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Restoring Wetlands around Sacred Sites
Louisiana’s coastal wetland loss problem affects the entire state, but it disproportionately impacts indigenous coastal tribes who stand to lose sacred burial sites and other culturally significant places. A collaboration between the Lowlander Center, a nonprofit advocacy and education organization dedicated to supporting lowland people and places, and LSU's College of the Coast & Environment aims to stop and potentially reverse part of the coastal wetland loss problem with support from the National Estuary Program.
Leading the Way on World Wetlands Day
Each year, World Wetlands Day is celebrated internationally on February 2 to raise awareness of the significance of wetlands in our global environment. Located right along the banks of the Mississippi, it makes sense that LSU’s College of the Coast & Environment, or CC&E, would house the largest group of wetlands experts under one roof in Louisiana. In fact, more than a fourth of CC&E’s faculty have a primary focus on wetlands research, and four of the top 10 published wetlands scientists in the U.S. work at CC&E, according to Web of Science. Their work leads to a better understanding of the complex causes of wetlands loss, potential methods for restoration, and ways to better manage these systems.
WATCH: From the Lab of Brian Snyder, PhD: Modelling Energy Use in Human Populations
In this video, Dr. Brian Snyder, assistant professor in the LSU Department of Environmental Sciences, discusses how we study energy as the underlying cause to a lot of the problems our society faces. He also demonstrates energy consumption and movement by idealized societies in modelling software Net Logo.
WATCH: What To Do With CO2?
The concentration of carbon dioxide (CO2) in our atmosphere sets new records each year. Today, it’s the highest it’s ever been since there were people on the planet. Here's how LSU and the College of the Coast & Environment are helping to solve the "defining problem of the 21st century."
Putting the Carbon Genie to Work
Recognized as the main driver behind global warming and climate change, the concentration of carbon dioxide (CO2) in the atmosphere sets new records each year. The effects are clear in Louisiana and in coastal communities around the world, where higher temperatures and sea level rise lead to stronger storms, more frequent flooding, and other costly and sometimes life-threatening problems. LSU researchers in several colleges are now merging science, technology, engineering, law, and environmental and coastal sciences to help find solutions to what Assistant Professor Brian Snyder in the LSU College of the Coast & Environment calls “the defining problem of the 21st Century”—curbing CO2 emissions while also actively removing CO2 from the atmosphere through new, innovative technologies and by setting a price on carbon, the most basic building block for all life on Earth—at the center of today’s energy politics.
U.S. Army Taps into LSU Coastal and Engineering Expertise to Augment Resilience
BATON ROUGE – The U.S. Army has turned to LSU experts to help make military operations better prepared and more resilient to climate-induced hazards with more than $9.3 million in funding over the next four years. Military operations, personnel and infrastructure including buildings, bridges, roads and flood protection structures can be impacted significantly by flooding from intense precipitation events, subsidence and rising seas. Anticipating Threats to Natural Systems, or ACTIONS, is a collaboration among the U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center’s Environmental Laboratory, or ERDC-EL, LSU and the University of Delaware.
National Academy of Inventors Selects LSU Coast & Environment Professor Emeritus as 2020 Fellow
Ralph Portier, professor emeritus of the LSU College of the Coast & Environment is one of two LSU professors who have been named 2020 National Academy of Inventors Fellows, or NAI. Election to NAI Fellow status is the highest professional distinction accorded solely to academic inventors, and Portier is one of only eight LSU professors to receive it in the history of the program. Portier was selected for demonstrating "a prolific spirit of innovation in creating or facilitating outstanding inventions that have made a tangible impact on the quality of life, economic development, and the welfare of society."
Tiger Profile: Mark Benfield
As the number of COVID-19 positive cases grew in the state of Louisiana, so did the calls for citizens to wear masks. At the same time, LSU CC&E Professor Mark Benfield noticed new pollution in his neighborhood -- used personal protective equipment, what he is calling “waste PPE.” This sparked the idea for a global research project to track the PPE littering neighborhoods.
Congratulations to CC&E’s Class of 2020
This year, we would like to recognize the incredible accomplishments of the entire class of 2020. Our graduates have worked hard to reach ambitious new heights. Whether our 2020 graduates have been with us for two years, six, or more, so much has happened. For many, their time at LSU has been bookended with “once in a lifetime” events– the great flood of 2016 and this year’s pandemic. But throughout and in-between, we hope that they made many fond memories.
