Virginia State Senators Visit VIMS

By David Malmquist

VIMS graduate student Kelsey Fall discusses her research aboard the RV Pelican with Senate staffer Clyde Cristman. Photo by Jennifer Latour.

Members of the Education Subcommittee of the Virginia Senate Finance Committee enjoyed a waterfront tour of the Virginia Institute of Marine Science on July 24 in conjunction with their public meeting at VIMS.

VIMS Dean and Director John Wells, who led the tour of VIMS’ Gloucester Point campus aboard the research vessel Pelican, says he was “delighted to help our esteemed guests learn more about VIMS and how our services benefit the citizens of the Commonwealth."

Joining Wells aboard the RV Pelican was VIMS Master’s student Kelsey Fall, who described her study of the erosion and accumulation of muddy sediments in lower Chesapeake Bay. When suspended in the water, muddy sediments degrade water quality and block sunlight from seagrass beds; when on the seafloor they tend to accumulate high levels of nutrients and other aquatic contaminants. 

Excerpted from: http://www.vims.edu/newsandevents/topstories/senate_visit.php

William & Mary BOV Visit CHSD Lab

By Dave Malmquist

Members of the Board of Visitors (BOV) of the College of William and Mary toured the Virginia Institute of Marine Science on July 20 to learn more about the Institute and its mission. The full group later held their annual retreat on the VIMS campus in Gloucester Point. As part of their tour, BOV members visited the Coastal Hydrodynamics and Sediment Dynamics (CHSD) lab of VIMS professor Carl Friedrichs, whose research focuses on the role of sediment dynamics in the health and navigability of Bay and coastal ocean waters.  

L-R: BOV members Charlie Banks and Leigh Pence, Friedrichs, BOV members Dennis Liberson and Michael Tang, and BOV student representative Curt Mills (W&M undergraduate). In the background is BOV member Ann Green Baise. In the foreground is Laura Tait, an undergraduate from Amherst College who is an intern in the CHSD lab. Photo by David Malmquist.

From: http://www.flickr.com/photos/vims_photos/7611633602/in/set-72157630671388738/