No. 14, SUMMER 1996
Department of Oceanography Chair, Dr. David Thistle
Newsletter
Editor, Designer, and HTML Author: Laura Young
IN THIS ISSUE:
View from the
Bridge
Krishnamurti observes new order beyond chaos
Landing promoted to professor
Donors bring Menzel Fund across threshold
From the Leroy Set to the
Internet,
Tamaddoni-Jahromi keeps pace with office
technology
Project Reports:
Photo feature: In the lab
Updates:
Variability of sea level on the U.S. East Coast and the rise of sea-level
problem
Studies of variable climate processes
Significance of submarine groundwater discharge on
seagrass
~Links to Previous Issues~
- Spring
1996: Satellites, Fisher awards, Field reports, and more
- Fall
1995: Grad made good, Current-meter master, National ranking, and
more
Krishnamurti observes new order beyond chaos
by Laura Young
Our world is full of amazing transformations. We adults delight in
bringing
children into the knowledge of marvels grown familiar to us: a tadpole
becoming a frog, an acorn sprouting an oak, a caterpillar reforming as a
butterfly.
Imagine, though, having been the first person to recognize such a
transformation.
What extraordinary curiosity, teased along with perseverance, it must
have taken to watch a caterpillar, and keep watching it, just to see what
course
its life would take. Then imagine the reward of first observing that
mysterious sequence of order, internal chaos, and emergence that we now
learn and teach as larva, pupa, and butterfly.
Dr. Ruby Krishnamurti is, in her own field of ocean turbulence, that kind
of person.
Getting inside turbulent convection
For some time, physicists have known that seawater heated from below (as
from a radiant earth) and cooled from above (as by the atmosphere) would
begin to move in a predictable way. Rising warm water and sinking cooled
water would create cells of water as wide as they were tall, rotating
within a fixed space.
Many scientists studied aspects of this phenomenon, but Krishnamurti
became
curious about what might happen next if she ran experiments with
increasingly higher heating rates. In doing so, she has been making
startling new discoveries about sequences of order and chaos in oceanic
flows.
Krishnamurti designed an apparatus to provide constant heat
from below and coolant from above to a four-inch layer of water in
between. For different runs in a sequence of experiments, she used
increasingly greater differences between the temperature at the bottom of
the tank and the temperature at the top of it (technically, she changed
the Rayleigh number).
In her first run, as expected, rotating cells of water formed. For her
next run, she achieved a higher Rayleigh number and found that
overturning water cells did not form.
"It got more and more complicated and messy," Krishnamurti
explains, "but I kept looking. Finally it got completely
disorganized. There
were hot blobs and cold blobs here and there."
Then a most curious thing happened. In a run at an even higher Rayleigh
number, a new pattern began to emerge. Glittery flakes she had put in the
water, to allow her to photograph the fluid's movement, began to show
reorganization. In the upper half of the water, tall thin rotating cells
formed, tilted,
and began to "walk" in one direction. In the lower half of the
water, similar cells formed, tilted the same way, but walked in the
opposite direction. Seeing this large-scale flow in layers shocked
Krishnamurti.
"Originally I thought the apparatus was broken," she recalls.
"I checked everything again and again."
Was the table supporting the equipment tilted? It was level. Were the
heating and cooling systems failing or the insulation faulty? Everything
was functioning properly. Finally she became convinced that nothing
external had changed.
The water itself was creating order from chaos.
As she watches the latest run in the sequence, with a Rayleigh number of
100 million, the new order shows continued development. Photographs
reveal that the tilted plumes eventually group themselves, so that they
flow past a fixed point the way that distinct marching bands in one big
parade pass a curbside observer.
The significance of Krishnamurti's discoveries has gone beyond expanding
our understanding of the nature of ocean water and may touch on something
universal about turbulent convection, wherever it occurs.
Krishnamurti has seen a correlation between the plume clusters in her
water tanks and clusters of cumulus clouds. When mathematical equations
derived from her experiments were applied by her husband, T. N.
Krishnamurti of FSU's Meteorology Department, to a weather forecasting
model, the error field of the model was measurably reduced. Taking into
account an internal
mechanism within the system made the difference.
