2007 RSMAS UNDERWATER PHOTOGRAPHY
CONTEST WINNER TO BE ANNOUNCED MAY 23

Winners for this year’s contest will be announced at the Rosenstiel School’s Sea Secrets Lecture Series presentation on Wednesday, May 23, 2007 at 6:15 p.m. in the Rosenstiel School Auditorium,

Myron Wang, underwater photographer/environmentalist is that evening’s lecturer, discussing, “A Photographic Journey Undersea: The Creatures of the Coral Reef.” The reception to recognize the winners will take place after the lecture, at approximately 7:30 p.m., in the Rosenstiel School’s Library. All events are free and open to the public; however, seating is limited.Above left is last year's Best Overall winner from David Kearnes. Who will win this year?

THE RSMAS AQUACULTURE PROGRAM
WELL REPRESENTED

The RSMAS Aquaculture Program was well represented at the 2007 World Aquaculture Conference and Trade Show held in San Antonio, Texas, in February 26-March 1st, 2007. Drs. Daniel Benetti and Refik Orhun along with graduate students Ian Zink, Ron Hoenig, Donald Bacoat, Bruno Sardenberg and Fernando Cavalin gave eight oral presentations
in various sessions at the conference.

Submitted by Professor Daniel Benetti

LIBRARY SCIENCE

The RSMAS Library’s primary mission is to support scientific communication in the RSMAS community. There are a number of traditional tasks we undertake to support that mission: buying, preserving and making accessible formal scientific communication (journals, books, etc.) that is needed by the community; supporting the educational mission of the faculty through our course reserves service and general collections; providing training in the use of various tools/resources for finding and managing scientific literature; obtaining publications from other libraries for our patrons through interlibrary loan; and providing space for individual study, group work and meetings.

My vision for the RSMAS Library is that it be both a traditional library with walls and windows but also considered a “library without walls”. Books keep a library grounded in its traditional identity. The physical book collection will continue to be an anchor for the library in the near future. The physical library not only houses the collection but is also a public space where individuals from various parts of the community can meet and exchange ideas. This public space also serves as sanctuary for solitary study and reading. Major elements of the library’s collection, however, are no longer physical and constitute our “library without walls.” Electronic journals are at our patrons’ fingertips in their offices, at their homes or anywhere they can obtain internet access around the world. You can take a good part of the library with you wherever you go as long as you have internet access.

We librarians enjoy meeting our patrons, both in the library and outside. Like the electronic journals we also can be mobile. Angela and I plan to give various training sessions to groups around campus. A good part of our success will depend on the cooperation and involvement of the RSMAS community. I invite everyone to give us feedback on the collections and services as we go forward. Remember, we are here to serve you.

Submitted by Lisa Fish

ABOUT OUR HEAD LIBRARIAN, LISA FISH

“I grew up and went to college in northern Minnesota after which I studied human communication at Purdue in Indiana. My tornado dreams did not disappear until I moved away from the Midwest to go to library school (Rutgers) in New Jersey. My professional worklife started at the Research Libraries of the New York Public Library in Manhattan (the famous one with the two lions in front). Six plus years later family ties took me to Puerto Rico where I got some experience doing field work with several scientists. Other family commitments brought me back to the Midwest and I found an exciting niche at the Linda Hall Library in Kansas City, Missouri. While I was there I developed a library research service for engineers around the world – great fun! My next adventure was back to Manhattan where I worked for Columbia University for the last ten years as librarian to the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory and as geology librarian on the main campus. Since moving to Miami I have been house sitting and dog-sitting a sweet, beautiful German Shepherd. New past-times are exploring greater Miami-Ft. Lauderdale and driving my new car (haven’t owned a car in years!). Too soon to say if/when I’ll start having hurricane dreams….”

Click here for a larger image

TRADITIONAL JIMBO’S RUN HELD ON THE 27TH

April 27th marked the end of classes for another regular school year at RSMAS, and keeping with tradition the Jimbo’s Run was held with much enjoyment from those who participated. This year winners were selected to receive various prizes in four categories:

Fastest: Joel Llopez Hey are bikes allowed?

Slowest: John Kool Blind folded and survived crossing the Rickenbacker!

Fastest Team: David Die and child The burden of winning certainly fell on the
shoulders of only one teammate!

Most Creative: Adrienne Romanski and Paul Jones The crazy brit on campus played Fiddo for the run!

The beer was cold at the finish line, perhaps the lack of water was what caused the speedy consumption of so much beer! Thank you to all who participated in this and all the events this year, making it truly a fun one!!

MSGSO Officer Board of 2006-2007

MORE WINNERS FROM OUR CAMPUS

The 2007 Research and Creativity Forum was held on Wednesday, April 18, 2007 at the UC Center on the main campus. Students participating in the Citizens Board Research and Creativity Forum have the unique opportunity of showcasing their research before other students, faculty, administration, and the public. At the Citizens Board Research and Creativity Forum, students gain important experience in presenting and defending research/creative works in a setting modeled after a professional poster session and exhibition.

