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Episode 6 - Student Research Spotlight - ASBPA Student Award Winners with Leanne and Kayla
7 Plays1 year ago
🎙️ New Episode of Going Coastal is LIVE! 🎧
In Episode 6 of Going Coastal, hosts Marissa Torres & Deb Fernandes chat with ASBPA student award winners Kayla O’Brien & Leanne Hauptman. Discover their inspiring journeys in coastal science, from academic challenges to impactful research. Kayla shares insights on winning the Nicholas Kraus Coastal Scholar Award, while Leanne discusses the implications of being the Student Educational Award recipient. This episode is full of advice, brand new topics, such as microplastics as the new coastal hazard, and exciting future plans. Tune in now!
#GoingCoastalPodcast #CoastalScience #ASBPA #StudentAwards #STEMJourney #Podcast
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Transcript
Introduction and Guest Introduction
00:00:05
Speaker
Hi everyone and welcome back to the Going Coastal podcast, the podcast of the students and your professionals hosted by John Miller, Marisa Torres and Deb Fernandez. I am one of your co-host Deb Fernandez. And I'm also one of your co-hosts Marisa Torres. And today we are joined by two of the ASBPA student award winners.
00:00:27
Speaker
Kayla O'Brien and Leah Hubman. Kayla is currently a PhD student at the Florida Atlantic University and Leah is also currently finishing her PhD at the same university. Leah is the current chair of the Coastal University's Guide at the Students and New Professional Chapter of the American Shore and Beach Preservation Association. Let's welcome them on the show today. Welcome. Hello, how are you? Hi.
00:00:57
Speaker
Welcome, guys, and i'll also or gals, and I'll also say that of these two guests that are ASPPA award winners, our own Deb Fernandez is another ASPPA award winner. Thank you, Marissa. Three shining stars from the S and&P chapter. They're so lucky to have us, you, all of you.
Kayla O'Brien's Research on Microplastics
00:01:18
Speaker
Exactly. It's going to be a great episode. Yay. Only girls.
00:01:22
Speaker
<unk> Let's go, girls. All right. So we always start our episodes by like learning a little bit more about our guests. So I'm going to ask you pretty general questions about your current position. Tell us more about it, where you are. um How did you get involved in the coastal field? And what are your biggest challenges and great accomplishments during your research?
00:01:49
Speaker
Do you want to start, Kayla? Sure. ah So um this is my first semester starting my PhD at FAU. um I did my master's with Dr. Briggs in the Coastal Studies lab as well for my undergrad.
00:02:06
Speaker
I was at Palm Beach Atlantic University, and that's where I kind of started to get involved with research. so um i For my senior research there, I started looking at microplastics in the surface waters of Lake Worth Lagoon.
00:02:23
Speaker
um I had an internship with Palm Beach County and Environmental Resource Management um and during my time there I was spending a lot of time out in the water and that's what kind of piqued my interest in looking at microplastics and then that's just kind of carried me through um and you know doing my master's I was able to look at microplastics and mangrove and beach sediments so and then now for my PhD I'm looking to continue building on that work Awesome, that's really cool. I don't think we've ever had anyone on the show.
00:02:57
Speaker
that looked at microplastics before. Please tell me that we're not, how screwed are we yeah as a society? um It's definitely tough, but I like to think like, because anytime anybody asks me that, like we had a life before plastics, right? So like we we will definitely have, you know, a life after and like, you know, moving away from plastic use, but definitely it won't be easy.
Microplastics as Coastal Hazards
00:03:24
Speaker
Thank you for that positive outlook. We need that and So how is microplastic linked with like the coastal things, right? Um, so I feel like now especially, you know if you're thinking about beaches as becoming like a hazard, right? um there's so many questions that have not been answered as to how they're impacting beaches and from like a biological side but also like understanding how they're moving like in the sediments. um How are they moving, locating the sources, how they're behaving in different areas, locations, and there's just so many places that don't even have baseline numbers of what's even out
Leah Hubman's Journey in Marine Science
00:04:03
Speaker
there. So then I think it makes it hard to get from a higher level
00:04:07
Speaker
um like monitoring efforts started because when we when we don't have any like knowledge of what's even there, I think it's really hard to start to try to have regulations for reducing plastic use. Super interesting. So yeah, you try and get to know what's going on because we don't know. Super cool. Love it.
00:04:27
Speaker
All right, now it's your turn. Leanne, do you want me to repeat the questions? Yes. Okay. So what's your current position as a student, where you are and in your studies? How did you get involved in a coastal field? And if you have any, because I know you're at the end of ah your PhD, what were the biggest challenges and greatest accomplishments?
