Cultural Legacies in the Amazonian Holocene: A Paleoecological Perspective

S. Yoshi Maezumi, Max Planck Institute of Geoanthropology

The extent to which Indigenous land use and cultural burning practices have altered modern ecosystems is a hotly debated topic in archaeology and paleoecology. To address this issue, an interdisciplinary approach combining archaeological, archaeobotany, palaeoecolgoy, and palaeoclimatology is used to investigate climate-human-ecosystem interactions in the Amazon. These data indicate Indigenous Amazonians employed diverse subsistence strategies that combined cultural burning, agroforestry, polyculture, and soil amelioration that maximized subsistence diversity without large-scale land clearing. These data provide evidence of resource diversification, improved food security, and sustainable anthropogenic landscapes during increased climate variability and expanding Indigenous populations during the late Holocene. These data provide an example of long-term anthropogenic landscapes that can inform management and conservation efforts for sustainable futures of tropical ecosystems in the 21st century.

3:45 PM - 5:00 PM

Structured Decision-Making Framework for Managing Cyanobacterial Harmful Algal Blooms in New York State Parks

Jennifer Graham, USGS and New York Water Science Center

Cyanobacteria increasingly are a global water-quality concern because of the potential for these organisms to develop harmful blooms that affect ecologic, economic, and public health. Cyanobacterial harmful algal blooms (CyanoHABs) can lead to a decrease in water quality and affect many of the recreational and ecological benefits of parks that include lakes. The New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation (OPRHP) is a state agency within the New York State Executive Department charged with the operation of state parks and historic sites. Many New York State parks include lakes or other freshwater bodies, which can be susceptible to CyanoHABs. The OPRHP faces difficult decisions regarding prevention of and response to CyanoHABs. Decision analysis is often used to inform complex decisions regarding natural resource management. Structured decision making (SDM) breaks down complex decisions into their basic parts and reconstructs the problem into a framework that allows for collaborative examination and development of suitable actions. The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) partnered with OPRHP and the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation to develop a SDM template for managing CyanoHABs in OPRHP parks. Two parks, Moreau Lake State Park and Rockland Lake State Park, served as case studies to motivate and test the template. This presentation will describe how the principles of SDM can be used to navigate the challenging problems associated with managing CyanoHABs using the case studies as examples. Management objectives and strategies for CyanoHABs in OPRHP parks, strategies to evaluate consequences and manage trade-offs, and potential challenges to the implementation of preferred alternatives will be discussed.

3:45 PM - 5:00 PM

Sea-level rise and thin layer placement: How they affect salt marsh C and N cycling

Charles Schutte, Rowan University

Around half of New Jersey’s salt marshes are not keeping pace with sea-level rise and face increasing inundation and salinity. How will this affect soil-based ecosystem services that these marshes provide, like nitrogen removal and carbon burial? In this presentation, Dr. Schutte will discuss how sea-level rise and other human-caused disturbances may interact to exacerbate marsh loss and share results about how one method to protect marshes from sea-level rise, thin later placement, affects soil nitrogen cycling process rates.

3:45 PM - 5:00 PM

Wave Energy: Perspective on Applications, Technologies, and Challenges

Muhammad Hajj, Stevens Institute of Technology

In comparison to solar and wind energy, wave energy is more predictable, and incessant with a global potential of the order of tens of thousands of terawatt-hours per year. Yet, from a readiness perspective, there has not been a prevailing design for wave energy converters for many reasons. Developing the technology requires design of components including the prime mover, foundation or mooring, power take-off, and control systems. In this talk, advances made towards realizing electric power from wave energy will be discussed. A summary of an effort supported by the US Department of Energy and led by researchers at Stevens Institute of Technology and in collaboration with researchers from Virginia Tech and Resolute Marine to design of a 100 kW will be presented.

3:45 PM - 5:00 PM

Analyzing Low-abundance Environmental Analytes using Mass Spectrometry

Anyin Li, University of New Hampshire

Electrospray ionization (ESI) is an indispensable mass spectrometry method for solution phase analytes including environmental contaminants. While MS detectors measure no more than picoamps of ion current, conventional ESI methods produce a minimum of nanoamps (nA) current, wasting a large portion of analytes, and causing non-uniform responses in the analysis.