FLORIDA OCEANS DAY 2007

For the past 9 years, everyone who is anyone in ocean science shows up at the Florida state capitol in Tallahassee each April for the Florida Oceans Alliance sponsored Oceans Day. This one-day event gives universities and others in marine science a chance to meet and greet with local school groups and Florida legislators to discuss topics related to the seas. This year over 60 exhibitors set up between the capitol rotunda and the courtyard. Karen Wilkening and Michele Rowand represented RSMAS to those who stopped by the booth to ask questions and to say hi. There was a blend of alumni, former employees, legislators, school groups and the general public. There are photos from this year and the years prior on-line at: http://www.floridaoceanalliance.org/index.htm

ALUMNI NEWS

Welcome to our new alumni section that will appear each month in Soundings. And special thanks to the RSMAS alumni below who responded to our initial request for news and updated contact information. Keep the news coming!

1960s

Lowell P. Thomas PhD ’65 MBF, after 26 years at RSMAS first as a student then faculty member, resigned his Professorship in 1982 to pursue with his wife Stephanie PhDs in Clinical Psychology from Virginia Tech. The new degrees were awarded in 1986 and 1988 (respectively). Lowell and Stephanie currently live in Naples with their two children, Geoffrey, 16, and Victoria, 17. Lowell’s older children and grandchildren live in Miami and Tampa. Now both retired from the practice of psychology, Lowell teaches T’ai Chi and Chi Kung, sails and builds boats as a hobby. Stephanie is a computer graphics artist.

Benjamin McPherson PhD ’68, MBF, retired last year from the U.S. Geological Survey after spending all of his career as Hydrologist in Florida, primarily in the Everglades-Big Cypress-SW coastal region. Ben continues as a volunteer for the USGS Center for Coastal and Watershed Studies in Tampa.

William Eschmeyer PhD ’69 MBF, after 37 years at the California Academy of Sciences (CAS) where he was Curator and Chairman of the Department Of Ichthyology, he continues as Curator Emeritus. Bill still maintains a huge database on the internet, Catalog of Fishes – all fish taxa in considerable detail (ca. 50,000 species/subspecies; 27,000 valid), and still finding about 300-400 new fish species per year. Bill is a Fellows Medalist (CAS), and receiver of the ASIH Gibbs Award. He now enjoys living on a golf course in Tennessee near where he grew to age 12.

1970s

David G. Smith, PhD ’72 MBF, is a Museum Specialist in the Division of Fishes, Department of Vertebrate Zoology, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian in Washington, DC.
Ronald S. Oremland, PhD ’76 MBF, is a Senior Scientist with U.S. Geological Survey in Menlo Park, California. He is a Fellow of AGU and ASM, and the recipient of the Distinguished Service Award DOI and Fachbeirat Max Planck Institute Marburg. Ron serves on the Editorial Board of Environ Microbiol. Appl. & Environmental Microbiol.,
and is Associate Editor of the Geomicrobiology Journal. He is also President of the International Symposia on Environmental Biogeochemistry, Inc.

Jorge E. Corredor, PhD ’78 MBF, Professor of Chemical Oceanography, Dept. of Marine Sciences, University of Puerto Rico, Mayaguez, has been appointed a member of the Ocean Studies Board, National Academies for 2007–2010.

Luis A. Soto, PhD ’78 MBF, Professor at the Institute of Marine Science and Limnology, National Autonomous University of Mexico and leading scientist in Mexico in deep-water research, is head of the Benthic Ecology Lab, and a member of several national and international advisory scientific panels on marine environmental impact and exploration projects. Luis is also a member of the Mexican Academy of Science and the National Researchers System. Additionally, he is co-editor of the journal Revista de Investigaciones Marinas (University de la Habana).

1980s

Robert E Hueter, MS ’80 MBF, PhD ’88 Univ of FL, occupies the Perry W. Gilbert Chair in Shark Research at the Mote Marine Laboratory in Sarasota FL, where he has been Director of the Center for Shark Research since 1992, and is Manager of the center’s Shark Biology Program. Bob’s current research focuses on the anatomy, physiology, behavior, ecology and fisheries biology of sharks worldwide, especially in the Gulf of Mexico, Caribbean and Gulf of California.

Katherine Muzik, PhD ’80 MBF, has just left the northwest coast of Puerto Rico, where she lived for 11 years, to return to Okinawa, Japan. There Katy will be writing multilingual books about nature and the environment (especially for children), and translating underwater TV programs into Spanish and English.

