Performance Report for Cooperative Agreement No: na06oar4810163 for the Period from September 1, 2006 to August 31, 2012 University of Maryland Eastern Shore

Recruitment into Marine Science Programs: LMRCSC faculty, staff and graduate students took an active role in the recruitment of students into the center. Recruitment was facilitated through increased outreach of LMRCSC using the following modalities: 1) LMRCSC web site, 2) LMRCSC newsletters and brochures, 3) Participation in meetings of AFS, ASLO, ERF and other organizations which provide wide exposure, 4) Visits to universities/colleges and personal contact, and 5) Internships at Center partner institutions. The following are professional scientific meetings attended, or visits to universities and colleges by LMRCSC personnel to promote the Center and foster recruitment of the best possible students:

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  Southeast Association of Fisheries and Wildlife Agencies (SEAFWA) Conference, Norfolk, VA. November 1, 2006.
  
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  NOAA Educational Partnership Program Education and Science Forum, Tallahassee, FL. October 30 – November 1, 2006.
  
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  HBCU Research Day, held at UMES on April 12, 2007 presented an opportunity to recruit students from the mid-Atlantic region and included students from several LMRCSC partners as well as other institutions. During this conference, Virginia State University graduate, Rosalind Booker was recruited to the LMRCSC Master’s program at UMES.
  
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  LMRCSC Director Paulinus Chigbu and Program Manager Todd Christenson visited NOAA EPP on July 10, 2007 and presented opportunities in LMRCSC to the NOAA Undergraduate Scholars.
  
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  Todd Christenson attended the presentation session held at NOAA EPP on August 3, 2007 to further discuss LMRCSC with the Undergraduate Scholars.
  
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  At the San Francisco American Fisheries Society (AFS) meeting in September, 2007, LMRCSC Program Manager explained the LMRCSC program to attendees at the Equal Opportunity Section luncheon and discussed the graduate program at UMES with RSMAS MS student Xaymara Serrano and University of Arkansas Pine Bluff student, Jamila Payton. Jamila and Michigan State MS student Cecilia Lewis also discussed the program with LMRCSC graduate students Larry Alade, Lonnie Gonsalves and William Gardner. Jamila subsequently participated in the LMRCSC research cruise in January, 2008, and enrolled in the MEES MS program at UMES in spring 2009.
  
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  At the 138^th Annual Meeting of AFS in Ottawa, Canada (August 17-21, 2008), Todd Christenson (UMES) participated in the Career Fair on August 19 and discussed opportunities for students at the LMRCSC.
  
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  The LMRCSC set up a booth at the PSLSAMP conference hosted by SSU in November 2008 and distributed brochures.
  
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  Dr. Curran recruited students at the fall meeting of the Southeastern Estuarine Research Society meeting in September 2008. On October 4, 2008 the LMRCSC had a booth at the annual CoastFest celebration held at the Department of Natural Resources in Brunswick from 8am-4pm. There, LMRCSC brochures, Seaing is Believing Contest Materials, and SSU Marine Science Program brochures were distributed. Attendees were also given information about the SSU Coast Camp. MS students Shelly Krueger and Devin Dumont manned the booth with Dr. Hoskins.
  
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  Dr. Hoskins and Dr. Deidre Gibson (HU) mentored 11 students at the American Society of Limnology and Oceanography (ASLO) meeting in Nice, France January 24-31, 2009.
  
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  UMES PhD student Lonnie Gonsalves attended the Minorities in Natural Resources and Related Sciences (MARRS) conference in Indianapolis, IN from March 26-28, 2009. He participated in the career fair as an LMRCSC representative and discussed the program with several promising students.
  
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  Todd Christenson represented LMRCSC at the final session of the NOAA Undergraduate Scholarship Program on August 4, 2010. He discussed opportunities at LMRCSC with several students who were presenting posters. He also attended at the Hispanic Engineering, Science and Technology Conference at the University of Texas Pan American (Edinburgh, TX, October 1-3, 2009), AFS Meeting (Aug 30-Sept 3, 2009, Nashville, TN), Southeast Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies (November 1-3, 2009, Atlanta, GA), and the NOAA EPP Forum (November 12-14, 2009, Howard University). Furthermore, he gave a presentation on the LMRCSC to the NOAA Undergraduate Scholars on the final day of the internship (Aug 5, 2011) at NOAA Headquarters in Silver Spring, MD.
  

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  Dr. Joseph Love (UMES) presented seminars at the Universities of Arkansas Pine Bluff and Tougaloo College, MS on November 20 and December 9, 2006, respectively, and discussed the LMRCSC program.
  
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  Dr. Rose Jagus (COMB) visited UMES on February 27, 2008 and spoke with students regarding the summer internship program and graduate opportunities at COMB.
  
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  Dr. Eric May and PhD student Lonnie Gonsalves visited Cheyney University, PA on April 10, 2008 and discussed the LMRCSC program with students in the Biology and Agricultural Sciences. Thirty five (35) students attended the presentation.
  
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  Recruitment presentations were given at Hampton University by Dr. Rose Jagus (COMB) in April, 2008, and at DSU and Morgan State University by Dr. Eric Schott (COMB) in April 2008.
  
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  Dr. Ogburn recruited students at the University of North Florida in January 2009, and at the Lowell Wakefield Fisheries Symposium - Biology and Management of Exploited Crab Populations under Climate Change in Alaska in March 2009.
  
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  Dr. Paulinus Chigbu and UMES PhD student Tedra Booker visited Lincoln University on March 16, 2009 and discussed the LMRCSC program with students.
  