Recent research has developed methods to generate ESI in femtoamp (fA) currents and femto flow (fL/min) flow rates. When generating nanoscale initial charged droplets, the femto ionization regimes provide improved performances for hydrophilic analytes including glycans, glycopeptide, and intact proteins. This seminar also showcases how the low ion current regime may be utilized to ionize environmental contaminants in nonpolar extraction solvent. Lastly, femto ESI was utilized to generate individual ions for charge detection mass spectrometry, and for preparing single atom catalyst.

3:45 PM - 5:00 PM

PFAS Screening and Protein Absolute Quantitation by Mass Spectrometry

Hao Chen, New Jersey Institute of Technology

In collaboration with Prof. Mengyan Li at NJIT, we recently developed a rapid analytical method for per and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) using nano-electrospray high-resolution mass spectrometry (Nano-ESI-HRMS), which was recently published in Water Research, 2022, 219, 118542. This method was applied to aqueous film-forming foams (AFFFs) and wastewater samples collected from three local wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs). The method exhibited high sensitivity with lower limits of detection (LODs) of 3.2~36.2 ng/L for 22 target PFAS analytes. In AFFF formulations, Nano-ESI-HRMS enabled the first-time detection of trifluoromethanesulfonic acid (TFMS), perfluoroethyl cyclohexanesulfonate (PFECHS), 6:2 fluorotelomer sulfonyl amido sulfonic acid (6:2 FTSAS-SO2), N ammoniopropyl perfluoroalkanesulfonamidopropylsulfonate (N-AmP-FASAPS, n=3–6), ketone perfluorooctanesulfonic acid (Keto-PFOS), fluorotelomer unsaturated amide sulfonic acid (FTUAmS, n = 7), and 6:2 fluorotelomer amide (6:2 FTAm). Their structures were verified by the tandem MS analysis using collision-induced dissociation. Overall, Nano-ESI-HRMS enabled comprehensive PFAS quantitative analysis and suspect screening, applicable for rapid investigation and assessment of PFAS related exposure and treatment in environmental matrixes. In this talk, I will also introduce our recent effort in combining electrochemistry (EC) with mass spectrometry (MS) for protein absolute quantitation without using expensive standards. We expect it will make a good impact in quantitative proteomics.

3:45 PM - 5:00 PM

Planning Cities Using LEED Standards

Jason Kliwinski, Green Building Center

Jason Kliwinski focuses on three main areas in Sustainability Science: Sustainable Architecture, Consulting and Education. As a practicing Architect, Jason’s work includes the sustainable renovation, preservation, and adaptive reuse of existing buildings as well as creation of many new environmentally responsible & healthy buildings for twenty years. Jason’s work is diverse and includes commercial, institutional, educational, hospitality, retail and residential clients in public and private sectors. As a Consultant, Jason has assisted clients across multiple markets in pursuing LEED™ & WELL™ certifications and carbon neutrality/net zero energy on dozens of projects over the last two decades. His philosophy has always been that it does not cost more to build green and this has been proven out repeatedly in the many successful LEED™ certifications achieved. In today's presentation, Jason will focus on how Planning Cities Using LEED standards can produce healthy and resilient cities.

3:45 PM - 5:00 PM

Enabling Data Driven Analysis of Vulnerabilities and Sustainability Challenges in Urban Settings

Shrideep Pallickara, Colorado State University

Can data help us understand and mitigate sustainability and vulnerability challenges? Can these data can spur exploration of new questions and hypotheses, particularly across traditionally disparate disciplines, and offer unprecedented opportunities for discovery and innovation? In this talk, Dr. Pallickara will describe an NSF-funded multi-institution effort that he leads, Sustain. Crucially, analytics capabilities within Sustain are accessible via a browser, allowing researchers to formulate hypotheses and explore multiple dimensions of vulnerability and sustainability that crosscut diverse domains and spatiotemporal scopes.

3:45 PM - 5:00 PM

Heavy metals in Newark soils

Ashaki Rouff, Rutgers University

Newark has an extensive network of urban farms and gardens that reclaim unused land, build community, and offer access to fresh, locally grown produce. However, like many post-industrial cities, Newark’s soils are also polluted, presenting a challenge for urban agriculture. Dr. Rouff will share research on the concentrations and forms of the heavy metal lead in urban farm soils, the environmental and health implications, and how urban farming practices help to manage this pollution.

3:45 PM - 5:00 PM

The Ecological Consequences of Salty Fresh Waters

Bill Hintz, The University of Toledo

Freshwater ecosystems worldwide are getting saltier. This will change the ecology and functioning of freshwater ecosystems and threatens the services fresh waters provide us as humans, such as drinking water quality. In this presentation, Dr. Hintz will explain new research that investigates the ecological consequences of freshwater salinization and how current water quality guidelines need to be reevaluated to protect freshwater ecosystems.

