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September 2023

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CHESAPEAKE BIOLOGICAL LABORATORY | SOLOMONS, MDSEPTEMBER 2023ISSUE 85Lab Lines1IN THIS ISSUE:DIRECTOR’S VIEW23SAFETY CORNER / RECENT AWARDS1IN CASE YOU MISSED IT Our Fall semester is fully underway, students are a third of the way through their classes and our sciensts conducng research across the globe, from the Arcc to Lan America, have returned. The nal Patuxent River cruise of the year was a great success; the science and the weather! Our faculty connue to receive large federal awards, Jeremy Testa has two new 3-4-year NOAA grants invesgang strategies for marine carbon dioxide removal.On September 25th the UMCES sta appreciaon day was held at the Horn Point Laboratory, a recognion for all of the work that our sta do to ensure that we have a funconal and fantasc place to work. A great example of our sta's dedicaon to improving building funconality and sustainability is highlighted in this newsleer. The decade-long dedicaon of our facilies and maintenance sta in the Bernie Fowl-er Laboratory has paid o with a 20% savings in our energy costs! Looking ahead we have a lot going on and many excing community acvies to look forward to. As a reminder all of our upcoming acvies are listed on the CBL events google calendar including any Zoom links for hybrid meengs. Our disnguished speaker seminar series is underway and we have a full schedule of speakers joining us on Wednesdays at 11am in BFL 1101. We welcome a diverse array of speakers, from those new to the area joining the marine sciences program at St Mary’s College of Maryland and a number of UMCES-wide promoons. Please make every eort to aend these seminars in person and show our guests our CBL community spirit. In addion to a 3pm student engagment period, there are a number of opportunies to meet with each speaker. Sign-up sheets will be shared prior to each visit. Our Friday informal lunch lecture series will also be returning, at a slightly earlier me of 11am – stay tuned for further details. All are encouraged to aend these to hear about the excing emerging research our students are conducng and present-ing at Naonal meengs. This me is a great opportunity for students and faculty to engage across scienc disciplines and ulize the diverse experse our CBL commu-nity has to further develop the research and professional development – you never know, how, when, and where that lightbulb moment may occur! As I wrap up this month’s newsleer, I want to remind everyone that October 7th marks our rst CBL Open House since 2019. Please join us from 11am to 4pm as we showcase our research, service, and educaonal acvies to the public. Thank you to all who are volunteering for the event, there are sll open slots for those who can join us.5FACILITIES/IN THE NEWS 4

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In Case You Missed It2Lee Cooper, Jackie Grebmeier, Nick Silverson, Sadia Ali, and Brian Marx sailed aboard the UNOLS vessel Sikuliaq in the northern Bering and Chukchi seas for the month of September. Weather has been good and sampling of the water column and benthos is on schedule. Nick, Sadia, and Brian are parcipang in fall coursework via Zoom from sea using Starlink internet service to the ship and it has been working reasonably well.(Right) Sadia and Brian share a quiet moment in the lab prior to arriving on staon early on the morning of September 17.Carys Mitchelmore chaired a session and gave two presenta-ons at the SETAC Lan America 15th Biennial Meeng held in Montevideo, Uruguay 17-20th September. The session brought together researchers in academia, government and industry from Lan America and the USA who are invesgang the envi-ronmental risk of UV lters and cosmec ingredients in aquac ecosystems.Lisa Wainger was selected as one of 8 naonal peer reviewers of the Oce of Management and Budget's (OMB's) proposed Guidance for Assessing Changes in Environmental and Ecosystem Services in Benet-Cost Analysis. "In order to encourage connued improvements in valuing changes to ecosystem services in benet-cost analy-ses of regulaons or public investments, OMB’s Oce of Informaon and Regulatory Aairs (OIRA) is releasing proposed Guidance for Assessing Changes in Environmental and Ecosystem Services in Benet-Cost Analysis (Guidance). OMB, in consultaon with the Oce of Science and Technology Policy as well as relevant agencies and Execuve Oce of the President components, has draed and proposes this Guidance."hps://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/informaon-regulatory-aairs/informaon-policy/From August 31st to September 3rd, Solange Filoso was in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, to talk at the GreenRio/Green Lan America Conference. She went as a special guest of the Rio de Janeiro’s Department of the Environment to share her experience and knowledge about water quality restoraon eorts in the Chesapeake Bay region, especially through stormwater management and stream and wetland restoraon in urbanized watersheds. As a nave of Brazil, Solange hopes that her parcipaon in events like this will lead to more collaboraon between UMCES and Rio de Janeiro’s instuons for the recovery of Guanabara Bay and coastal regions, and contributes to strengthening the partnership between the State of Rio and the State of Maryland. The two states have had a sister state relaonship for several decades. In 2013, the Governor's of both states rearmed this relaon-ship with a specic goal of focusing on increasing the health of both the Chesapeake and Guanabara Bays. In March of 2023, a delegaon from the State of Rio de Janeiro visited Maryland to begin the process of renewing the Memorandum of Understanding between the two states.

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In Case You Missed It3On September 7th, UMCES-CBL conducted the third of its three annual Patuxent River cruises. The goals of the cruises are to collect water chemistry and sh abundance data while training students and faculty research as-sistants in eld techniques. The data are used by CBL sciensts to beer understand our local Chesapeake Bay tributary and provide a plaorm for faculty to develop and test new sampling and analycal techniques there-by broadening UMCES research capabilies. On board from CBL were Andrew Heyes, Michael Gonsior, Anna Hildebrand, Angel Reyes, Tom Miller, Amber DeMarr, Cindy Ross, and Xilin Jiao, a vising scienst from Xiamen University in China. We extend great thanks to the crew of the Rachel Carson for a successful cruise and we are looking forward to the next season.