"Nobody is forcing anything at a 100-kilometer scale, but things are
still happening at that scale," says Ruby Krishnamurti. "What's
causing it? Is there an instability? Nobody can find one. The system
chooses these kinds of ways to organize itself."
Now she is building a new tank that will allow her to run experiments up
to 100 billion Rayleigh. It remains to be seen what new discovery
her curiosity and perseverance will lead her to.
Krishnamurti
In a different experiment that has been running for nine long months in
a tall, thin water tank more than six feet high, multiple layers have
formed in the water column, alternating between vertical salt fingers and
tilted, turbulent plumes (like those she's seen in the other experiment).
It has taken 20 pounds of sugar (to simulate cool, denser water) and 20
pounds
of salt, every week since January, to keep this experiment running.
Grocers may look askance when Krishnamurti comes through the checkout
line, but
the Office of Naval Research has taken great interest in her unusual
findings for more than twenty-five years. It will be fascinating to see
how the results from her latest experiments will bring her closer to
explaining the chaos and internal reorganization she's been able to
discover and describe. Getting here from there
Krishnamurti received her Ph.D. in physics from the University of
California-Los Angeles in 1967. After a post-doctoral appointment at
Stanford University,
she came to Florida State University as a research associate at FSU's
Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Institute. She has maintained her association,
and a wonderful maze of a laboratory, at the institute to the present.
Krishnamurti joined
the faculty in the Department of Oceanography in 1968, was promoted to
Associate Professor in 1971, and became a Professor of Oceanography in
1975. She is
a fellow of the American Physical Society and the American Meteorological
Society and has been a visiting scientist at the National Center for
Atmospheric Research, the Max Planck Institute of Meteorology (Germany),
the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and the University of
Göteborg (Sweden).
Back to Contents
Landing promoted to professor of oceanography
by Laura Young
Bill Landing returned from a third successful NSF/IOC/UNESCO expedition
this June to hear of success on another front. He had been promoted to
professor, effective Fall 1996.
"I am pleased that the work I do is respected enough by my peers and
outside reviewers to support my promotion," says Landing.
Landing
Landing's research program explores the biogeochemistry
of trace elements in marine and fresh waters, especially heavy metals.
During this summer's Trace Metals Baseline Expedition, sponsored by the
National Science Foundation (NSF) and the Intergovernmental Oceanic
Commission (IOC), Landing's research team collected and analyzed samples
in the western South Atlantic.
"We got every sample we could have hoped for," reports Landing,
"-rain, aerosol dust, and seawater."
Analysis was begun in a shipboard "clean lab" specially
constructed for the cruise, but most of the analysis will be done with a
new high-resolution inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometer that FSU
recently acquired through a NSF instrumentation grant awarded to Landing
and colleagues from other departments on campus.
The IOC cruise also involved Landing's recently graduated student Rodney
Powell (who is continuing his work on iron biogeochemistry at Old
Dominion) and an undergraduate student from Colby College, Stephanie
Mann, whose trip was sponsored by NSF. With more than three separate
research teams aboard,
the NSF commitment to this cruise totaled several million dollars.
Landing first became interested in oceanography as an undergraduate at
the University of California-Santa Cruz. He knew he wanted to do
environmental chemistry in some way, but he was inspired to make
oceanography his career when he heard Ken Bruland's first lecture as a
university professor. Landing chose Dr. Bruland to direct his senior
research for a chemistry degree in
1975. After earning a Master's degree in chemical oceanography at the
University of Washington in 1978, Landing returned to UC-Santa Cruz for a
Ph.D. in
Chemistry under Bruland. Landing spent a year in Sweden as a NSF/NATO
Post-doctoral Fellow at Chalmers University of Technology and the
University of Göteborg. He joined the FSU faculty in 1985, was
promoted to Associate Professor in
1991, and now holds the title Professor of Oceanography.
Landing lives in Tallahassee with his wife, Kathleen, and their children
Alexandra, 8, and Michael, 6.
Back to Contents
Menzel Fund Donors
The Robert Winston Menzel Memorial Fund was established by Dr. Menzel's
family. Donations from his friends, colleagues, and former students have
brought the fund across the threshold needed to make it interest-bearing.
