Nobody is pushing the panic button just yet, but with drier-than-normal conditions and higher-than-average temperatures over the past few weeks, state officials are carefully monitoring reservoir levels as they begin to drop… “We really don’t have any margin for error in the precipitation department because we’re seeing very low stream flow for this time of year,” New Jersey state climatologist at Rutgers University Dave Robinson said. “Ground water is dropping and the reservoirs in the northern part of the state are starting to drop at a rate that’s a little faster than their normal decline.”
Archives for June 2016
Claim that jet stream crossing equator is ‘climate emergency’ is utter nonsense
Two bloggers have made a stunning claim that has spread like wildfire on the Internet: They say the Northern Hemisphere jet stream, the high-altitude river of winds that separates cold air from warm air, has done something new and outrageous. They say it has crossed the equator, joining the jet stream in the Southern Hemisphere. One said this signifies that the jet stream is ‘wrecked’, the other said it means we have a ‘global climate emergency’. To be clear, the hypothesis that global warming is destabilizing the polar jet stream is a legitimate idea that has been published in peer-reviewed journals,though it remains controversial. But even the scientist who developed the hypothesis, Jennifer Francis, a professor of meteorology at Rutgers University, suggested it had been misapplied by Scribbler and Beckwith. “I’d say cross-equator flow cannot be unprecedented, maybe not even all that unusual,” she said.
New Jersey Employers Learn How to Train Their Employees for Free at the Rutgers Workforce Development Training Showcase
Rutgers 4th Annual Training Showcase, which helps state businesses connect to millions of dollars available in state grant funds for employee training, will be held on July 21 on the New Brunswick campus. Hosted by the Rutgers Workforce Development Unit (WDU), part of NJAES Office of Continuing Professional Education, this free event provides prospective New […]
N.J. white oak – one of the oldest in the county – reportedly may be dying
Even before there was a Basking Ridge, NJ, there was the oak tree. George Washington picnicked in its shade. Gen. Jean Baptist de Rochambeau and allied French troops marched past it on the way to the Battle of Yorktown, Va. Thirty five Revolutionary War veterans are buried beneath its branches… “We had great hopes,” Pastor Dennis Jones told the Post. “All eyes were on the tree to see how it would green.” When it didn’t last month, when even more of its upper branches stayed bare, other experts were consulted. They tested the soil, probed the tree’s roots, checked for beetles and disease. Jason Grabosky, an ecologist at Rutgers University, inspected the tree in mid-June and declared it to be “in a spiral of decline.”
Ice Cream: A Food Science Tradition for Over 30 Years!
Summer arrived this week and so did a new summer tradition for the staff of the School of Environmental and Biological Sciences. On Thursday, June 23 the SEBS Staff Initiative held an ice cream social featuring homemade ice cream from the Department of Food Science. The tradition of ice cream has been part of the […]
Revolutionary for 250 Years: Basketball Star Sue Wicks
Sue Wicks (Cook ’88) is a genuine Hall of Famer! Her basketball records and awards are many: Rutgers Basketball Hall of Fame (1994), Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame (2013) and one of the most prestigious honors conferred on Rutgers graduates, the Hall of Distinguished Alumni (2014). Her new role is as co-founder of Fight 2B […]
The oldest white oak tree in the country is dying — and no one knows why
Well before Columbus sailed to the New World and even before Gutenberg invented the printing press, there grew a great oak tree in a land that would one day be called New Jersey… “We had great hopes,” said Dennis Jones, the pastor at Basking Ridge Presbyterian Church. “All eyes were on the tree to see how it would green.” When it didn’t last month, when even more of its upper branches stayed bare, other experts were consulted. They tested the soil, probed the tree’s roots, checked for beetles and disease. Jason Grabosky, an ecologist at Rutgers University, inspected the tree in mid-June and declared it, after more than 600 years, to be “in a spiral of decline.”
What’s your summer reading list?
Rutgers Today wondered what books are on the top of faculty’s and staff’s must-read lists for the next few months. Some of the answers are below… Joan Bennett, professor, Department Plant Biology and Pathology, and senior faculty adviser in the Office for the Promotion of Women in Science, Engineering, and Mathematics, New Brunswick: “A former student sent me a paperback copy of Arrowsmith by Sinclair Lewis. Although I have read it before, because it is the best novel ever written about a microbiologist, I plan to read it again.” Thomas Leustek, associate dean for Academic Administration and Assessment, School of Environmental and Biological Sciences, New Brunswick: I am planning to read Concrete Planet: The Strange and Fascinating Story of the World’s Most Common Man-Made Material, by Robert Courland. Mark Gregory Robson, Board of Governors Distinguished Service Professor and chair of Plant Biology and Pathology at the School of Environmental and Biological Sciences: I have two books for my global travels. First is Forty Chances: Finding Hope in a Hungry World by Howard Buffett. The second book is The Teenage Brain: A Neuroscientist’s Survival Guide to Raising Adolescents and Young Adults by Frances E. Jensen.
Don Kobayashi Appointed New Chair of the Department of Plant Biology and Pathology
Announcement from Robert M. Goodman, Executive Dean of the School of Environmental and Biological Sciences It is with great pleasure that I announce the appointment of the new chair of the Department of Plant Biology and Pathology, Don Kobayashi, who has been a faculty member of the department since 1990. Don has agreed to accept a […]
Open Divisions and Exhibits at 4-H Fair Mean Everyone Can Experience the Fun
Not a member of 4-H but still want to show off a project at the Cape May County 4-H Fair? The open division is for you! The youth and adult open divisions at the 4-H Fair offer numerous opportunities for participants who aren’t a member of 4-H to take home a ribbon… Linda Horner, 4-H Program Coordinator said, “Our goal is to increase interest in the fair by showcasing projects created by people in our community that aren’t members of 4-H and at the same time give them an opportunity to be a part of the 4-H Fair.”