Guess what Jubin saw while running!

You might recall Kendra's "Running with the Cows" post from last fall. Well, last week, Jubin was out running on the tow path near the weir on the river, not even a half mile from our house and saw..........a SEAL! How cool is that?! We had been told that seals come up the River Lagan to forage near our house, but this was our first sighting. Here is a link to a map of the towpath - if you zoom in and move around, you can see where Jubin saw the seal. The blue pin in Stranmillis is very close to our house and he saw the seal between the Boat Club and the Sewage Works -- http://www.walkni.com/ulsterway/sections/lagan-towpath/#i.

There was a city worker sampling at the weir, so Jubin asked him how the seals manage the swim. He said that the seals can swim up the river by going under the weir - that there is a place for them to swim through it - and then they climb out of the river and go around the weir on the grass to get below it again. This situation is exactly what Jubin saw! He said that at first he thought he was noticing a big turtle on the grass river bank, but then it started moving really fast and he realized he was watching a seal climb out of the river and head around the weir!

A week later, Avril took Watson and Aimee down to the tow path to take a walk and feed the ducks. They saw another seal in the same place -- so cool! Of course, I have looked very carefully every single time I've been by that weir since we moved here in August and I have yet to see a seal...but, I am staying optimistic.

UPDATE on Feb 8, 2014 - We all went for a bike ride yesterday (did I mention that we got a toddler seat for the back of my bike for Jamie and that he LOVES riding around behind me?) and saw the seal again - yippee! And, we got to see her for quite a while. We might have even seen two (hard to tell) and at one point one was only about 12 feet from us popping its head out of the water. These are the grey seals (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grey_seal), as compared to the common or harbor seals I've seen in the past around N America. Both species can be found here.

And, a couple cute pix of Jamie outside just for fun:

Kendra's science teamwork paper makes the news!

Here is a post from Kendra's professional blog about my paper that came out yesterday. I've added a few more personal tidbits as well!

I think that many professors would say that their research informs their classrooms - that they bring their research methods and results into the classroom to help their students learn. However, I'm not sure how many professors think that there is a mutualistic relationship between their research labs and teaching classrooms. I do, and my new paper published this week is a great example of this relationship -- Creating and maintaining high-performing collaborative research teams: the importance of diversity and interpersonal skills by Kendra S Cheruvelil, Patricia A Soranno, Kathleen C Weathers, Paul C Hanson, Simon J Goring, Christopher T Filstrup, and Emily K Read (http://www.esajournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1890/130001). Check out MSU's press release about my paper here: http://msutoday.msu.edu/news/2014/research-its-more-than-just-the-science/. It is very fun to have a press release written about my work - this has not happened for me before. I've been a co-author on a pub that has hit the news, but never before have I been the lead author on one. Yippee!

UPDATES - the MSU press release was picked up by Science Daily and Phys.org. Very fun! I've never had that happen for one of my papers! Here are the links: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/02/140204123732.htm and http://phys.org/news/2014-02-science.html. And, my MSU college - Ag and Natural Resources - featured it in the Feb 12 "News Articles about CANR" newsletter: http://campaign.r20.constantcontact.com/render?ca=a031a319-7e33-4a01-8bd1-353e389b6fdf&c=f1cdb250-5f0d-11e3-ba11-d4ae529ce48a&ch=f26de9f0-5f0d-11e3-ba7f-d4ae529ce48a.
JUNE UPDATE: the Archbold Biological Station included CSI Limnology and highlighted my paper in their newsletter:
http://us6.campaign-archive1.com/?u=00a6f63d326fa6edc80274c26&id=65dd180497&e=6da1df2101
Very fun!