Many thanks to those who have made the Fund available for awards to
students of biological oceanography:
Back to Contents
From the Leroy Set to the Internet, Tamaddoni-Jahromi keeps pace
with office technology
by Laura Young
These days, it's hard to imagine having to insert Greek character keys
manually into a typewriter, one at a time, while typing complex,
scientific equations into a manuscript. Paula Tamaddoni-Jahromi remembers
doing it, though, when she first began working for scientists 27 years
ago. During her 14 years
with the Department of Oceanography at FSU, the tools of her trade have
changed dramatically.
Tamaddoni-Jahromi 
"I used to keep the books by hand on paper, and the technical
drawings were done with a Rapidograph pen and a Leroy Lettering
Set!" With a wave of her hand, Paula points out these artifacts that
still linger in
her office. Now, most of her varied tasks get done on her PowerMac in
connection with the resources of other computers worldwide.
Paula joined the staff part-time in 1982 to prepare drawings for
Professors Allan Clarke and Doron Nof and to "assist as
needed." In a short time, she was dealing with grant budgets, which
eventually consumed more
and more of her time. Currently she works full-time as a Grants
Administrator for Professors Clarke, Georges Weatherly, and Melvin
Stern.
Despite her title, Paula feels that much of her time is devoted to
"fighting fires."
"I do whatever tasks I can to take the pressure off the P.I.s so
that
they can focus their energies towards their research," says
Paula.
She recalls one situation involving some very expensive equipment
Weatherly had imported from France. The cargo arrived in the U.S. with
customs duty due, and the U.S. Customs office said they would auction it
off if they didn't get a check within 48 hours. Somehow, Paula got it
done.
It's no wonder that Weatherly considers Paula "one of those rare
persons that you continually recognize you are very lucky that she works
for you."
Paula is understandably proud of her role in organizing the successful
Northeastern Gulf of Mexico Physical Oceanography Workshop, which FSU
hosted with the
U.S. Minerals Management Service (MMS) in 1994. Clarke chaired the
workshop, while Paula acted as the liaison between FSU, the MMS, the
Turnbull Center, and local hotels. Afterwards, she prepared the
proceedings volume.
Clarke says, "You know, she is such a dedicated person. Over many
years, Paula has cheerfully and efficiently helped me enormously in my
research.
She is an intelligent and conscientious person who genuinely cares for
others. Her work is first class."
Dr. Melvin Stern agrees: "Paula has provided invaluable assistance
to me, well beyond that called for in her job. I cannot overstate my
appreciation of her work and our association."
Paula has enjoyed the changes in her work over the years, especially the
development of Internet services. Keen on the Internet since its
inception,
she remembers using bitnet to send email (but never being sure if the
messages were getting through) and having to maneuver tediously through
various gateways to connect abroad.
"In the early days, it was hit and miss with the Internet,"
says Paula. "Websites and routers that we associate with the
Internet today didn't exist then. The Internet will surely affect the
direction of future grant research," she says. "In an instant,
we can find out what
research is going on all over the world and correspond with various
investigators to get ideas and data sets."
Paula gained a global perspective long before she became interested in
the Internet, however. While earning her B.A. in psychology at the
University
of Florida, Paula met her husband Sy. In 1971 when he finished his Ph.D.
in forest genetics, they moved to his homeland, Iran. Paula taught
English as a second language at Arya-Mehr University in Tehran until
1978, when they hurriedly left the country as revolution broke out.
"We left with two suitcases, literally!" she recalls. Because
street mobs had destroyed the British Airways front office, rendering the
ticketing computers useless, they weren't sure until they were sitting on
the plane if they would make it out. According to Paula, it was more
difficult readjusting to life in the U.S. than it had been adjusting to
life in Iran.
They were happy to find work where their children could attend Florida
schools. Their daughter Tiffany now is pursuing a master's degree in
electrical engineering, and their son Michael (who has worked five
summers for the Department) will
be a senior in materials engineering this fall.
