CC&E at the 2024 Ocean Sciences Meeting

NEW ORLEANS - This week, faculty, staff and students from the LSU College of the Coast & Environment will head down to New Orleans for the Ocean Sciences Conference, the flagship conference for the ocean sciences and the ocean-connected community.

There will be 89 presentations of CC&E research at the conference. The conference is presented jointly by the American Geosciences Union, the Association for the Sciences of Limnology and Oceanography, and The Oceanography Society.

“ CC&E is committed to meeting the challenges that impact Louisiana’s coast and the Gulf of Mexico, and the depth and breadth of our research reflect that.  ”

CC&E’s large presence at the conference is a testament to the quality of the college’s research, said Interim Dean Clint Willson. “CC&E is committed to meeting the challenges that impact Louisiana’s coast and the Gulf of Mexico, and the depth and breadth of our research reflect that. Our work spans estuaries and coastal environments, to the deep ocean. This conference presents a wonderful opportunity to showcase the important work we’re doing here and connect with scientists and researchers from across the nation, who live and work in areas that are or will soon be facing similar issues.”

Faculty members will be presenting on everything from science education to the gulf’s hypoxic zone to sequestering carbon using phytoplankton. 

See a full list of LSU presentations

Learn more about some of the CC&E research being presented

 

Student presentations

Graduate and undergraduate students from both Oceanography & Coastal Sciences, or DOCS, and the Department of Environmental Sciences, or DES, will also be making the journey to New Orleans to participate in the conference.

Gaby Carpenter, a PhD student in DOCs Associate Professor Daniel Holstein’s Seascape Ecology Laboratory, will be giving an e-lightning talk—that’s a 3-minute talk with a digital poster on modeling potential upstream sources of coral disease at Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary.

“Coral disease severity and frequency has increased steadily in the Caribbean, but little is known about the potential spread of disease within reefs and between reefs.  This project focuses on understanding the connectivity of reefs and how disease may move between them as well as how annual changes in ocean current and climate change may impact connectivity in the future. This information is helpful to our partners at FGBNMS as they can use these models to understand years where disease may be more likely and plan for coral disease treatment and mitigation.”

PhD student Hannah Beck, who works in DOCS Professor Kanchan Maiti’s Marine Geochemistry Laboratory, will be presenting on Gulf of Mexico sediment processes. Beck, who works with EnvironMentors program will also be helping her her protegee present her own research about nutrient pollution at the conference.

Beck said attending conferences not only helps her broaden her scientific perspective, but gives her useful information about future career paths. “The most important thing is to get exposure outside of your home institution. I get to have conversations with people who are scientifically literate and involved in science, but not necessarily academia, and that helps me think about what my future could look like.”

 

Coastal Studies Institute Anniversary

LSU’s Coastal Studies Institute, or CSI, will also be celebrating its 70th Anniversary at the conference. Since its founding in 1954, CSI has played a critical role in coastal research at LSU, conducting interdisciplinary research of the estuarine, deltaic, shelf and slope environments. CC&E research plays an active role at CSI— 50 percent of current CSI Fellows are CC&E faculty.

Throughout its existence, CSI researchers have made foundational discoveries during their work on Louisiana’s coastline, including better understanding the impacts of severe weather on the coast, and the existence of submarine landslides.

Learn more about the Coastal Studies Institute

 

Want more information about some of the CC&E research being presented?

Coupled Modeling, also here, and here

Temperature Tipping Point in the Northern Gulf of Mexico Hypoxic Waters

STEM Research Mentorship (EnvironMentors)

Bubble mediated exchange in the Labrador Sea (BELS)

Vertical Mixing in the Ocean-Surface Boundary Layer

Seaweed as a resilient food solution after a nuclear war

Coral reefs and rising temperatures

Corals Research (student research)

Hurricane Forecasting (student research)

Carbon Sequestering with Phytoplankton (student research)