Ricardo Febry, MS ’85 MBF, MD, is Managing Member of Internal Medicine Consultants, LLC in New Orleans, LA. He is the Founding Member and Medical Director of Hospice Associates of New Orleans. And as the 120th President of the Orleans Parish (aka County) Medical Society, 2007-2008, he is helping rebuild and redesign delivery of healthcare services for the uninsured in the state of Louisiana, post hurricane Katrina.

William J. Cooper, PhD ’87 MAC, is now Director and Professor of the Urban Water Research Center, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of California, Irvine.

Mitchell Roffer, PhD ’87 MBF, President of Roffer’s Ocean Fishing Forecasting Service, Inc., recently moved from Miami to Melbourne, FL where he has been appointed to the adjunct faculty of the Dept. of Marine and Environmental Systems, Florida Institute of Technology. He is currently finishing a 3-year NASA grant “Study of ocean environmental parameters to forecast the effects of climate variability on pelagic fish resources”. Mitch is interested in collaborating with RSMAS alumni and staff on a wide range of subjects ranging from remote sensing to fisheries.

Faiza Al-Yamani PhD ’88 MBF, is a Senior Scientist at Kuwait Institute for Scientific Research, Salmiyah, Kuwait, where she continues her researcher in oceanography. She is also teaching two courses at Kuwait University and serving as a committee member for 4 MS students.

1990s

Cindy (Hobson) Contreras, MS ’90 MBF, Biologist for the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, was elected this year a Fellow of the Texas Academy of Science. She and her husband Mike have two children, 7-year-old Elizabeth and 4-year-old Noah.

Marta J. deMaintenon, MS ’90 MBF, PhD ‘96 University of California, Berkeley, is now Associate Professor in the Marine Science Department, University of Hawaii, Hilo where she teaches courses in marine biology, ecology, evolution and statistical applications. Her research interests in gastropod mollusks and in the benthic marine organisms of the Hawaiian Islands primarily focus on macroevolutionary patterns, particularly origins and diversification patterns, evolution of key character suites, and biogeography. She is also an Associate of the graduate faculty of Ecology, Evolution and Conservation Biology at the University of Hawaii at Manoa. When not teaching or doing research Marta enjoys Hawaiian-style outrigger canoe paddling.

Hunter Augustus, MA ‘91 MAF, is happy to report that, thanks to a “new-wave” kind of pacemaker, he’s recovered well enough from his bout with idiopathic cardiomyopathy (a kind of heart failure with an unidentifiable cause), he’s back at work at RSMAS and even able to take up limited exercise again. He also has finished writing a novel set in Guadalcanal during WWII called, “Song of the Solomons—Fault lines in the South Pacific”. Now to find a publisher!

Nélio B. Barros, PhD ’93 MBF, has moved from the Mote Marine Laboratory in Sarasota,FL to Oregon where he is a Research Associate in the Biology Department of Portland State University (PSU). He will remain connected with Mote, where he was Senior Scientist for the past 7 years, through ongoing, funded research projects. Prior to Mote, Nelio worked from 1994 to 2000 at the Hubbs-Sea World Research Institute in Orlando with former RSMAS professor Dan Odell. At PSU, Nélio will be working closely with a colleague with the ultimate goal to establish a PSU field research station on the coast. Additionally, Nélio will serve as Editor-in-chief of the Latin American Journal of Aquatic Mammals (LAJAM) for 2008-2009.

Trisha D. Stone, MA ’95 MAF, is a Senior Environmental Analyst for the Natural Resource Management Division, South Florida Water Management District, West Palm Beach, FL.

Robert N. Harris, Postdoctoral Associate, ’97-‘99 MGG, is an Associate Professor in the College of Oceanic and Atmospheric Sciences at Oregon State University in Corvallis, OR.

Steven J. Lutz, MA ’98 MAF, is now Advocate for Marine Environmental Policy for the Marine Conservation Biology Institute, Washington, DC. His project areas include conservation of shallow and cold-water corals, protection of benthic habitats from destructive fishing practices, marine protected areas in national and international waters, conservation of the endangered Hawaiian monk seal, and appropriations for NOAA (including sea turtle programs).

Erica Rule, MA ’99 MAF, has been at NOAA’s Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory since 1999. Now a mother with two children, she has been working part time as Outreach Coordinator while still keeping involved with RSMAS as Vice President of the RSMAS Alumni Association. In March she was tapped into the Iron Arrow Honor Society of the University of Miami.

2000s

James Byrne, MA ’00 MAF, has been appointed the Science Director for the Southeast Caribbean Program of the Nature Conservancy, which includes Jamaica, the Cayman Islands, and the Virgin Islands south to Trinidad. Also, he has been appointed Interim-Director of the Virgin Islands Office.