Back to Contents
In the lab
Purple sulfur bacteria found in novel
environment
Dr. Lita Proctor's research team hopes
to find out how
purple sulfur bacteria, which fix carbon like phytoplankton but do so
under anaerobic conditions, are able to live in the highly oxygenated
open ocean where she found them. Until her discovery of these bacteria in
Caribbean Sea copepods, these microorganisms were found only in obviously
oxygen-free environments like anoxic marine sediments.
Proctor prepares to culture purple
sulfur bacteria in
an oxygen-free "glove box." After closing the sample in the
airlock and then exchanging the atmosphere in the airlock with a mixture
of oxygen-free gases, she places her hands through the pair of gloves on
the front of the chamber and transfers the materials through an inner
door mounted on the inside of the airlock.
These colonies of bacteria have the
rose/purple pigment characteristic of purple sulfur bacteria. With these
bacterial isolates, Proctor's team can conduct extensive physiological
and taxonomic studies
of the microorganisms.
Master's candidate Michael
Berry conducts the physiological and molecular characterization
of a purple sulfur bacterial isolate taken from Caribbean Sea copepods.
He also uses epifluorescence microscopy to count these bacteria. This
procedure involves staining the bacteria with a fluorescent dye called
acridine orange and then observing the cells under blue wavelength light.
The stained cells fluoresce green
to orange, depending on their physiological state.
New-to-science species comes to light
Ph.D. candidate Lori Bouck (left) scrutinizes a species
of harpacticoid unknown to science, in order to sketch its physical
features. The camera lucida attachment to the microscope allows
one of Lori's eyes to see the tracing paper while the other eye looks at
the organism. With both eyes, Lori sees an overlay of the organism on top
of the paper. This allows her to trace its features directly without
turning her face from the scope. Later, at the drawing table, she refines
the details of
the picture down to the smallest spinule. Dr. David
Thistle (right) finalizes the drawing with ink.
The Environmental Radioactivity Lab will share
techniques in Istanbul
Ph.D. candidate Mike Schultz handles a sample prepared
for alpha spectrometry. This method will be among the topics of an
international workshop October 28 at the Cekmece Nuclear Research and
Training Center, Istanbul. Scientists from laboratories in five countries
that border the
Black Sea will attend this "Workshop on the Assessment of Alpha
Emitting Radionucides in Marine Samples," sponsored by the
International Atomic Energy Agency and organized in part by Dr.
Bill Burnett and Lab Manager Pete
Cable.
Back to
Contents
Project Reports
Variability of sea level on the U.S. East Coast
and the rise of sea-level problem
Support: NOAA
Investigator: Wilton Sturges
Year 1 Update: Sturges's work studying the low-frequency
variability of the Atlantic Ocean has had some very interesting results.
Several snapshots (at the most interesting times of large disturbances)
of the shape of the sea surface as well as a brief mpeg movie of the
changes induced by wind
over long time scales can be viewed on the World Wide Web through
http://gulf.ocean.fsu.edu. Pictures show the sea surface topography of
the central North Atlantic as
generated by a model using COADS wind-curl forcing at very low
frequencies. The full width of the Atlantic-from Africa and Europe to the
U.S. East Coast-is shown in a time sequence from the mid 1950s.
Comparisons of the model output with actual dynamic heights from
observational data at a number of locations appear to agree quite
closely.
Studies of variable climate processes
Support: NASA
Investigators: William K. Dewar and Doron Nof
Year 1 Update: It is thought that the ocean participates in
climate by means of a large overturning cell involving the flow of deep
waters out
of the Atlantic and into the Pacific and Indian oceans, with a
compensating return flow near the surface from the Indian and Pacific
oceans to the Atlantic. In a study of this return flow, Dewar and Nof
have been able to quantify
the eddy formation rate in an area off the southern tip of Africa.
Outflow from the Mediterranean also affects the overturning cell by
introducing highly saline water to the Atlantic. Dewar and Nof's research
examines how this outflow is affected by eddy-like motions. Finally, they
are studying exploratory models of the coupled ocean-atmosphere-ice
climate system. To date, 12 publications detailing their results are
either in press or submitted for review.