3:45 PM - 5:00 PM

Sustainability challenges produced by melting ice sheets: insights from the sediment archive

Sandra Passchier, Montclair State University

Glacial ice is susceptible to atmospheric and ocean warming, and ice mass loss is a major concern due to its impact on sea level, hazards such as glacial outburst floods, and water resources, affecting millions of people. However, the fate of land ice in the light of prolonged warming is a topic of major uncertainty because of the complex feedbacks of land ice in the climate system. This talk will highlight how glacial sedimentologists use geological archives of different time resolutions, from years to millions of years, to understand an ice-sheet’s response to warming. Records of relatively recent annual glacial varves testify of the dynamic behavior of ice sheets at speeds that exceed their modeled retreat rates. Furthermore, sediment archives deposited millions of years ago provide a glimpse into a world with reduced ice cover in a different greenhouse climate state. The data can be translated to inform decision making towards sustainable development under different future emission scenarios.

3:45 PM - 5:00 PM

Science and Solutions for a Warming World

Kim Cobb, Georgia Institute of Technology

Kim Cobb, Director, Institute at Brown for Environment and Society and Professor, Dept of Earth, Environmental, and Planetary Sciences & Environment and Society, Brown University, presents this week's seminar.

3:45 PM - 5:00 PM

Human-Robot Collaboration for Smart Manufacturing: A Sustainable Solution to the Future of Manufacturing

Weitian Wang, Montclair State University

Robotics technology has served humans in numerous application fields, especially product assembly in manufacturing contexts. Global competitors and technological advancements result in great challenges and much more complicated working environments for the manufacturing. Human-robot collaboration (HRC) has numerous vital and outstanding advantages to substantially lessen the amount of fixed production costs in comparison to variable costs. HRC provides a great solution to the complex hybrid manufacturing tasks. The cooperation of humans and robots in collaborative tasks can take advantage of the differing strengths from both sides. In this talk, I will give a broad introduction of robotics research and education at Montclair State University. Then I will share some of my research projects focusing on human-robot collaboration in smart manufacturing contexts including robot learning from human demonstrations, human factors in human-robot collaboration, and collaboration quality estimation. Experimental results and discussions in real-world human-robot collaborative contexts will be presented. This talk is supported in part by the National Science Foundation under Grant CNS-2104742 and Grant CMMI-2138351.

3:45 PM - 5:00 PM

Forests as Social Safety Nets During the Covid-19 Lockdowns: Evidence from India

Alder Keleman Saxena, Northern Arizona State University

This presentation reports on research assessing the social-ecological dynamics of the Covid-19 lockdowns in India in 2020 and 2021. Preliminary findings of research in forest- adjacent communities in three states (Assam, Madhya Pradesh, and Himachal Pradesh) suggest that while forest resources did serve as a buffer for some of the most vulnerable households, they did not stand in as a full substitute for the market-derived goods and income opportunities curtailed by the lockdowns. Findings from the research to-date suggest two major conclusions: first, the ecological context (including the seasonal timing) of the lockdowns influenced the extent to which forest communities did (or did not) have access to supporting forest resources; and second, communities identified failings in formal public-sector safety nets – rather than lack of access to forests - as a major source of distress during the lockdown periods.

3:45 PM - 5:00 PM

Taking Science to the Streets: Participatory Research Approaches to Improve Environment, Health, and Quality of Life in Urban Areas

Na'Taki Osborne Jelks, Spelman College

Environmental justice communities, those disproportionately affected by pollutants, are simultaneously exposed to multiple environmental stressors and also experience social and cultural factors that may heighten their health risks in comparison to other communities. Availability of fine-grained, community-level data is limited to support said communities’ appeals for public health practice, planning, and policy changes. In Northwest Atlanta, Georgia’s Proctor Creek Watershed community residents (watershed researchers), academics, and non-profit organizations have leveraged local, community knowledge; community science methods; and participatory approaches to identify, document, and analyze the impacts of local environmental hazards and quality of life stressors. This highly collaborative and interdisciplinary work has helped to improve municipal services and community-municipality collaboration while also demonstrating that the democratization of science can help fill critical data gaps about local conditions and pollution sources, advance environmental justice, and impact changes in the implementation of urban policies and practice that influence community health.

3:45 PM - 5:00 PM