Defining Research and Workforce Training Needs for Coastal Resilience
Wednesday, June 3, 1-2 PM EST |Watch the Webinar| Complete the Webinar 1 Survey
Speaker: Paul Gader, Ph.D., Professor, Computer and Information Sciences and Engineering, and Affiliate Professor in Environmental Engineering Science, University of Florida
Presentation: Coastal Water Quality Hazards, Proposed Approach, Partner Capabilities and Summit Goals
Paul Gader is Professor of Computer and Information Sciences and Engineering, and an affiliate Professor in Environmental Engineering Science at the University of Florida. He began researching image analysis and machine learning in 1984. His career as a research scientist at Honeywell’s System and Research Center and the Environmental Research Institute of Michigan; and in previous academic appointments in Math and Electrical and Computer Engineering departments. He was a leading researcher of algorithms for handwriting recognition and landmine detection and has researched several other problems, including hyperspectral image analysis. He gave tutorials in the latter area at international conferences. He has published over 300 papers, served as a UF Research Foundation Professor and was named an IEEE Fellow in 2011. His academic background includes a B.S., M.S., Ph.D. in mathematics.
Speaker: Tom. K Frazer, Ph.D., Chief Science Officer, State of Florida
Presentation: Grand Challenges of Coastal Water Quality Hazards
Thomas K. Frazer is a Professor and the Director of the School of Natural Resources and Environment at the University of Florida. Dr. Frazer holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Fisheries Biology from Humboldt State University and a Master’s Degree in Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences from the University of Florida. He earned his Ph.D. in Biological Sciences from the University of California, Santa Barbara. His research addresses contemporary and emerging environmental issues, and it is, by nature, interdisciplinary. His work involves collaborators from disparate disciplines, and it includes sampling and experiments conducted across a wide range of spatial and temporal scales. During his tenure at the University of Florida, Dr. Frazer has garnered substantial research funding to address topics pertaining to water quantity and quality, nutrient dynamics, biogeochemical processes, fish population dynamics, food web interactions, and ecological restoration of degraded ecosystems. He has conducted field research in both freshwater and marine systems around the globe, and he is intimately familiar with a broad suite of environmental and natural resource issues (e.g., eutrophication of fresh, estuarine, and coastal waters; invasive species; and the ecological impacts of contemporary environmental change, including coral bleaching, ocean acidification, and sea level rise). Dr. Frazer has authored and/or co-authored more than 175 peer-reviewed publications, technical reports, and book chapters. He serves as Chief Specialty Editor for the Coral Reef Research section of Frontiers in Marine Science, currently holds an at-large seat on the Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council, and is on the board of the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities’ Oceans, Atmosphere and Climate group.
Enhancing Community Resilience Through Effective Data Communications
Thursday, June 11, 1:30-3 PM EST | Watch the Webinar | Complete the Webinar 2 Survey
Speaker: Tracy Fanara, E.I., Ph.D, Program Manager, Environmental Health, Mote Marine Laboratory
Presentation: Protecting public health through community, communication, and citizen science
Dr. Tracy Fanara is an engineer, research scientist, and public speaker with a B.S., M.E., and Ph.D. from the University of Florida’s Department of Environmental Engineering. Tracy spent almost a decade in engineering consulting, before and during her research at UF, focused on storm-water treatment and watershed scale retrofit designs to restore predevelopment hydrology in urban areas. Tracy now manages the Environmental Health research program at Mote Marine Laboratory where she designs and develops technology, tools and programs to protect wildlife and water quality. At Mote, her program also focuses is on harmful algae communication and citizen science, as she redeveloped a website and developed three apps for publicly available environmental data reporting with over 1.6 million users. Tracy spends time outside of work on communicating science, was recently Xylem YSI’s Mission: Water, Water Hero, and was featured in Marvel’s Unstoppable Wasp. which led to her co-produced comic series, Seekers of Science. Tracy communicates science through television as she is an expert for Weather Channel’s morning shows and can be seen on TV shows from Science Channel, Fox, ABC, CBS, and the Weather Channel.
Speaker: Virginia Haley, President, Visit Sarasota County
Presentation: Sharing Truth with Visitors
Virginia Haley has served at the helm of Visit Sarasota County (VSC) since 1999. VSC is an independent partnership organization serving all of Sarasota County and delivers an innovative $7 million tourism marketing campaign to benefit the citizens of Sarasota. Previously, Virginia was Director of Communications & Government Relations at Mote Marine Laboratory. Virginia came to Sarasota in 1989 to run the local office for Congressman Porter Goss. Prior to that time, she worked in Washington, D.C. in President Ronald Reagan’s administration as the Director of Scheduling, Security and Protocol for the Department of Health and Human Services and she worked on Capitol Hill for a number of years.
Virginia currently serves as the Immediate Past Chair of the Board for the Destination Marketing Accreditation Program and serves on the VISIT FLORIDA Board of Directors as its Chairman. Virginia is a past Chair of the Florida Association of Destination Management Organizations. She also serves as the Immediate Past President for the Sarasota Tiger Bay Club. Virginia is a leader with the Sarasota Bayfront 20:20 community redevelopment effort.