Significance of submarine groundwater discharge
on seagrass
Support: Florida Sea College
Investigators: Jeffrey Chanton, Bill Burnett, and Richard Iverson
Year 1 Update: Data collected at seagrass beds in Florida Bay,
St. Joseph Bay, and St. George Sound indicates that the growth and
distribution of seagrasses is linked to rates of groundwater seepage into
the ocean. Seepage rates vary seasonally with changes in water table
elevation and rainfall patterns and generally decrease with increasing
distance offshore. At one site near the Florida Keys, high Atlantic tides
caused water to seep into Florida Bay, while low Atlantic tides caused
seepage from Florida Bay. These findings may prove significant to studies
of the impact of human waste
released from septic tanks to groundwater and ultimately into coastal
waters.
(above) Master's candidate Christine Rutkowski and
Kim Burnett, a junior at Loyola University in New
Orleans and summer assistant to Dr. Jeff Chanton, measured groundwater
seepage at St. Joesph Bay.
Back to Contents
Summer Travel
Russia
Profs. Bill Burnett and Jeff Chanton
visited several research institutes in Moscow including the P.P. Shirshov
Institute of Oceanology, the premier oceanographic organization in
Russia. In addition, Burnett went a week early to visit the
"Typhoon" Institute in
Obninsk. Typhoon, which played a major role in the assessment of the
Chernobyl accident, is one of Russia's most important institutes involved
in environmental radioactivity. Together with Evgeny Kontar and Heyward
Coleman (President, Environmental Physics, Inc., Charleston, SC), a visit
was also made to the southern branch of the Shirshov Institute, located
in Gelendzhik on the
Black Sea. Prof. Ruben Kos'yan, the director of the institute, was a warm
host and provided a very interesting tour of their facilities and an
opportunity to taste some of the local food and wine.
(above) In Gelendzhik, Russia, on the Fourth of July, Burnett and Kos'yan
formally agreed to collaborate in the study of environmental
contamination. Through jointly sponsored research cruises and sharing of
technical resources, they plan to develop new methods and devices of
definition for biogeochemical contaminations of the Black Sea. Their
program aims to improve fundamental understanding of the ocean
contamination processes "in order to take
part in the noble affairs in protecting our environment."
Woods Hole, Maine
Master's candidate Linda "Raz" Rasmussen
descended in the submersible Alvin to collect submarine core samples.
During her research
this summer as an invited Guest Student at Woods Hole Oceanographic
Institution, Raz went on three dives in Alvin. Her longest dive lasted
8.5 hours and
took her to a depth of 2,000 meters. On one trip she maneuvered the
"joystick" to guide the submarine back to the launching vessel,
Atlantis II.
After collecting the samples, Raz performed shipboard radon analysis of
the shelf sediments. Atlantis II has now been retired as the
launching vessel for Alvin.
Stennis Space Center, Mississippi
Ph.D. candidate Steven Morey and Master's candidate
Alan Leonardi spent the summer at the Naval Research
Laboratory at the Stennis Space Center in Mississippi. Steven worked with
Dr. Jay Shriver
to study the effects of Halmahera Island on the surrounding currents and
on the Indonesian Throughflow using the NRL Ocean Model. He recently
renewed an Engineering Graduate Fellowship from the Department of
Defense, National Defense Science. Alan worked with Dr. Harley Hrulburt
in an effort to use the Navy Layered Ocean Model to study the circulation
in the vicinity of the Hawaiian Islands. Alan recently renewed a graduate
fellowship from the Office of Naval Research.
Idaho Falls
Master's candidate Roger Wong and Prof. Bill
Burnett spent August 6p;9 at the Idaho National Engineering
Laboratory (INEL)
in Idaho Falls. They traveled to INEL to work on a special "gridded
ionization chamber" that is very sensitive to alpha-particle
radiation. Roger's graduate project involves the development of
innovative approaches to screening analysis for environmental
radioactivity.
More Summer Travel
Prof. Allan Clarke presented research on
"Observations and dynamics of biennial air/sea interaction in the
equatorial Pacific an
Indian Oceans" at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institutution on July 16.
At the Western Pacific Geophysics Meeting in Brisbane, Australia, July
23p;27, he gave lectures entitled "Dynamics of the interannual
Pacific-Indian
Ocean throughflow variability" and "On the dynamics of the
tropical biennial oscillation in the equatorial Indian and far western
Pacific oceans." On July 29 he spoke at Flinders University,
Adelaide, Australia, on "Physics of the low-frequency coupled
ocean-atmosphere variability in the Pacific
and Indian oceans."
