Volume 51 Number 2 Summer/Fall 2015
Phycological Newsletter
New Ini a ve from the Vice President/President Elect
I propose that at every annual mee ng PSA sponsor a lecture or lectures to which the general public is invited. The genesis for this proposal was the 2014 JASM mee ng in Portland, Oregon that had a large con ngent of freshwater scien sts from around the world, but no representa on from local riverine organiza ons. Where I live in North Carolina, there are two prominent NGOs concerned with the quality of our local rivers, the Haw River Assembly (HRA) and the Eno River Associa on (ERA). The HRA every year brings 5th grade classes from all schools along the Haw's flow to learn about the abio c and bio c components of the river. The ERA has been instrumental in buying land along the Eno's flow to buffer the river from urban and rural impacts. These are examples of effec ve organiza ons engaged in ci zen science and whose members would be interested in hearing from, and engaging with, phycologists.
Unbeknownst to me, the PSA already had taken the ini a ve to engage in ci zen science by helping to sponsor a documentary film on a women's seaweed collec ve in Zanzibar that had its world premier at the 2015 annual mee ng (see review on pp. 13-14) and by inaugura ng the Tiffany Award to iden fy and promote work that communicates the importance of algae to humans (see pp. 6-7). I see these public lectures linked to our annual mee ng as another outreach where PSA can promote algae and the scien sts that study these organisms that we find so fascina ng. I ask your assistance in suppor ng this proposal by sending to me sugges ons for topics and/or speakers: [email protected]