CC&E Student Served On Biden-Harris Campaign's Climate Committee
Upcoming LSU graduate Jack Green’s last semester at LSU focused on his classes and a presidential campaign, as member of the Biden-Harris campaign’s Climate, Energy and Environment committee.
CC&E's Research & Academic Highlights: A Year in Review
As 2020 comes to an end, the LSU College of the Coast & Environment, or CC&E, would like to reflect on our research and academic accomplishments for the year, particularly our significant increase in research grants, new academic offerings, and faculty awards. Here are just a few examples of all that we have achieved this year.
Two CC&E Students Awarded at SWAAG
The LSU College of the Coast & Environment inspires innovative thinking, enables students to make new discoveries, and encourages them to present their world-class research at prestigious conferences. At this year's virtual meeting of the Southwest Division of the American Association of Geographers, or SWAAG, two of the college's graduate students won awards for their research. Rubayet Bin Mostafiz won first place in the graduate student poster competition and Nazla Bushra won second place in the graduate student paper competition.
LSU Partnerships Improve Hurricane Storm Surge Forecasts for Louisiana, Nation
During the record-breaking 2020 hurricane season, more people than ever turned to LSU’s Coastal Emergency Risk Assessment (CERA) tool, which visualizes ADCIRC storm surge predictions, to help protect people and assets against flooding. Although the official season finally ended this week, the researchers are busier than ever in improving the tool and preparing for next year—by working directly with the decision makers who rely on it. To this end, the LSU team has continued to grow and now includes Denise DeLorme, professor of environmental communication, and Paul Miller, assistant professor of coastal meteorology, both in the LSU College of the Coast & Environment.
Coastal Environmental Science Student Kendall Brome Receives LSU Distinguished Communicator Medal
During December 2020 Commencement, 17 graduates across seven colleges will receive the LSU Distinguished Communicator Medal. Recipients of this honor are outstanding writers and speakers, with a strong command of visual literacy and technological communication. They have earned high GPAs in their communication-intensive courses throughout their baccalaureate years, sought 1-1 mentorships with faculty and have built websites that display their communication competencies and professional talents, both in and beyond the classroom. LSU Distinguished Communicators also graduate with the LSU Communicator Certificate, launched in Fall 2018.
After Historic 2020 Hurricane Season, LSU’s Coastal Research Highlights Post-Storm Impacts
BATON ROUGE—The year 2020 now has the most named storms ever recorded in the Atlantic in a single year. In the summer and fall, the coastal bays of Louisiana have experienced impacts from a number of tropical storms and hurricanes in close procession, including Tropical Storm Marco and Hurricanes Laura, Sally, Beta, Delta and Zeta. These events have provided LSU scientists with a rare opportunity to assess how storms can exacerbate coastal erosion even when they do not directly strike vulnerable areas. This is especially concerning for Barataria Bay, Louisiana, which has one of the fastest coastal land loss rates in the nation. While studying marsh edge erosion in the bay, the scientists discovered that, even when excluding any direct strikes to the coastal basin, erosion rates were up to 60 times higher than the four-year long-term average, due to this year’s storms.
Scholarship, Stewardship, and the Sea: Mike Callais' LSU Legacy
Charles "Mike" Callais (B.S., Business Management, 1984) is, in every way, the product of the great men who came before him. His love of education, desire to serve his community, and respect for the environment are values that were instilled in him by his father, and his grandfather before him, for his entire life. So, it is especially fitting that he would create a scholarship that combines all three -- the Callais Scholarship for the Advancement of Louisiana's Coastal and Marine Industries.
The Quiet, Multi-Million-Dollar Song from the Sea
Crystal Johnson, associate professor in the Department of Environmental Sciences in the LSU College of the Coast & Environment, knows a bacterium doesn’t care where it gets its food—whether the ocean, an oyster, or the human mouth. She studies how microbes respond to their environment, including vibrios, which play an important role in nature’s clean-up system. They break down organic matter in all aquatic environments—lakes, rivers, marches, and the sea—help recycle carbon, and degrade waste. Vibrios are everywhere.