Rene Marie Price, PhD ’01 MGG, is an Assistant Professor in Earth Sciences at Florida International University, and is coming up for tenure this year. Her research is related to the hydrogeology of the Everglades. She has three children, ages 10, 8 and 3.
Nadiera C. Sukhraj, MA ’01 MAF, is currently working on her PhD in coral reef ecology at the Institute of Marine Biology, University of Hawaii , Manoa, and working as a Research Program Intern of the Hawaii Coral Reef Initiative at the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service Pacific Island Field Office in Honolulu.

Patrick D. Biber, PhD ’02 MBF, is an Assistant Professor in Marine Botany at the University of Southern Mississippi’s Gulf Coast Research Laboratory in Ocean Springs where he is heavily involved in programs to develop procedures for producing native plants that will be readily available for habitat restoration in Mississippi coastal wetlands, and to develop software applications for predictive indicators of the health of submerged aquatic vegetation for management purposes.

Diana M. Gonzalez, MA ’02 MBF, following completion of her masters, enrolled at the University of Florida College of Veterinary Medicine, and graduated Magna Cum Laude with a Doctor in Veterinary Medicine in 2006. She is currently working as an Associate Veterinarian in a small animal medicine and surgery hospital in Lauderhill, FL.

Audra Livergood, MA ’02 MAF, Fisheries Biologist, has been working for NOAA’s Protected Resources Division (PRD) for the past year from her office in Kendall. She is primarily responsible for reviewing project proposals for coastal and marine construction projects and analyzing potential affects to endangered and threatened species under NOAA’s purview. Prior to her assignment with PRD, she was doing Essential Fish Habitat consultations for proposed coastal and marine construction projects in southeast Florida.

Jennifer Perce, MA ’02 MAF, after nearly 3 years working for the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission, a specialized agency of the United Nations, lived briefly in Spain, and is now in coastal Colombia, working with local foundations to confront issues of environment and development, while looking for a job in this field.

M. Pilar Cornejo, PhD ’03 MPO, is a Professor of the Facultad de Ingenierîa Maritima y Ciencias del Mar, ESPOL, Campus Gustavo Galindo in Guayaquil, Ecuador, and is a member of the WCRP-JSC. She has been invited to give the Rachel Carson Lecture at the Spring AGU Meetings (Ocean Science Section) in Acapulco, Mexico.

Jennifer L. Jurado, PhD ’03 MBF, is the Water Resources Manager for the Broward County Environmental Protection Department, and the mother of 2-year-old Amanda.

Tiina Manne. MS ’03 MGG, doctoral student in the Dept. of Anthropology, University of Arizona, continues her research on the faunal assemblage of an Upper Paleolithic site in southwestern Portugal. Her technical focus is zooarchaeology and interests include hunter-gatherer economies and coastal Paleolithic human responses to population growth and environmental change (specifically LGM). And on the personal front, she became engaged last year.

Carlos A.A. Zarikian, PhD ’03 MGG, is a Staff Scientist in the Integrated Ocean Drilling Program at Texas A&M University, College Station, TX.

Rebecca Lynn Greenberg, MA ’04 MAF, is currently working as a Marine Scientist with Oceana in their European headquarters in Madrid, Spain where she is helping to lead a campaign on shark conservation in Europe.

Loretta Leist, MA ’04 MGG, joined the Mississippi-Alabama Sea Grant Consortium in 2006 as Program Officer in their administrative office at the University of Southern Mississippi’s Gulf Coast Research Laboratory in Ocean Springs. Her duties include coordinating, managing and tracking all research, education and outreach projects for the Sea-Grant College Program. Formerly Loretta was with The Nature Conservancy of Mississippi where she was a program coordinator, and became a certified wildland firefighter.

Wendy Wood, MA ’04 MAF, is an Administrative Coordinator at the National Coral Reef Institute of Nova Southeastern University in Dania Beach, FL. She recently joined the Board of the Yamaha Contender Miami Billfish Tournament, a non-profit fishing tournament whose proceeds benefit various marine conservation groups, including RSMAS.

Robert Robbins, PhD ’05 MBF, is President and General Manager of WMKL, 91.9 FM Radio in Miami. The father of 1 1⁄2-year-old Caleb, Rob and his wife Leah are expecting baby Robbins #2 in October 2007.

Edgar Rudberg, MA ’05 MAF, is an Environmental Planner for the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency.

Emily Carlson, MA ’06 MAF, is the Volunteer Programs & Outreach Coordinator for the NOAA Hawaiian Islands Humpback Whale National Marine Sanctuary. She also reports marriage plans for September 2007.

Submitted by Nancy Voss

Transmit Your Data

Continue to enjoy reading about your former classmates and letting them and us here at RSMAS know where you are and what you’ve been doing by sharing news about yourself in a future issue of Soundings. Your contact data will update your listing in our RSMAS Alumni Directory.

Simply complete this form and e-mail it to: alumni@rsmas.miami.edu
Telephone: 305-421-4061

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