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Starng in 2011, the CBL facilies department began a decade-long journey to modernize and enhance the operaonal eciency of BFL. This path unfolded through a series of strategic upgrades. The fume hood exhaust system was replaced with a vari-able air volume control system. A heat recovery sys-tem further improved the eciency of the exhaust system. The integraon of variable speed fan drives and volume controls for lab supply air ensured precise airow control, resulng in impacul energy savings. Building-wide HVAC control upgrades and installaon of advanced chillers increased energy eciency and occupant comfort. Tradional lighng was replaced with energy-ecient LED systems, and the implementaon of LEED-level controls improved building-wide management and revitalized energy savings. Even specialized areas such as cold rooms beneted from upgraded controls, and the integraon of variable speed drives in various heang and cooling systems further boosted eciency. These systems aer inial implementa-on are monitored and tuned daily, highlighng a commitment to connual improvement. Comprehensive oce ren-ovaons were completed this year, where opmized airow, upgraded local controls, and energy-ecient LED lighng collecvely created a workspace that aligned with CBL's sustainable vision.What eect have these changes had? We have seen a more than 20% reducon in the electricity used in BFL since 2006.Facilities4This chart visualizes the energy reducons realized over the years and even in the face of steadily increasing summer-me temperatures we have been able to maintain a downward trend in energy usage. Most of these reducons were associated with the inial changes to the fume hoods and control system that occurred in 2011. However, the more recent enhancements will contribute to connuing reducons in the energy savings in the building. This decade-long (and ongoing) evoluon of the BFL systems exemplies CBL’s dedicaon to sustainability and innovaon. Through thoughully planned upgrades, this eort and the substanal energy savings it produced serve as an example of the potenal of deliberate and forward-thinking approaches in shaping a more sustainable future for our facilies.In the NewsClick HERE!Free, family-friendly funOpen HouseOctober 7th11am - 4pm146 Williams Street, Solomons, MDTreasure huntand prizes Free handoutsHands-on activities Science demos

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Safety Corner: SpillsSpills are a common laboratory occurrence and most of us have experienced them over the years. Fortunately, most of them are small and easily cleaned up. However, there may be occasions where a spill is an emergency that requires prompt acon to prevent any physical or environmental harm. In order to control the situaon, laboratory personnel should have the capability to assess the hazards involved and be able to take appropriate acon. This is a good reminder to be sure that you keep yourself informed (Safety Data Sheets, labels) about the chemicals in your laboratory and to know how to handle an emergency. Please remember that if there is a spill you are not required to clean it up, but you are required to alert anyone work-ing near you and report it to your supervisor. If you do not know what has been spilled, do not aempt to clean it up. It is important to label all of your containers so everyone who is in the lab will know what their contents are. Every lab should have spill kits available to match the hazards in the lab. There are also spill kits in the hallways of the buildings. Maintenance sta should be called if a signicant quanty of a chemical has spilled. They have the equipment necessary to contain a large spill.Spills involving a chemical with a low toxicity that has no potenal for overexposure or as an inhalaon hazard are gen-erally safe to clean up on your own. The same is true for chemicals that do not pose a signicant re or environmental hazard. Spills involving any quanty of highly toxic or ammable chemicals in the lab, in a public area (hallways), or near drains will usually require an emergency response. In the case of highly toxic chemicals, do not aempt to clean a spill of any size. hps://www.mtech.edu/env-health-safety/emergency/chemical-spills.htmlhps://ehs.princeton.edu/chemical/spill/procedureshps://ehs.ucsf.edu/chemical-spills5www.umces.edu/cbl | 410-326-4281P.O. Box 38 | 146 Williams Street | Solomons, MD 20688-0038Recent AwardsJeremy Testa was awarded two new grants from NOAA to invesgate strategies for marine carbon dioxide removal. Knowledge from the research will assist in assessing the potenal of marine carbon dioxide removal as a climate mi-gaon soluon.The rst project, in which Jeremy is a PI, is tled "Quanfying the Ecacy of Wastewater Alkalinity Enhancement on mCDR and Acidicaon Migaon in a Large Estuary." This project will evaluate the feasibility, cost, and potenal for carbon dioxide removal by alkalinity addion via exisng wastewater treatment discharges in the area managed by the Hampton Roads Sanitaon District. PI Testa is collaborang with Ming Li at Horn Point Laboratory, Wei-Jun Cai at the University of Delaware, and Yuanyuan Xu, a former CBL student working at Planetary Technologies, Inc. The 3-year project totals $1,864,561.The second project in which Jeremy is a co-PI, is led by Chrisna Schultz at Northeastern University and is tled "De-veloping a coupled benthic-pelagic biogeochemical model to evaluate the eecveness of mCDR intervenons." This project will develop a model to represent the exchange, transformaons, and storage of carbon and nutrients in the sediments. The model will also simulate ecosystem interacons in sediments and assess the eciency of seaweed aquaculture and benthic ecosystem restoraon. Both methods may result in either carbon storage or producon un-der dierent condions. The 4-year project totals $1,258,967.Carys Mitchelmore has received a two year award ($193K) from NOAA "Riding the Wave of Plasc: Student-Driven Inquiry and Acon to Prevent Marine Debris and its impacts" to expand the Wave of Plasc curriculum to Charles and Anne Arundel County schools. The projects goals are to engage and empower over 10,000 public middle and high school students in helping to reduce marine debris in the Chesapeake Bay watershed.