Now, on to the rest of my post -- Anyway, you might be asking how this mutualistic relationship works...well, there are three parts to the story:

First, over a decade ago, I began working with three amazing ecologists, who just happen to also be my dear friends: Drs. Patricia Soranno, Mary Tate Bremigan, and Katherine Webster. We got a grant from the US EPA to fund some of our Landscape Limnology research (www.fw.msu.edu/~llrg) and were able to do a LOT of great science with a relatively small number of tax-payer dollars (~$250k). We have since expanded our research team in multiple directions (e.g., CSI Limnology and Lakes as Socio-Ecological Systems), and have continued to work really well together. I don't take these great research teams for granted because to work productively together is not a given in science. In fact, I have often heard colleagues complain about their collaborations and I have experienced teams that have self-combusted or just petered out. The reality is that high-performing science teams take a lot of work to create and maintain! But,  I am committed to these teams (and the team members) that keep me passionate about science.

The Landscape Limnology Research Group (L to R):
Patricia Soranno, Kendra Spence Cheruvelil, Katherine Webster, Mary Tate Bremigan

Second, I began teaching introductory organismal biology in MSU's Lyman Briggs College (www.lbc.msu.edu). Right away, I noticed that my students struggled to work effectively in their lab teams and that those struggles negatively affected their science learning and their attitudes about biology. I began attending teaching seminars and reading the education literature about how to facilitate effective student teams. In fact, when I was an MSU Lilly Teaching Fellow (http://www.fod.msu.edu/opportunities/lilly-teaching-fellows-program), I designed a Scholarship of Teaching and Learning project that asked: How do diverse base groups impact student learning and attitudes in introductory biology? Over the past eight years, I have learned a lot about how to help students working in teams do so in better, more satisfying, and more scientifically productive ways. Of course, no one can fix all teams, but I have seen a dramatic reduction in the proportion of teams that are dysfunctional in my classes as a result of my efforts. Thank goodness, too, because it is really stressful dealing with dysfunctional teams!

Third, I began working with some of my LBC colleagues to increase awareness and appreciation of diversity in its many forms. With Drs. Georgina Montgomery, Cheryl Murphy, and Cori Fata-Hartley, I formed a new standing committee, LBC Inc, which has the goal of promoting and fostering an inclusive environment and equal opportunities for all LBC students, faculty, and staff through education, research, and service (http://lymanbriggs.msu.edu/faculty/standing.cfm); with Drs. Georgina Montgomery, Cori Fata-Hartley, and Aaron McCright, I developed a senior capstone course that used service learning and student research to explore issues of diversity in science; and with Dr. Cori Fata-Hartley, I developed and implemented a seminars and workshops about the importance of diversity for science teaching and learning (e.g., Creating an Inclusive Classroom). I found all of these experiences extremely rewarding, and at the same time was continuously reminded of how challenging it is to think and talk about "diversity", no matter the context, and how such work is not always valued the way that it should be.

So, how did these three different aspects of my job come together to create this Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment paper about science teams? Over the course of the last 10+ years, I have been experiencing and observing a huge number of teams at work - in the classroom, in my lab, and beyond. The teamwork skills I learned in order to help my students and the literature I read about the importance of diversity for teaching and learning began informing my research teams. I began to lead my research teams through teamwork exercises about negotiating conflict and time management, sometimes to my team mates' consternation. I designed an online survey for CSI Limnology to assess team functioning (we were doing pretty well!). I started raising other scientists' awareness about the importance of diversity and interpersonal skills for science teams. And then, word got out -- I began getting emails from colleagues around the world asking me for my teamwork materials so that their research teams could increase their level of productivity as well. Thus, this paper was born!