Prof. Doron Nof gave an invited talk on "What
Controls the Origin of the Indonesian Throughflow?" at the Western
Pacific Geophysics Meeting of the American Geological Society, Brisbane,
Australia, July 23p;27.
David M. Legler, COAPS research associate, gave an
invited presentation entitled "Various Air-Sea Flux Products for
WOCE
and the Role of the FSU SAC" to the WOCE Data Products Committee
meeting, Brest, France, in February 1996.
Dr. Steven Meyers, COAPS research associate,
presented an invited lecture in June at the Norwegian Meteorological
Institute in
Oslo, Norway entitled, "The wavelet transform as a tool for data
analysis." Ph.D. candidate Behzad Mortazavi
spoke about "Phytoplankton
productivity and nitrate dynamics in Apalachicola Bay, Florida" at
the ASLO '96 summer meeting in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
Ph.D. candidate Jane Guentzel traveled to the
International
Conference on Mercury as a Global Pollutant in Hamburg, Germany, August
4p;8 to present research on "Atmospheric transport and
deposition of mercury in Florida" and "Mercury associated with
colloidal material in an estuarine and open ocean environment." In
May, Guentzel spoke on Atmospheric transport, transformation, and
deposition of mercury in Florida" at the Measurement of Toxic and
Related Air Pollutants Symposium in Research Triangle Park, North
Carolina.
Prof. James J. O'Brien and Dr. Steven
Meyers attended the April CLIVAR meeting in Baltimore
where they presented "A critical look at a tropical coral record as
an enso proxy using wavelet analysis."
Prof. Lita M. Proctor presented a paper
"Anaerobic
gut microflora of marine copepods" at the annual American Society of
Microbiology (ASM) meetings in New Orleans, May 20p;23. Proctor was
invited to give a seminar for the FSU Biological Colloquium Series on
April 11. Her seminar was entitled "The Microbial Ecology of Marine
Copepods: A new Source of Carbon and Nitrogen to the Oceans?"
Ph.D. candidate Mark Verschell presented research
results on "Interannual variability of atmospheric carbon dioxide
flux in the equatorial Pacific Ocean" at The Oceanography Society
'96, in Amsterdam, July 8p;11.
Drs. Jeff Chanton and Bill Burnett
attended an international symposium in Moscow sponsored by LOICZ (Land
Ocean Interactions in the Coastal Zone) and the Russian Academy of
Sciences, July 6p;10, and presented the papers "Tracing
groundwater flow into surface waters using natural 222Rn" and
"Evaluation of methane
as a tracer of groundwater discharge and preliminary estimates of
groundwater discharge in Florida Bay."
Chanton was an invited partipant and panel member
at an IGBP/GAIM (IGBP = International Geosphere Biosphere Programme/GAIM
= Global Analaysis, Interpretation and Modelling) workshop, May
15p;20,
1996, Santa Barbara, California.
Back
to Contents
Alumni news
Robert R. Stickney ('71)
This January, Robert was chosen Sea Grant Director for Texas A&M
University. His 25-year career in aquaculture and estuarine ecology has
included fisheries directorships at Southern Illinois University and the
University of Washington. His new position allows him to work across the
spectrum of marine research, including aquaculture, biotechnology,
environmental science, fisheries science, social science and economics,
and seafood science. Over the years, Robert's professional travels have
taken him to the Bahamas, Belize, Brazil, Canada, China, Haiti, Jamaica,
Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, Nepal, New Zealand, Norway, the Philippines,
Spain, Scotland, and throughout the U.S. He is editor of
the journal Reviews in Fisheries Science and has written and
edited many books on aquaculture and fisheries science. Robert and his
wife of
35 years, Carolan, have two grown children, Bob and Marolan, and one
granddaughter, Amanda.
