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Science News
Federal Funding Renewed for Summer Research Program for Undergraduates
 Maryland Sea Grant has been awarded a five-year, $900,000 grant by the National Science Foundation to continue a program that brings college undergraduates to the Chesapeake Bay to spend a summer conducting research.
Now in its 25th year, Maryland Sea Grant's Research Experiences for Undergraduates in Marine and Estuarine Sciences (REU) program supports students from across the country. They spend 12 weeks in Maryland working with a faculty mentor on a research project.
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Bay Microbe Makes Big
 One of the Chesapeake Bay’s most useful organisms may also be among its
smallest. What this bacterium with a long name -- that’s
Saccharophagus degradans
strain 2-40 -- lacks in size, it makes up for in its possible uses for a
range of human enterprises: those include medicine, keeping sticky
organisms off of boats, and producing cleaner fuels. Now
University of Maryland researcher Ronald Weiner and his colleagues have
received several new patents stemming from investigations into this
talented microbe, which were funded in part by Maryland Sea Grant.
Weiner, a microbiologist at the College Park campus, explains that the
microorganism’s success comes from its ability to break apart many
hard-to-degrade carbohydrates, such as the cellulose in plants. The new
patents, awarded in 2012, seek to harness that power: One describes new
methods for producing clean-burning biofuels from plant products. The
second concerns technology that could help keep fouling organisms, such
as algae, off of ship hulls. The team also received a third patent in
spring 2012 that describes the unique groups of enzymes produced by
S. degradans.
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Maryland Sea Grant’s Program Leader for Extension to Step Down
 Douglas Lipton, director of Maryland Sea Grant’s Extension team, will step down from his position this June to pursue a new opportunity. He will join the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) as the senior research economist at the agency’s National Marine Fisheries Service. He will be missed in Maryland and beyond. “Doug is an icon in the Bay, both as a highly respected and valued economist and as Maryland Sea Grant’s Extension program leader,” said Troy Hartley, who directs Virginia’s Sea Grant program. Lipton has been with Maryland Sea Grant since 1988, first as a fisheries economics specialist and, since 1993, as the head of the Extension program. The program’s agents and specialists reach out to government agencies and communities across Maryland to promote the restoration of the Chesapeake Bay and the well-being of local communities -- whether it’s by helping to improve the water quality of local streams or by aiding efforts to restore native oysters to the estuary.
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Sea Grant Programs Honor Senator Mikulski’s Support of Coastal Research and Education
 U.S. Senator Barbara Mikulski of Maryland has received an award from the
Sea Grant Association, a network of university programs that supports
research and education about the nation’s coasts, to recognize her
long-standing efforts as a champion of these programs. Senator
Mikulski’s support of funding for the National Sea Grant College Program
has led to federal financing for work by Maryland Sea Grant to help
preserve the Chesapeake Bay. The Special Recognition Award,
presented Tuesday, March 5, is the first such award from the Sea Grant
Association, which is composed of academic programs in 32 coastal and
Great Lakes states. The nonprofit group also awarded Congressman Frank
Wolf of Virginia the same honor on Tuesday.
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Four Knauss Marine Policy Fellows Work in Washington in 2013
Maryland will support four Knauss Marine Policy Fellows in 2013 to work for federal agencies on issues involving marine and coastal resources. Fellows Jennifer Bosch, Nicole Bransome, Carrie Soltanoff, and Metthea Yepsen have all studied in graduate programs at the University of Maryland. Bosch and Yepsen will spend their year-long fellowship at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Bransome at the Department of the Interior, and Soltanoff at the National Marine Fisheries Service. The Knauss Fellowship, begun in 1979, is designed to present outstanding graduate students with an opportunity to spend a year working with policy and science experts in Washington, D.C. The program, named for marine scientist and former NOAA Administrator John A. Knauss, is coordinated by NOAA's National Sea Grant Office.
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