I wrote this paper with some amazing co-authors: Patricia Soranno, Kathleen Weathers, Paul Hanson, Simon Goring, Chris Filstrup, and Emily Read. Some of these people I've only met a couple of times, and I've not yet met Emily! But, we had a common vision for the paper and worked well together. We wanted to write a paper to provide scientists with a strong rationale for why they need to very carefully create diverse research teams, teach scientists teamwork and leadership skills, and value such training and its outputs. In addition, our paper provides concrete examples of how to create and maintain high-performing collaborative research teams (check out the online supplemental documents: http://www.esajournals.org/doi/suppl/10.1890/130001/suppl_file/i1540-9295-12-1-31.s01.pdf). We wrote the paper based on our own experiences working in teams (not all of which have been high-performing) as well as using research published mainly in the fields of education and business. Finally, our paper was informed by the really cool new discipline called the science of team science (http://sites.nationalacademies.org/DBASSE/BBCSS/CurrentProjects/DBASSE_080231). We hope that our paper is helpful for science teams that want to improve, scientists in training who want to learn teamwork and leadership skills, and administrators who are thinking about how to evaluate and reward scientists who work in teams. The end result of high-performing science teams is better science being conducted, which is a win for everyone!

This special issue (http://www.esajournals.org/toc/fron/12/1) was partly the result of a two-day meeting held during February of 2012 in Boulder, CO. Funny, this was right around when I found out that I was pregnant with Jamieson and I had a terrible cold during the trip - no voice whatsoever. Pat kept trying to give me medicine to take, but I refused and finally explained why! Anyway, researchers funded through the NSF-MacroSysytems Biology Program (http://www.nsf.gov/funding/pgm_summ.jsp?pims_id=503425) got together to share ideas and tools and talked a lot about what it is that makes macrosystems ecology tick, including effective interdisciplinary teams. You can check out the NSF's press releases here: http://www.nsf.gov/news/news_summ.jsp?cntn_id=130218&org=NSF&from=news and http://www.nsf.gov/news/news_images.jsp?cntn_id=130218&org=NSF.

A special shout out to my long-time LLRG, my LBC students and teaching assistants, and to Cori Fata-Hartley!

Hot off the press - Macrosystems Ecology

One of my research projects that I've written about here before, CSI-Limnology (www.csilimnology.org),  is about understanding and explaining variation among lakes at large geographic scales and through time. This research focus puts us on the front edge of an emerging new subdiscipline of ecology called macrosystems ecology. This new field of study is the focus of a special issue this month in the Ecological Society of America's journal Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment. Check out MSU's press release about the special issue, including a short animation, here: http://msutoday.msu.edu/news/2014/new-scientific-field-looks-at-the-big-picture/.

In this special issue, I am lead-author on a paper about how to create and maintain the best possible scientific collaborations (see my next post for details), as well as co-author on three of the other papers. CSI Limnology's lead-PI, and my good friend, Patricia Soranno, was the co-editor of the issue. She was also co-lead author on the opening editorial and the opening paper that describes this new field of science, and was lead author on our CSI-Limnology paper that describes how important cross-scale interactions are for understanding variation among ecosystems at large scales and for predicting their likely responses to stressors such as land use and climate changes. Many of my CSI Limnology colleagues are also co-authors on various papers in the special issue (listed in alpha order): Ed Bissell, Mary Tate Bremigan, John Downing, Emi Fergus, Chris Filstrup, Emily Norton Henry, Noah Lottig, Craig Stow, Emily Stanley, Pang-Ning Tan, Ty Wagner, and Katherine Webster. It is fun to be at the forefront of something new in science!

All of the papers are available online for free at: http://www.esajournals.org/toc/fron/12/1 --thanks NSF for making that possible. As an aside, did you know that scientists do not get paid to publish their work, but instead have to pay to have their research published? Usually it costs about $1200 for each article published. And, if they want it to be "open access" or accessible by everyone (which I do), then it is even more expensive to publish! Weird, right?

The projects highlighted in this issue are funded through the US NSF MacroSystems Biology (MSB) Program. This special issue was the result of MSB project participants meeting (including Pat and me) in Boulder, CO for an NSF-funded workshop during February of 2011. Check out the NSF's press releases here: http://www.nsf.gov/news/news_summ.jsp?cntn_id=130218&org=NSF&from=news and http://www.nsf.gov/news/news_images.jsp?cntn_id=130218&org=NSF.

