eSML January 2008

Greetings from Ithaca, where we are busy planning for SML Summer 2008. Happily, this winter we retained many of the island staff members who made SML Summer 2007 such a success. This continuity made possible by our base at Creek Farm – offers prospects for an even more successful SML Summer 2008, for we are literally months ahead of where we were last year at this time. This lets us focus on SML’s core mission to design unique and outstanding academic programs that will serve as magnets for students from many majors and institutions. I’ll write more about academics in next month’s e-SML. For a preview, see our course listings at http://www.sml.cornell.edu, in the “students” section.

Island staff wintering at Creek Farm include head engineer Mike Rosen, head chef Matt Coyle, and lab preparators Meg Eastwood and Kipp Quinby. Celia Thaxter gardeners Pam and Mark Boutilier have joined the staff as coastal coordinator and coastal support specialist, respectively. All are very busy. Captain Tom Davis is overseeing repair of the Boston whaler wrecked in the storm of August 3, 2006.  SML operations manager Ross Hansen is working with Mike to update all records and permits related to water, sanitation, and other Appledore infrastructure. Assistant director Hal Weeks, Kipp, and Meg are analyzing historic data sets from Appledore transect studies and revising and updating the checklist of species found at Appledore.

In December, I traveled to Woods Hole with SML staff to tour facilities and meet our counterparts at the Marine Biological Laboratory, Northeast Fisheries Science Center, Sea Education Association, and National Academy of Sciences. This successful and inspiring visit opened up many opportunities for future collaborations.

Kathi Colin Peck joined SML in November as assistant director for development. Chuck Greene, Cornell Professor of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, now meets with us weekly to help plan the future of SML, including potential links to field science opportunities such as Cornell’s Hawaii Program (http://www.geo.cornell.edu/hawaii/index.html).

The SML Executive Committee met in November to review the annual performance of SML and to plan for negotiating a five-year extension of the SML Covenant, the memorandum of understanding between Cornell and UNH that establishes governance and financial models for SML. The current covenant expires in June 2009, but we are scheduled to sign our extension by June 30, 2008. As a follow-up to our November meeting, Kathi and I spent two days in New Hampshire at the end of January. We met in person and by teleconference with members of the executive committee to discuss the covenant and the proposed role of Creek Farm for the future of SML. Ongoing efforts to reach agreement by June insure a busy spring. I will keep you posted.
 

Willy Bemis,
Kingsbury Director of Shoals Marine Laboratory