SHU Biology Professor Receives Connecticut Sea Grant
Jo-Marie Kasinak ’11 will work with researchers from other state universities and Wales
Sacred Heart University researcher Jo-Marie Kasinak ’11 will be working soon on a research project that recently received $143,309 from the Connecticut Sea Grant organization (CTSG), as well as $89,553 in matching funds.
The CTSG is part of a national network comprising 34 university-based and consortium programs and the National Sea Grant Library, based mainly at flagship universities in U.S. coastal and Great Lake states and territories. The National Sea Grant College Program’s website states that it “encourages wise stewardship of marine resources through research, education, outreach and technology transfer.” It aims to establish the United States as “the world leader in marine research and the sustainable development of marine resources.”
Kasinak’s project is one of six the CTSG selected to fund that will explore the Long Island Sound. Her initiative will review the concept of ocean identity and its relativity to ocean education, engagement and outreach programs. She will work with a team of researchers who represent four universities and two continents. The team includes Miriah Russo Kelly of Southern Connecticut State University’s department of environmental, geography and marine studies; Jennifer Mattei, biology professor at SHU; Jamie Vaudrey of University of Connecticut’s marine sciences department; and Emma McKinley, a research fellow at Cardiff University in Wales.
As director of community outreach and education for Project Limulus―a long-term study of horseshoe crabs in Long Island Sound―Kasinak said she always has been interested in “measuring the impact of our informal education events. I am excited to work with this interdisciplinary team of women scientists to develop tools to assess how informal education interventions impact ocean identity of program participants. I am grateful to the Connecticut Sea Grant College program for supporting this initiative and funding this project.”
Her project has four primary goals: to describe ocean identity and determine how to test it through a survey tool; to create and test the tool and its accuracy in capturing information; to test the survey tool in Long Island Sound’s habitat; and to develop a tool kit for educators to use for their own measurements.
“A unique aspect of this study would be its transdisciplinary nature in bringing together social science and natural science. The assessment tool generated from this project will be made in a way so that anyone can use it,” Kasinak said.
This project also will provide opportunities for students to participate and work with the research team. It will bring people together from different institutions to make for a successful execution. “Once again, I am impressed with the quality, diversity and collaborative nature of the projects selected for funding, and how the research competition could leverage local and regional talent to address complementary issues important to Long Island Sound and the people who care about it,” said Sylvain De Guise, director of Connecticut Sea Grant.
Pictured: Jo-Marie Kasinak at Stratford Point