It is very fun to have my publications, and that of my friends, make a big splash - often in academia, it seems that we work hard for sometimes years to publish a paper in a journal and then when it comes out, it seems that no one even knows about it. Quite the let down...not this time!

Our winter holiday in FL - Part 1

Kendra's parents miss the boys SOOOO much! When they heard that Kendra had to be in FL the first week of Jan for work, they decided we all had to come visit them in FL for the holidays. Since we are away this year anyway, Kendra's parents have rented a house and a golf cart in The Villages, FL for the months of Dec-Mar. We arrived late Saturday Dec 21 and stayed for just over 2 weeks. The weather was very variable - typical for FL in Dec - some days it was sunny and 80 degrees F and other days it rained and was 50 degrees F.

Notice the decals on the front of the rental?
That's what happens when you befriend strangers everywhere you go!

For those of you who have not yet heard of The Villages, it is a retirement community in central FL that boasts almost 100,000 residents over the age of 50, something like 40 golf courses, and many pools and recreation centers. There are 3 "Village" centers each with its own theme and daily activities -- Sumter Landing (central, New England style), Spanish Springs (north, obviously Spanish style), Brownwood (south, Country Western style). Here's a map of the area: http://goo.gl/maps/L1p2O that has a marker for The Villages and another for where we stayed. The house that Kendra's parents are renting backs up to one of the many Village golf courses and when the weather was warm enough, we would sit out on the lanai to relax and take in the views and fresh air. Here are a couple of pix from there:

We saw quite a few Sandhill Cranes on the golf course.

What a nice place to relax...

One of its features that The Villages is known for is its residents' use of golf carts. There are golf cart paths and lanes throughout the development so that residents can drive their golf cart everywhere (yep, to get groceries or go to the doctor as well), which the boys LOVED. We used our 4-seater golf cart to go out and about day and night. In fact, the 2nd day we were there, Kendra and her Mom took it to Publix and barely made it home, there were SO many groceries in it! Unfortunately, our golf cart was a bit on the slow side...but, at least the battery lasted a long time (one night Kendra's parent's golf cart ran out of juice!). Here are some pictures of us either in or from the cart:

On Christmas Eve, we took the carts out for a light tour to see the holiday decorations.

Following Kendra's parents around The Villages...

One day, we went to Sumter Landing for a bit - no...Watson is not driving!

This is what the streets look like - there are normal parking spots,
some taken by one car and others by 2 golf carts.

During our time at The Villages, we cooked lots of yummy food, some of which we had never made before, like a Crown Roast of Pork (http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/crown-roast-of-pork-recipe.html) and peanut butter pie. Yum! Watson and Jubin went to see Frozen, Jubin and I had a couple hours of alone-time at Sumter Landing, we all went together to all 3 of the Village centers, we visited with Kendra's Uncle Andy and his wife Terry (they own a home there), and we went to the pool about 4 times (whenever it was warm enough to swim), where we also played shuffle board and bocce ball. Jubin and I also got to run together 4 times, which we really enjoyed - we haven't been able to do that together for a LONG time!

Brownwood Village Center

Walking on the Sumter Landing boardwalk.

Dad at the pool napping...too bad he was sick for most of our visit!

While we were in FL, MI experienced a terrible ice storm followed by arctic cold and lots of snow. Some of our friends were without power for over a week! Luckily, our house in Lansing didn't lose power and our neighbors were able to give us periodic updates (the family renting our house was also in FL for the holiday break). The weather in MI certainly made us appreciate the relative warmth in FL, even when it was only in the 40's!