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  Dr. Paulinus Chigbu, UMES PhD student Tedra Booker, and Todd Christenson attended the final session of the NOAA EPP Undergraduate Scholarship Program on July 31, 2009. Dr. Chigbu delivered a presentation on the LMRCSC. Todd and Tedra discussed with EPP Scholars Courtney McGeachy and Candace Rodgers about opportunities in the Center. Courtney and Candace later enrolled in a master’s program in MEES at UMES in fall 2010.
  
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  Todd Christenson and UMES graduate student Lonnie Gonsalves visited Elizabeth City State University, NC on November 15, 2006 and made a presentation on the LMRCSC Program to students and faculty. As a result, Ms. Jacklyn James applied and was subsequently accepted into the Marine Estuarine and Environmental Sciences (MEES) M.S. degree program at UMES for Fall 2007.
  

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  On February 22 and 23, 2010, Dr. Jagus visited and spoke to the Biological Sciences group of PUSH (Promote Unity, Sensitivity and Humanitarianism) at Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, as well as the minority undergraduates in the Bayer School of Natural and Environmental Sciences, Duquesne University (DU) Pittsburgh (DU is a member of the Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation in STEM programs).
  

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  Ammar Hanif, a Morgan State University student who participated in several internships at COMB, enrolled in a Master’s program in MEES at COMB in Fall, 2008.
  
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  Dr. P. Chigbu discussed opportunities through LMRCSC to eight students from various universities who participated in the Fish Stock Assessment course taught at UMES in June, 2008. One student, Jamila Payton, was later accepted to the MS program at UMES for Spring, 2009. Chigbu made a presentation on LMRCSC educational and research programs to student interns at COMB on June 23, 2008.
  
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  Dr. Russell Hill and the LMRCSC-COMB summer interns from Hampton University hosted the students of HU's MAST program for their one-day mooring in Baltimore.
  
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  Experiences at LMRCSC partner institutions led to additional intra-center recruitment opportunities. Based on her experiences at COMB, Hampton University student Jeanette Davis was accepted to the MS/Ph.D. program in Marine, Estuarine and Environmental Science (MEES) at COMB for Fall, 2008. As a result of his participation in the sandbar shark project under the direction of Dewayne Fox, SSU graduate Johnny Moore matriculated at DSU in Fall, 2007.
  
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  Ms. Jeanette Davis, a second year MEES Ph.D. student in Environmental Molecular Biology/Biotechnology track was recruited to UMBI-COMB via the LMRCSC-COMB 2007 summer intern program. Ms. Davis graduated from Hampton University and was recruited to Dr. Russell Hill's lab at UMBI-COMB with LMRCSC funding. She was subsequently awarded an NSF funded Louis Stokes Alliances for Minority Participation (LSAMP) Bridge to the Doctorate Fellowship from 2008-2010.
  

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   Adam Tulu (UMES) successfully converted to the PhD program under the MEES program after completing a B.S. degree at UMES. .
   

c) Daniel Cullen (M.S. UMES) was accepted into the PhD program under MEES at UMES for fall 2010.

The LMRCSC has enhanced ocean science literacy among K-12 students and the public through various activities and programs such as the Upward Bound Marine and Estuarine Science Program at UMES and, SSU’s Coast Camp. More than 100 K-12 students took part each year in the programs organized by LMRCSC. Some of the education and outreach programs are described below.

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  Upward Bound Marine and Estuarine Program at UMES: Dr. Andrea Johnson joined forces in 2006 with Dave Blazer, Director of the Maryland Coastal Bays Program, and created a marine science component to the existing Upward Bound program for high school students at UMES. This program offered lessons in marine science and coastal ecology to 20-25 students in grades 10-12 from Somerset, Worcester and Wicomico Counties, MD each year. The program drew on the expertise of UMES-LMRCSC faculty and staff as well as MD Coastal Bays Program, National Park Service (NPS) and MD Department of Natural Resources (MD DNR), and took place both during the summer (6 sessions) and on selected Saturdays (4 sessions) during the academic year, at the UMES Paul S. Sarbanes Coastal Ecology Center (PSSCEC). However, cuts to the Upward Bound Program budget at UMES resulted in fewer sessions in 2010 and 2011. Several UMES LMRCSC students, including Nick Clemons, who is also a NPS employee led or participated in the sessions. Todd Christenson and Dr. Andrea Johnson served on the planning committee.
  

For the 2007/08 year, the program focused on environmental conservation, specifically on the local environment and habitat (e.g. salt or freshwater marshes) that affect, and in turn, are affected by, each student individually. The theme for this season was “What Can I Do to Make a Difference?” Sessions were held from 10:00 AM to 2:00 PM on various dates (Table 21). LMRCSC students Lonnie Gonsalves, William Gardner, Nick Clemons and Rhea Ruiz assisted with sessions of the Upward Bound Marine and Estuarine Science Program on November 17 and December 15, 2007.

The overall theme of the Summer 2008 (June 18 – July 25, 2008) sessions was the ecology and biology of the blue crab (Table 21). Staff from the Center of Marine Biotechnology organized and led a session on July 9, 2008 focusing on the crab’s unique life cycle and on the challenges of intensive crab aquaculture. Students also toured the COMB aquaculture facility. The fall 2008 session focused on coastal storms (Table 22). For the 2009 Upward Bound summer program, the sessions focused on the cultural heritage of the Maryland Coastal Bays (Table 23), whereas for the 2009/10 academic year, the program emphasized environmental sustainability (Table 24). Other themes covered from April 2010 to May 2011 are shown in Tables 25 and 26.

LMRCSC students and AFS-UMES Student Subunit members Jamila Payton, Belita Nguluwe, Shari Mullen, Dan Cullen, along with Leonardo Matthews, Evan Lindsay and Jeffrey Kipp from the Professional Science Master’s program designed and led a session on water quality and treatment on November 20, 2011. The 2010-11 academic year sessions focused on “Protecting, Restoring, and Sustaining Green Infrastructure”.