in the Department of Environmental Sciences in the LSU College of the Coast & Environment, knows a bacterium doesn’t care where it gets its food—whether the ocean, an oyster, or the human mouth. She studies how microbes respond to their environment, including vibrios, which play an important role in nature’s clean-up system. They break down organic matter in all aquatic environments—lakes, rivers, marches, and the sea—help recycle carbon, and degrade waste. Vibrios are everywhere.
LSU CC&E: Expanding Programs and Breaking Records
This fall, the LSU College of the Coast & Environment welcomed a record-breaking 60 first-year students to its Coastal Environmental Science, or CES, undergraduate program. This brings the total number of students enrolled up to 180. In its inception in 2008, the CES program had just five students enrolled. Now, it is one of the fastest-growing undergraduate programs at LSU with a 90 percent retention rate as of last year. CES undergraduate program director Vince Wilson believes one of the secrets to the program’s success is its strong emphasis on undergraduate research.
Hidden Losses Deep in the Amazon Rainforest
Few places on Earth are as rich in biodiversity and removed from human influence as the world’s largest rainforest — the Amazon. Scientists at LSU have been conducting research within the pristine rainforest for decades. However, they began to notice that some of the animals, specifically birds that forage on and near the forest floor, had become very difficult to find.
CC&E Collaborates Across Disciplines via 2020 Fall Discover Grants
The LSU College of the Coast & Environment, or CC&E, is empowering students to explore a world of possibilities by fostering collaborative research across disciplines. This semester, four 2020 Fall Discover Grant recipients from a range of disciplines are mentoring with faculty experts from the college, providing them with multiple approaches to address challenging topics.
LSU Communications Specialist Awarded for Illuminating Public Relations Campaign
This September, the LSU College of the Coast & Environment's communications specialist, Christine Wendling, was awarded a 2020 Lantern Award of Excellence for the exceptional and informative public relations campaign that she began late last year. She capitalized on a hot media topic -- the release of Disney's "Frozen II" -- to shine a light on the college's recently developed coastal meteorology program, which offers a concentration and a minor and helps students develop indispensable career skills, such as generating predictive meteorological models. This award was bestowed by the Southern Public Relations Federation, a network of public, private, and non-profit public relations professionals from Alabama, Florida, Louisiana, and Mississippi.
More Than Bad Weather: LSU CC&E Analyzing Wide-Ranging Impacts of Hurricanes
Throughout human history, the tracks and impacts of tropical storms and hurricanes have been notoriously difficult to predict and measure. This is due to the multitude of factors that determine whether a storm will ultimately peter out, as was the case this year with Hurricane Marco (2020), or become one for the record books, like Hurricane Laura (2020), the most powerful storm to hit Louisiana since 1856. With hurricanes predicted to become stronger and more frequent through the end of this century, it is even more vital to be able to accurately forecast their potential effects on the people and ecosystems along vulnerable coastlines. Experts at LSU's College of the Coast & Environment are located at the forefront of these challenges and provide a wealth of critical data that improves disaster management and prevention.
LSU EnvironMentors Marks 10 Years
Ten years ago, this fall, a group of 15 Scotlandville Magnet High School students visited Louisiana State University (LSU) for the first time as part of a new program called EnvironMentors. There were only a handful of EnvironMentor chapters across the country in 2010. And some LSU graduate students proposed establishing a chapter on the Baton Rouge campus. Among the program’s original sponsors was Louisiana Sea Grant (LSG), which continues to support the chapter.
Five LSU College of the Coast & Environment Faculty and Graduate Students Awarded Prestigious NAS Fellowships
Five LSU College of the Coast & Environment faculty, graduate students and alumnae have been awarded prestigious 2020 fellowships by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine’s Gulf Research Program, or GRP. LSU College of the Coast & Environment’s Department of Oceanography & Coastal Sciences Assistant Professors Cassandra Glaspie and Michael Polito are among the 20 U.S. faculty selected for the Early-Career Research Fellowships. Now in its sixth year, the fellowship is awarded to emerging scientific leaders who are prepared to work at the intersections of environmental health, community health and resilience and offshore energy system safety in the Gulf of Mexico and other U.S. coastal regions.
Gulf of Mexico ‘Dead Zone’ Smaller-than-Average this Summer Due to Storms
The bottom area of low oxygen in Louisiana coastal waters west of the Mississippi River, commonly known as the “Dead Zone,” was mapped at a much smaller-than-average size this summer. The area was 2,117 square miles, which is larger than Rhode Island but smaller than Delaware, and well below the projected estimate of 7,769 square miles. LSU College of the Coast & Environment's Department of Oceanography & Coastal Sciences Assistant Professor Cassandra Glaspie served as the chief scientist with Professor and Shell Endowed Chair in Oceanography and Wetland Studies Nancy Rabalais attending virtually.
Alumni Spotlight: Imani Maxberry, Founder and CEO, Fort Berry Alternatives
Small business owner Imani Maxberry is putting a Coastal Environmental Science degree to use as an entrepreneur. Imani, a 2018 CES Alum, is the founder and CEO of Fort Berry Alternatives, an Atlanta-based provider of eco-friendly services. Fort Berry Alternatives offers event planning with a twist - the company advocates for local businesses and educates the community about environmental sustainability.