LSU CC&E: Expanding Programs and Breaking Records
This fall, the LSU College of the Coast & Environment welcomed a record-breaking 60 first-year students to its Coastal Environmental Science, or CES, undergraduate program. This brings the total number of students enrolled up to 180. In its inception in 2008, the CES program had just five students enrolled. Now, it is one of the fastest-growing undergraduate programs at LSU with a 90 percent retention rate as of last year. CES undergraduate program director Vince Wilson believes one of the secrets to the program’s success is its strong emphasis on undergraduate research.
Hidden Losses Deep in the Amazon Rainforest
Few places on Earth are as rich in biodiversity and removed from human influence as the world’s largest rainforest — the Amazon. Scientists at LSU have been conducting research within the pristine rainforest for decades. However, they began to notice that some of the animals, specifically birds that forage on and near the forest floor, had become very difficult to find.
CC&E Collaborates Across Disciplines via 2020 Fall Discover Grants
The LSU College of the Coast & Environment, or CC&E, is empowering students to explore a world of possibilities by fostering collaborative research across disciplines. This semester, four 2020 Fall Discover Grant recipients from a range of disciplines are mentoring with faculty experts from the college, providing them with multiple approaches to address challenging topics.
LSU Communications Specialist Awarded for Illuminating Public Relations Campaign
This September, the LSU College of the Coast & Environment's communications specialist, Christine Wendling, was awarded a 2020 Lantern Award of Excellence for the exceptional and informative public relations campaign that she began late last year. She capitalized on a hot media topic -- the release of Disney's "Frozen II" -- to shine a light on the college's recently developed coastal meteorology program, which offers a concentration and a minor and helps students develop indispensable career skills, such as generating predictive meteorological models. This award was bestowed by the Southern Public Relations Federation, a network of public, private, and non-profit public relations professionals from Alabama, Florida, Louisiana, and Mississippi.
More Than Bad Weather: LSU CC&E Analyzing Wide-Ranging Impacts of Hurricanes
Throughout human history, the tracks and impacts of tropical storms and hurricanes have been notoriously difficult to predict and measure. This is due to the multitude of factors that determine whether a storm will ultimately peter out, as was the case this year with Hurricane Marco (2020), or become one for the record books, like Hurricane Laura (2020), the most powerful storm to hit Louisiana since 1856. With hurricanes predicted to become stronger and more frequent through the end of this century, it is even more vital to be able to accurately forecast their potential effects on the people and ecosystems along vulnerable coastlines. Experts at LSU's College of the Coast & Environment are located at the forefront of these challenges and provide a wealth of critical data that improves disaster management and prevention.
LSU EnvironMentors Marks 10 Years
Ten years ago, this fall, a group of 15 Scotlandville Magnet High School students visited Louisiana State University (LSU) for the first time as part of a new program called EnvironMentors. There were only a handful of EnvironMentor chapters across the country in 2010. And some LSU graduate students proposed establishing a chapter on the Baton Rouge campus. Among the program’s original sponsors was Louisiana Sea Grant (LSG), which continues to support the chapter.
Five LSU College of the Coast & Environment Faculty and Graduate Students Awarded Prestigious NAS Fellowships
Five LSU College of the Coast & Environment faculty, graduate students and alumnae have been awarded prestigious 2020 fellowships by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine’s Gulf Research Program, or GRP. LSU College of the Coast & Environment’s Department of Oceanography & Coastal Sciences Assistant Professors Cassandra Glaspie and Michael Polito are among the 20 U.S. faculty selected for the Early-Career Research Fellowships. Now in its sixth year, the fellowship is awarded to emerging scientific leaders who are prepared to work at the intersections of environmental health, community health and resilience and offshore energy system safety in the Gulf of Mexico and other U.S. coastal regions.
Gulf of Mexico ‘Dead Zone’ Smaller-than-Average this Summer Due to Storms
The bottom area of low oxygen in Louisiana coastal waters west of the Mississippi River, commonly known as the “Dead Zone,” was mapped at a much smaller-than-average size this summer. The area was 2,117 square miles, which is larger than Rhode Island but smaller than Delaware, and well below the projected estimate of 7,769 square miles. LSU College of the Coast & Environment's Department of Oceanography & Coastal Sciences Assistant Professor Cassandra Glaspie served as the chief scientist with Professor and Shell Endowed Chair in Oceanography and Wetland Studies Nancy Rabalais attending virtually.