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Guam Hub: Typhoon Mawar Restoration
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On May 25, 2023 Guam was hit with the Category 5 Typhoon Mawar. The typhoon brought the island, and all our summer programming, to a halt. To date, the island still experiences power load shedding and unreliable internet and telecommunications. Although summer programming was canceled, participants volunteered their time to help our community rebuild! The Guam hub actively participated in Typhoon Mawar restoration initiatives. In May, the team collaborated with the UOG Center of Island Sustainability and Sea Grant, and the Guam Green Growth Conservation Corps to assist in debris cleanup on campus. In June, alongside the Office of the Governor of Guam and volunteers from other government agencies, contributed to the packaging of over 7,500 food packages, totaling 300,000 pounds of food, which were then distributed to different villages and service-oriented agencies.
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Members of SEAS, Navigating Home, Guam Green Growth, G3 Kupu, and NSF EPSCoR teams assisted with the food commodities packaging and distribution days after Typhoon Mawar. Teams collaborated with other UOG departments and local agencies to package and distribute much-needed supplies and food for the community.
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PR Hub: Field Workshop at Laguna Grande
The summer was full of activity for the Puerto Rico Hub. We started off the field season with our annual Field Workshop at Laguna Grande in Fajardo. This workshop is an immersive research experience for the newest cohort (Cohort 3) of SEAS undergraduate students. Over the course of the week, the students engaged with a research mentor in small groups (2-3) to ask questions about various features of the BioBay ecosystem. The previous cohort (Cohort 2) also visited and spent some time orienting the new students to the different measurements taken as part of the monitoring program. This is a kind of “passing of the baton”, as Cohort 3 prepares to take over the monitoring at the end of the summer. Finally, students present their work to a symposium that includes peers and family members. This is always a rewarding experience for all of us, to hear how much the students have taken away from this intense but short time doing ocean science! This year, the students presented their work in a bilingual format so that they had both practice in presenting in English and could communicate their work to family members. Every year there is a special element to this program and Lora Harris, faculty mentor from the University of Maryland Center of Environmental Science, wants to highlight a particularly enjoyable hour spent with the students and workforce fellows visiting with local residents and harvesting mangoes with their enthusiastic permission (so many mangoes!!!) We were also so excited to welcome Dr. Natasha De León Rodriguez to the workshop, a new mentor in our program who specializes in molecular and microbial ecology. The students loved working with her and it is wonderful to have another Puerto Rican research mentor in the Hub!
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USVI Hub: Middle School through Graduate Programming
The Junior Ocean Explorers (JOE) Summer Program operates as a 2-week experience for youth in grades 3-6. This summer, we engaged 27 students, who learned swimming and snorkeling fundamentals, marine animal and plant identification, microscopy, and STEM-infused arts and crafts.
 
The Youth Ocean Explorers (YOE) Summer Program operates as a continuous, 4-week experience for youth in grades 7-12. This summer, we engaged 35 students (23 on St. Thomas and 12 on St. Croix). This year also saw the highest number of staff/mentors recruited; 26 staff were hired which included mentors, Water Safety Instructors, Program Coordinators, and a professional photographer.
 
This summer, the USVI Hub supported 9 UVI undergraduate students in 6-week summer internships with territorial partners, including The Nature Conservancy (TNC), Virgin Islands Department of Planning and Natural Resources Division of Coastal Zone Management and Division of Fish and WIldlife, and the University of the Virgin Islands (Dr. Marilyn Brandt’s lab, Dr. Bernard Castillo’s lab, and Dr. Kristin Wilson Grimes’ lab).
The USVI hub welcomed two new graduate fellows to the Master’s of Marine & Environmental Studies Program at UVI in August: Ella Troutman (SEAS) and Sarai Hutchinson (Securing STEM Island Pathways). Finally, they also welcomed three new Workforce Fellows in late August: Allison Holevoet (SEAS, working with GRROE USVI Mangroves and the Grimes Lab) and Chloé Camacho (Navigating Home, VI Reef Response and the Brandt Lab), and Amanda Boissiere (Securing STEM Island Pathways, TNC). All three women are past program participants (Bridge and Emerging Caribbean Scientists Program).
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SEAS Spotlight: Britney Sison
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The Guam hub spotlights SEAS alumni Britney Sison. Britney was a GROWing STEM high school intern in 2018 and went on to become a SEAS Undergraduate (UG) Fellow in 2021. During her time as UG Fellow, Britney was accepted to present her research at the 26th International Diatom Symposium, which brought together hundreds of diatom researchers from around the world for the virtual event from Aug. 23 to 25 out of Yamagata, Japan. Her presentation, titled “New species of conopeate Nitzschia in the Pacific Islands” won third place in the student poster competition. Her research focused on discovery of five potentially undocumented diatoms in mud samples from the Micronesian Islands of Palau, Yap, Pohnpei, and the Marshall Islands, samples collected in partnership with our Micronesia Bridge to Bachelor’s Fellows. In her senior year, Britney served as UOG SACNAS Chapter President. In light of the many accomplishments that the UOG SACNAS Chapter has achieved in her time as President, the SACNAS officers applied for the annual SACNAS Chapter Awards for Undergraduates and were awarded Undergraduate Chapter of the Year! They were commended for their effort in their revival of the chapter after years of remote learning due to COVID-19. Britney graduated in May of 2023 earning a Bachelor of Science in both Biology and Chemistry. Britney was one of three students who shared the award of Valedictorian for their graduating class.
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Making Waves
Akacia Halliday-Isaac (Bridge 2017, UVI MMES alumna) received a 2024 John A. Knauss Marine Policy Fellowship from NOAA! She was selected as one of 85 finalists from across the country selected for the 2024 class. Akacia attended the University of Mississippi for her Ph.D. through connections made during the Bridge Program. She will be entering the legislative branch.
YOE student Maleyah Navarro completed her second summer with the Youth Diving With a Purpose Program (YDWP) where she spent 3 weeks engaged in coral restoration and archaeological diving. Additionally, Maleyah was recognized as the YDWP ambassador for St. Croix.
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SEAS Table Talk with Dr. Letise Lafeir
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Please join the SEAS Islands Alliance as we kick off our 2023-2024 Table Talk series with Dr. Letise Lafeir.
Dr. LaFeir serves as the Chief of Conservation and Stewardship at New England Aquarium, overseeing Animal Care, Conservation Learning, Community Engagement, Anderson Cabot Center for Ocean Life, and Conservation Policy. Most recently, Dr. LaFeir served as a day-one Biden-Harris Administration appointee in the role of Senior Advisor to the Under Secretary of Commerce for Oceans and Atmosphere and the Administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
To learn more about Dr. LaFeir’s STEM journey, please join our first Table Talk of the academic year on Monday, November 6th at 4pm EST/ 5pm AST (Tuesday, November 7th at 7am Chamorro Standard Time). Please register for the event at this link. Keep an eye out for future editions of the Table Talk series.
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