Kendra's seminar at Queen's GAP

I was invited to give a talk as part of the Queen's School of Geography, Archaeology, and Paleoecology Seminar Series at Queen's at the end of January (http://www.qub.ac.uk/schools/gap/). As the name implies, this School, and its seminar series, is pretty diverse. My seminar was part of the Environmental Change cluster - I think this cluster includes people from all three disciplines in the School title. I have met some of the people in this cluster during the past 6 months, but certainly not all of them, and haven't really interacted with any of them very much. Certainly there are not any limnologists in the School (well, maybe my postdoc office mate would consider herself one?), but there might be some landscape ecologists in the cluster. Anyway, before the talk, there were sandwiches, cookies, and tea/coffee for everyone. What a lovely tradition! Unfortunately, I was busy getting set up for my talk, so I didn't get a chance to really speak informally with anyone before my talk. Here's the flyer they posted around the School:

My talk, titled "Increasing understanding of environmental change: Quantifying multi-scaled relationships between terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems" was in the Elmwood Building, next door to the building my office is in. It was well-attended and I think well-received by the mixture of students and staff who attended. I had a lot of interesting questions after the talk and I am looking forward to interacting with people from this cluster for the next 6 months.

Special thanks to Dr. Paula Reimer for sponsoring me (getting me the seminar invitation 
and introducing me before my talk).

Castle Espie - NOT a castle, but a very cool place!

In December, the day after our "date night" at Bob and Kath's, we went to Castle Espie. In the land of castles, this is NOT a castle! Instead, it is a wonderful wetland centre: http://www.wwt.org.uk/wetland-centres/castle-espie/ out on the coast, between Bob and Kath's house and our house (map - you can zoom in and out: http://goo.gl/maps/wyGRx). This really neat place has SO many species of duck that live there and you can feed them. Some of these species are really rare even.

And, there is a very cool walk around the property to vantage points to see lots of birds in nature along the coast and in wetlands. There are also some neat early human structures with educational materials, a lime kiln, and a playground. The day we were there, they were having a scavenger-type hunt for the kids that Watson really enjoyed.

Unfortunately, when we got out to about as far away from the Visitor's Centre as possible, it started down pouring...and, didn't stop! So, we didn't get to see about half of the outdoor attractions, including the playground. Next time...we will definitely be back to this little gem. Luckily, inside they have a really great indoor playroom with soft structures, a really nice gift shop, and a great cafe. And, that weekend they had a whole series of crafts for kids to do. Watson made all of the crafts, we ate dinner, and the boys played in the indoor gym for a long time while it rained outside. What a great place!

Watson at school

Watson's school has finally updated their webpage and now has a page dedicated to each classroom. I don't know how often they will update the page, or whether we will still be able to see the pictures there 1 year from now. So, I copied the text and the pix of Watson here on Jan 25, 2014. This way we will have them for  the long-term. But, here's the link to the original:
http://www.botanicprimaryschool.com/year-2/
Please let me know if you notice any new posts!

Watson is featured quite a few times on the page -- it is nice to see some of what he's up to while at school!

WELCOME TO YEAR 2!

Welcome to Term 2! Primary 2 will be very busy this term - we are looking at Winter & Living Things between now and Easter. We have already had N.I. Water in to visit us and complete an experiment to clean dirty water. This term in Year 2 our topic is toys!  We are learning all about toys from the past and toys from today.  Miss Morrison brought in her mum's old doll house for us to play with during play time.  We have also been playing in the toy shop where Miss Morrison was doing some Christmas shopping!  We have  been painting pictures of our favourite toys during I.C.T.  During numeracy we are learning to sort objects different ways and how to record the information.  Soon we will be learning to tell the time. During term 1, we learned all about ourselves through our topic All about me! We were counting to 20 and adding and subtracting two numbers.  We learnt about shape and money.  During literacy we  learned to write instructions (see some examples of our work below) and wrote about our weekend's and trip to the museum.  During play, we enjoyed painting pictures of ourselves, creating houses and buildings from lego and other construction toys.  We made lots of things at the creative table, and in the role play corner we had a house, a Doctor's surgery where Mr Bell came to visit, and then a cafe where we learned about healthy eating.

Ready for our Nativity play

We made a sentence in the sand

Digging in the sand with trucks

We are so clever in P2