IFNH Leadership Team Meets to Chart Course for the Institute

March 7, 2014 by
L-R: Larry Katz; Carol Byrd-Bredbenner; John Worobey; Dena Seidel; Shawn Arent; Peggy Policastro; Melodee Lasky; Michael Rogers; Tracy Anthony; Daniel Hoffman; Peter Gillies; Roger Grillo; and George Carman.

L-R: Larry Katz; Carol Byrd-Bredbenner; John Worobey; Dena Seidel; Shawn Arent; Peggy Policastro; Melodee Lasky; Michael Rogers; Tracy Anthony; Daniel Hoffman; Peter Gillies; Roger Grillo; and George Carman.

On February 24, the New Jersey Institute for Food, Nutrition & Health (IFNH) held the first official meeting of its collective leadership team. The leadership team is made up of institute champions and advocates from three academic departments, three major staff organizations, and three schools within the university, underscoring the institute’s core values of interdisciplinarity, collective success and community responsibility. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Faculty, Food/Nutrition/Health, Research, SEBS

North American snow cover at 3rd-highest level on record

March 6, 2014 by

As of Tuesday, North America is covered by the third-highest amount of snow this late in the season since records began in 1966, according to NOAA’s U.S. National Ice Center. Only 1969 and 1978 had more snow cover at this point in the year, according to Sean Helfrich of NOAA’s National Ice Center. This data includes both the U.S. and Canada, reported New Jersey state climatologist and Rutgers University geography professor David Robinson. "Given that the vast majority of Canada is snow-covered at this time of the year (except in a very mild early March), the signal is virtually entirely a function of snow extent variations in the lower 48," he said in an e-mail.

Read the entire article at freep.com »

Filed Under: Environment/Natural Resources, Faculty, In the News, SEBS

The Passing of Professor Peter Rona, Deep Sea Explorer

March 5, 2014 by
Peter Rona Photo by Donglai Gong

Peter Rona
Photo by Donglai Gong

Peter Rona, Rona, professor of marine science and earth and planetary sciences at Rutgers since 1994, was best known for his exploration of hydrothermal vents in the ocean’s Mid-Atlantic Ridge. He also served as a science director for the renowned IMAX film Volcanoes of the Deep. Read more at Rutgers Today.

Filed Under: Environment/Natural Resources, Faculty, SEBS

Ornamental Breeder Elwin Orton Awarded Hutchinson Medal from Chicago Horticultural Society

March 5, 2014 by
Orton's dogwood variety Ruth Ellen® was named for Ruth Ellen Steinman Bloustein. At peak bloom in the spring, this variety produces a flower that is a brilliant white color.

Orton’s dogwood variety Ruth Ellen® was named for Ruth Ellen Steinman Bloustein. At peak bloom in the spring, this variety produces a flower that is a brilliant white color.

Rutgers Professor Emeritus of plant biology and pathology Elwin Orton was the recipient of the prestigious 2013 Hutchinson Medal of the Chicago Horticultural Society. The award has been presented since 1911 to recognize outstanding leadership or professional accomplishment that has been significant in furthering horticulture, plant science or conservation. As a breeder of woody ornamentals, Orton has earned over 15 patents for new strains of dogwoods and holly that he developed over his almost 50-year career at Rutgers. Read more about the award here.

In addition to the Hutchinson Medal, a newly published monograph on dogwoods authored by Andre Gayraud of France and published by an Italian nurseryman, Fabrizio Tesi, of the Giorgio Tesi Group. The monograph, “All you want to know about Cornus,” includes a chapter on Orton’s dogwood hybridization research and is being published in six languages.

Orton was inducted into the New Jersey Inventors Hall of Fame in 2012 and was credited with “saving the U.S. dogwood industry” with new strains of hardy, disease- and pest-resistant hybrid dogwoods when diseases and insects threatened the native species of the popular flowering tree.

Filed Under: Faculty, Home/Lawn/Garden, NJAES, SEBS

Sponsors Reach for “Genuine Happiness” at Rutgers Special Friends Day on Mar. 30

March 4, 2014 by

Scenes from Special Friends Day '13

Scenes from Special Friends Day \'13
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This year the volunteer student organization Rutgers Recreation Team REC will host the 22nd annual Special Friends Day on Mar. 30 at the Cook/Douglass Recreation Center, from noon to 4:30 p.m. Approximately 100 children with developmental disabilities who were specially invited to the annual event, will participate in a fun-filled day of games, sports, swimming, arts and crafts, petting zoo and other activities. Each child is paired with two Rutgers students who will be their buddies for the day. Special Friends Day has been putting a smile on hundreds of faces for over two decades and the sponsors hope to continue the tradition of “genuine happiness” at this year’s Special Friends Day, which is themed “Medieval Times.”

Mike Baldino, a senior at the School of Environmental and Biological Sciences, has been on the planning committee for this event three years in a row. Baldino describes Special Friends Day as “the opportunity for a couple hundred college students to put a smile on the faces of 100 children with special needs.” [Read more...]

Filed Under: Community, SEBS, Students
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