University-Industry Partnership Leverages LSU Library of 11,000 Microbes for Bioremediation
LSU has licensed access to a vast library of bioremediation microbes to the national environmental services firm Cameron-Cole, LLC. The library was developed by Environmental Sciences Professor Emeritus Ralph Portier over almost 40 years as he and LSU have helped private companies as well as local, state, and national government organizations mitigate a wide range of environmental hazards in the U.S. and across the globe.
Watch: CC&E Superstar April Ellis
Dean Chris D'Elia and LSU alumna April Ellis discuss her time at LSU's College of the Coast & Environment and how it shaped where she is today.
Kenneth Erickson Named Louisiana Knauss Fellow Finalist
Kenneth Erickson is a graduate student in the LSU College of the Coast & Environment's Department of Oceanography & Coastal Sciences, where his research on the southern flounder fishery has revealed a range-wide decline in the species. Erickson is one of three 2020 Louisiana Knauss Fellow Finalists at LSU. He hopes to continue working in fisheries management and bridge the interests of legislators, agencies and stakeholders to create sustainable coastal policy.
LSU Associate Professor Jun-Hong Liang Receives Prestigious NSF CAREER Award
Jun-Hong Liang, associate professor in the LSU Department of Oceanography & Coastal Sciences, or DOCS, has received a five-year National Science Foundation Faculty Early Career Development, or NSF CAREER, award. This award will support his research into how ocean bubbles play an important role in upper ocean dynamics and in air-sea gas exchange and to enrich the curriculum in physical oceanography and outreach activities at LSU and in local communities.
Watch: CC&E Trailblazer Nina Lam
In this video, Dr. Nina Lam, Professor & Abraham Distinguished Professor of Louisiana Environmental Studies in the LSU Department of Environmental Sciences, discusses her trailblazing research analyzing the factors that led businesses to determine whether to reopen in New Orleans following Hurricane Katrina.
Student Spotlight: Rekea' Williams
During the summer of 2019, LSU undergraduate junior in Coastal Environmental Science Rekea' Williams participated in a valuable internship with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' Engineer Research and Development Center, or ERDC, in Vicksburg, Mississippi. There, she performed cutting-edge research and ultimately co-authored a peer reviewed journal publication based on the results. "Impact of aggregate mineralogy and exposure solution on alkali-silica reaction product composition and structure within accelerated test conditions" was published in the journal, Construction and Building Materials, this April.
Laws of Infinite Possibility
Edward Laws, Ph.D., a professor of environmental sciences in the LSU College of the Coast & Environment, is dedicated to seeing his students succeed. He has created scholarships to ensure financial limitations do not stand in the way of earning an education.
LSU and NOAA Continue Partnership in Emergency Chemical Hazard Response
LSU is helping the U.S. respond to hazards from environmental releases of oil and toxic chemicals. A team of seven researchers from the College of the Coast & Environment (CC&E) will be partnering with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to provide primary emergency response to chemical hazards in support of NOAA's Office of Response and Restoration's Emergency Response Division. NOAA has awarded $6.7M to Research Planning, Inc., an environmental consulting firm that partners with the LSU team as part of the NOAA ProTech Oceans Task Order to help assess chemical hazards associated with oil and hazardous materials releases across the nation's navigable waterways.
The Delta Breathes: Mapping Carbon Along the Muddy Mississippi
Rivers and deltas can release significant amounts of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, which contributes to global warming. But until recently, climate modelers have had limited information on this process. A team of LSU College of the Coast & Environment scientists, in collaboration with Southern University, have accepted the challenge of analyzing this complex carbon export in the largest delta in the United States--the Mississippi River Delta.
Five CC&E Faculty Receive 2020 University Distinguished Faculty Awards
This May, LSU has selected five exceptional faculty members from the College of the Coast & Environment (CC&E) to be recognized for their accomplishments in teaching, research, and service. In addition to finding innovative new ways of educating the coastal environmental workforce, they perform critical research all over the world and are top experts in environmental virology, physical and geological oceanography, ocean modeling, coastal wetlands, and renewable energy research.
Two LSU CC&E Professors Receive CPRA Coastal Science Assistantships
Two faculty in the LSU College of the Coast & Environment's Department of Oceanography & Coastal Sciences have been awarded a 2020 Coastal Science Assistantship funded by the Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority of Louisiana (CPRA). Giulio Mariotti and Tracy Quirk received two of the four assistantships, which are awarded annually. Additionally, CRPA awarded a third LSU faculty member, Carol Wilson, in the Department of Geology & Geophysics.
Watch CC&E's Spring 2020 Virtual Convocation
A video of CC&E's Convocation
Coastal Environmental Science Gets Up Close and Personal
Exciting new field, method, and study abroad courses in the LSU College of the Coast & Environment (CC&E) are providing students with critical hands-on training for their future careers. Tracy Quirk, assistant professor (and soon-to-be associate professor) in the LSU Department of Oceanography & Coastal Sciences, is leading the charge in creating immersive experiences that generate enthusiasm among students while also training them to meet future workforce needs.