Virginia is married to Jack Haley, now retired working his dream job at a golf course. Her daughter Madeline and son-in-law both live in Sarasota which means Virginia gets to spoil her two grandchildren Carter and Claire.
Speaker: Daniel Andrews, Executive Director, Captains for Clean Water
Presentation: Captains for Clean Water: A community effort to protect our waterways
Captain Daniel Andrews once lived his life’s calling as a full-time fishing guide. As the Southwest Florida estuaries began declining, so did Captain Daniel’s business. He learned of the lack of environmental awareness in the outdoor community, leading him to co-found Captains for Clean Water. As Executive Director, Capt. Daniel keeps a steady pulse on Florida water policy and projects, working with elected officials and government agencies to ensure science-based solutions are implemented to restore our water quality. Capt. Daniel firmly believes that to protect the Everglades and our way of life, we must be the ones to speak up.
Speaker: Lori Pennington-Gray, Ph.D., Director, Tourism Crisis Management Initiative, University of Florida
Presentation: The way forward: key considerations for success
Dr. Pennington-Gray’s research uses a “systems approach” to understand both demand-side and supply-side issues related to tourism. A primary focus of her research is tourism crisis management and how destinations respond to crisis. Dr. Pennington-Gray received her Ph.D. from Michigan State University (1999), her M.S. from The Pennsylvania State University (1994), and her B.S. from Waterloo University in Canada (1993). She has expertise in tourism marketing, planning and development, policy and crisis management. She has been involved with a number of tourism studies globally and has worked with a number of countries on tourism policy initiatives. Dr. Pennington-Gray has published more than 80 refereed articles, has brought in more than $6M in external research dollars and made over 300 presentations.
Envisioning Future Coastal Sensing Technologies
Wednesday, June 17, 1-2:30 PM EST | Watch the Webinar | Complete the Webinar 3 Survey
Speaker: Avni A. Argun, Ph.D., Director, Advanced Materials, Giner, Inc.
Presentation: Rapid and Field-Deployable Detection of Marine Toxins
Dr. Argun has more than fifteen years of experience in developing electrochemical biosensors for detection of various analytes in water and soil environments. He obtained his Ph.D. in Chemistry at the University of Florida, followed by his postdoctoral studies at MIT’s Department of Chemical Engineering. Joining Giner, Inc. in 2010, his current and recent work in biosensors include rapid detection of harmful algal bloom (HAB) toxins in ocean water and shellfish tissue, portable detection of microorganisms in groundwater, and field-deployable monitors for determination of heavy metals in complex environmental solutions. He has authored over twenty research articles on various electrochemical device technologies and co-authored four US patents on electrochemical device design.
Speaker: David P. Arnold, Ph.D. MIST Center, University of Florida
Presentation: MIST Center: A Consortium for Innovation in Sensing
David P. Arnold is the George Kirkland Engineering Leadership Professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Deputy Director of the NSF Multi-functional Integrated System Technology (MIST) Center, and a member of the Interdisciplinary Microsystems Group at the University of Florida. He received dual B.S. (1999) and M.S. degrees (2001) from University of Florida and the Ph.D. degree in electrical and computer engineering from Georgia Tech (2004). His research focuses on micro/nanostructured magnetic materials, magnetic microsystems, electromechanical transducers, and miniaturized power/energy systems. He is active in the magnetics and MEMS communities, including various conference committees and the editorial boards of Micromachines and J. Micromechanics and Microengineering. He has co-authored more than 200 refereed journal and conference publications, and holds 22 U.S. patents. His research innovations have been recognized by the 2008 Presidential Early Career Award in Science and Engineering (PECASE) and the 2009 DARPA Young Faculty Award. He is a Senior Member of IEEE and a member of Tau Beta Pi and Eta Kappa Nu. Beyond his passion for teaching and research, he most enjoys spending time with his wife and three children.
Speaker: Jennifer Dorton, Deputy Director, Southeast Coastal Ocean Observing Regional Association (SECOORA)
Presentation: Current State of Ocean Observing in the Southeast
Jennifer is responsible for implementation of SECOORA’s updated regional observing plan, managing Data Management and Communications, coordinating SECOORA’s principal investigators, and growing the observing system. Before joining SECOORA, Jennifer led grant funded programs and projects at the University of North Carolina Wilmington (UNCW). She has served as a Principal Investigator on the SECOORA funded UNCW Coastal Ocean Research and Monitoring Program and as the lead PI on the Marine Weather Portal web development project. Jennifer has worked as the Coordinator for NOAA teams such as NOAA in the Carolinas and the North Carolina Sentinel Site Cooperative. Jennifer and her husband, Jay Styron, also own and operate Carolina Mariculture Co., an oyster farm where they use off-bottom mariculture techniques to farm raise oysters.
Speaker: Stephanie Smith, Ph.D., Product Line Manager, YSI/Xylem
Presentation: Water Quality Sensors: Today and Tomorrow
Dr. Smith manages YSI’s Environmental Solutions division, and has worked in technology development for over 20 years. As a scientist she is most often associated with the field of harmful algal blooms and toxic algae, the technical gateway that has led to a deep understanding of water quality issues of many types. At YSI she has been involved in sensor development and leading teams that integrate diverse technologies into water quality monitoring systems. She embraces operating at the interface of commercial strategy, research and development, and product marketing and management.