Stanley Leon Ulanski ('71)
After receiving a Master's degree in oceanography at FSU, Stanley earned
a Ph.D. in environmental science at the University of Virginia. He is now
a professor and chair of the Department of Geology at James Madison
University. Charles Dreyer ('73)
Charles went from FSU to the University of Missouri, where earned a
medical degree and completed his residency in child neurology. He is now
Associate Professor and Division Chief of the Department of Pediatrics at
the University of Texas Health Science Center. In addition to patient
care and education
of students and staff, Charles has some administrative duties and
conducts clinical research as time permits. He sees interesting parallels
between how oceanographers try to understand ecosystems and what ails
them and how neurologists try to understand the things that can go wrong
with children's brains. Charles is married with two sons, "one a
struggling college sophomore, the other a struggling junior high
quarterback." Hsien-wang Ou ('75)
Hsien-wang continued his study of oceanography through the MIT-WHOI joint
program, from which he earned a Ph.D. in physical oceanography. Now a
senior research scientist, Hsien-wang conducts research and teaches at
Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, Columbia University.
As a professor of oceanography at Millersville University, Pennsylvania,
Yin Soong ('78) spends most of his time teaching undergraduates. The
Marine Science Consortium in Virginia, where he serves on the board of
directors, is a favorite field trip site. Yin spent one summer on a
research expedition in the Amazon Basin using Landsat images to map land
use along the Amazon River. Some of his other research, in cooperation
with colleagues in Taiwan,
was published on the cover of EOS, August 29, 1995, under the title
"Cold-core Eddy Detected in South China Sea." His wife, Lydia,
is a special education teacher of autistic children. Their older son,
Israel, is spending a year
serving in AmeriCorp before continuing his education at Harvard Law
School. Their younger son, Joshua, is in ninth grade.
Michael Foy ('90)
Now an oceanographer at the University of Washington School of
Oceanography, Michael works with Dr. Evelyn Lessard studying
microzooplankton ecology. In connection with a study of the role of
microzooplankton grazing in the Ross Sea, he completed a two-month cruise
in the Antarctic in February.
He is also studying the role of benthic protists in the bioremediation of
contaminated sediments, the development of fluorescent probes to measure
in situ growth rates of protists, and the development of antibody probes
to determine if protozoa are a significant food source for larval
pollock.
He and his wife, Leslie, have a two-year-old son, Sean, and a newborn,
Megan. Brent Lewis ('90)
Brent recently joined the faculty at the GMI Engineering and Management
Institute in Flint, Michigan. He is an assistant professor of
environmental chemistry in the Science and Mathematics Department. Brent
has three children: Rebecca, 6, Jonathan, 3, and a newborn, Donna.
Degrees conferred
Michael Schultz
(M.S. 8/96, Burnett)
"Partitioning of Uranium, Americium, and Plutonium in Irish Sea
Sediment by Sequential Chemical Extractions." Mike is now working
for the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) in
Gaithersburg, Maryland.
He has been readmitted to the doctoral program at FSU and will complete
his research through NIST.
Sergey Borisov
(Ph.D. 8/96, Nof)
"Abyssal cross-equatorial flows." Sergey has taken a
post-doctoral position at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Back to Contents
View from the bridge
by David Thistle, Chair
The summer months were quiet in OSB. Faculty and students traveled
for field work and to report the results of their research. I suspect a
few even went on vacation, but I don't have to sign those travel papers.
Although things were quiet, some goals were met. Linda Carter once again
closed out the department's books with a balance of only a few dollars,
demonstrating her great skill in managing our money.
The Menzel Fund reached $10,323.42 and has started earning interest. I
expect that the biological oceanographers will make the first award this
fall.
To all those who gave, thanks very much. The department voted unanimously
to forward Jeff Chanton's promotion credentials to the next level. If all
goes well, he should be a full professor by this time next year. The
Warehouse Building Committee approved plans for the new warehouse, which
will now
go out for bids.
But now summer is over, and the pace is picking up. Nine new students
joined us and were welcomed to the department at a reception organized by
Bill Landing and Janet Dupuy. Seminar speakers will soon be arriving.
Highlights include visits by Bob Harriss, a former professor in the
department, who
is being honored by FSU as a Grad Made Good, and by Sylvia Earle, a noted
oceanographer who is this year's College of Arts and Sciences Graduate of
Distinction. We are very pleased to have the department associated with
their visits.
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