Leveraging AI to Innovate Coastal Resilience
Wednesday, June 24, 1-2:30 PM EST | Watch the Webinar | Complete the Webinar 4 Survey
Speaker: Alex N. Beavers, Jr., Ph.D., Chief Innovation Officer, Mote Marine Laboratory
Presentation: Brief of Survey of Available AI Tools for Marine Science and Coastal Waters Data
Alex Beavers is currently is the Chief Innovation Officer of Mote Marine Laboratory and co-creator of the Mote Learning Engine. His professional background includes being Executive Director for clean tech commercialization at SRI International (Stanford Research Institute), founding CEO of startups Averatek Corp. and Artificial Muscle, Inc., and CEO of Thomson Industries, Applicon, Inc., and Schlumberger Automation Systems Asia, and GM of the General Electric Robotics and Vision Systems Business. His academic background includes a BS, MS, PhD all in electrical engineering, and an MBA. He has one patent issued and has authored over 25 papers, and two books.
Speaker: Richard Stumpf, Ph.D., Oceanographer, National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science, NOAA
Presentation: State-of-the-Art and Challenges in Remote Sensing of Hazardous Algae Blooms
Dr. Richard Stumpf is an oceanographer with NOAA’s National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science. Dr. Stumpf works to improve forecasts of harmful algal blooms and develop and apply remotely sensed satellites to coastal regions. His research has included most of the U.S. east and Gulf coasts, the upper Great Lakes, and central California.
Speaker: Farron Wallace, Ph.D., Director at the Southeast Fisheries Science Center Galveston Lab
Presentation: Challenges of Applying AI/ Analytics in a Marine Environment
Before becoming the Director at the Southeast Fisheries Science Center Galveston Lab, Farron Wallace led a diverse research group of AI developers, fisheries biologists and engineers developing innovative technology to remotely monitor fisheries operating in the Gulf of Alaska and Bering Sea. This work has greatly advanced methods that integrate computer vision and machine learning analytics to process fisheries monitoring image data in real time. These technologies are transferable to other remote monitoring programs and the SEFSC sees this as a priority to reduce costs, provide more accurate and timely scientific products for stock assessment and fisheries management in the Gulf of Mexico and South Atlantic. We see significant change in the near future on how we monitor fisheries and the environment through machine learning automation.
Next Steps: Research Priorities and Partnerships
July 15, 1-2:30 PM EST
Speaker: Christine Angelini, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Department of Environmental Engineering Sciences, University of Florida
Presentation: Where do we go from here? Building Partnerships to Accelerate Innovation and Expand Impact
Christine Angelini is an Assistant Professor in Environmental Engineering Sciences. She received her Ph.D. in Biology from the University of Florida in 2014 and her B.Sc. in Marine Biology from Brown University in 2009. She is an ecologist with expertise in wetland, reef and dune systems. Her research focuses on advancing mechanistic understanding of how species interactions moderate ecosystem resilience to climate change and influence contaminant integration into food webs. In recent years, she has invested considerable effort in partnering with diverse stakeholders to improve the long-term functionality of coastal restoration and habitat creation efforts. She has authored over 50 peer-reviewed publications and is the recipient of the 2019 Coastal & Estuarine Research Foundation Cronin Award for Early Career Scientists, the 2020 University of Florida Water Institute Early Career Award, the 2020 National Academy of Engineers Gulf Coast Research Fellowship, the Herbert Wertheim College of Engineering Faculty Leadership Award, and the National Academy of Sciences’ Career Award.
Summit Facilitator:
Sharon Ryan is CEO of Luneer LLC, which offers professional development, peer coaching and facilitation in the environment space. Previously, she held senior roles in communications and education in organizations such as the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Charles Darwin Foundation for the Galapagos Islands, and Fisheries and Oceans Canada. Recently, she served as program chair for the University of Florida’s Inspiring Women Leaders Conference 2020, and was on the planning team in 2019. Sharon received the Smithsonian’s Education award for outstanding contributions to science education, and was part of two teams that received the BBVA Biodiversity Awards for Conservation in Latin America in 2005 and 2014. Sharon holds a Bachelor of Arts from Memorial University of Newfoundland, a Bachelor of Public Relations from Mount Saint Vincent University, and a Master’s in Environmental Education and Communication from Royal Roads University. She trained in Technology of Participation (ToP) facilitation methods, and is a member of the International Association of Professional Facilitators.
Organizing Partners:
For more information, contact Christine Angelini.
Stay connected through social media: NC State BAE – @NCState_BAE, NC Extension – @NCExtension, NC State Applied Ecology – @NCStateAEC, NC Sea Grant – @SeaGrantNC, Katie Mosher, NC Sea Grant Communications Director – @NCSG_Katiem, NCDEQ Environmental Education & Public Affairs – @NorthCarolinaEE, and The Southeast Climate Adaptation Science Center – @se_casc.