Coastal Geomorphology and Resiliency
00:04:50
Speaker
Yes, so I am in my fourth year at Florida Atlantic University. I'm a PhD candidate. I received a Bachelor of Science from Coastal Carolina University, and I always was interested in marine science. ah My Bachelor of Science is in marine science, but I didn't really know what avenue I wanted to take. I was in a lot of different classes and I actually worked in a phytoplankton lab for a little bit and then I decided that I wanted to get my master's and so I went to University of Miami and started my master's in marine ecosystems and society and through that my research was based on sea turtles nesting on the beaches in South Florida
00:05:31
Speaker
And through that, I looked at beach nourishment projects and their are influences on sea turtle habitat. And with that, I found that I completely fell in love with the coastal management side of things. And I was really focused and interested on how, over time, our management efforts are improving, what coastal resiliency means for the future, what I can do to help this situation, because we know coastal erosion is um a big significant challenge right now and also in the future. So I was really interested, which led me to Dr. Tiffany Roberts Briggs in the Coastal Studies Lab at FAU, where I am now looking at a lot of different things in my dissertation, but mainly it's natural and anthropogenic influences of coastal geomorphology relating to coastal resiliency efforts. So overall, I'm looking at
00:06:23
Speaker
shoreline evolution, beach volumes, hurricane impacts um to the built and natural environment, as well as the sea turtles and beach nourishments, kind of looking at an integrated approach to all of this to try and look at all the different ways we can just build on our coast resiliency efforts in the
Leah's Contributions to ASBPA
00:06:41
Speaker
future. but Gearing up towards my graduation, hopefully, that'll be either May or August 2025 so there was definitely a lot of accomplishments and a lot of challenges throughout all that. I have adored my time in the Coastal Studies Lab and with Dr. Tiffany Roberts-Briggs, it's been incredible but I think
00:07:02
Speaker
As a student obviously we all have our our times where it gets a little bit overwhelming and a little bit stressful and I think one of the biggest challenges for me was I i was putting a lot of pressure on myself um to try and do all these things that I wanted to do within my time at FAU and I think sometimes I kind of felt a little overwhelmed but thankfully with a huge support system especially with people in my lab like Kayla we all kind of are in it together and we talk about it and kind of work through our our problems and work through our struggles together um especially having a really great support system like my advisor just always there to help so and of course the advantages and accomplishments i think oh my gosh especially with asbpa i feel like i've grown so much just as a young professional young scientist just being involved with a organization like asbpa and getting my chance to
00:07:55
Speaker
meet new people and um being able to publish research as well I think has been some of my greater accomplishments during my time as a PhD student so it's been it's been an amazing amazing time. Yay! And we actually thank you so much for everything you've done for S and&P and Lian's hard work has been ah rewarded this year because she won the how's it called and you Unsung Hero she wrote r Shero. Shero.
00:08:30
Speaker
Yes, because she's done so much. So we've definitely seen you grow as a person and seen like all the effort you put in. So it definitely paid off. So
Awards and Opportunities for Kayla
00:08:40
Speaker
congratulations for that too. I appreciate that. And I thank you to everybody else that has been supporting me this entire way. Everyone has been incredible. So, but thank you. I appreciate that.
00:08:50
Speaker
Yeah. And I really like coming back to your little path on how you arrived in the coastal field. I think it's super interesting. And I feel like it happened to a lot of us, or at least I can relate to it too, because I was more into the ecological, biological side of things. and then one day you just take one class or like you meet one person and you're like oh my god the coastal field so much fun and you just never leave yeah it's it really takes that one little thing to really get your um your passion going right it was just that one little part of my masters and i fell in love with it so always it's always such a great thing when you don't expect it and you have a new path and a new new goals so be excited for
00:09:37
Speaker
Now, I might have missed this, but Leanne, where are you from originally? I did not say that. I am originally from Maryland, um a little town outside of Baltimore. It's called Mount Airy, Maryland. No ocean, but I grew up in the summers. I grew up on the Eastern Shore with my family. We would always go um near the Chesapeake Bay or near Ocean City, Maryland to have fun on the beach during the summers. Nice. Kayla, where are you from originally?
00:10:05
Speaker
um I'm from Florida, Palm Beach County, born and raised. So it's been cool because one of my study sites, like I grew up going to that beach. So then to like, I have like baby pictures digging in the sand and then now I go out and sample and it's like, you know, the same beach. So that's cool.
00:10:23
Speaker
Awesome. I'm glad the beach survived so far. Yeah, it's still there. Yeah, perfect. Okay, so now let's talk about the awards that you won. but You won two different awards. Kayla, you won the Nicholas Krauss Coastal Scholar Award, and and you, Lea, and you won the Student Educational
Microplastics Methodology and Impact
00:10:44
Speaker
Award. So let's start with Kayla. Can you explain us a little bit what is this award, the Nicholas Krauss Coastal Scholar Award?
00:10:52
Speaker
Yeah, um so I'll get to work with the ASBPA's um Science and Technology Committee, so I'll be um their intern. So I think I'm most excited just to like leading you know professionals and people who are actively doing work in the field. and like learning from them and like current coastal issues and um're just like a new experience. Okay, that sounds fun. And when are you going to meet with these people? Like how often throughout the year? How is it going to be? Do you know already a little bit? I believe it's monthly meetings right now. I have the I have a class at that time. So I think we're figuring out kind of what my role is going to be um if I'm missing some of those meetings for a little bit. But um yeah,
00:11:40
Speaker
Okay, cool. What originally inspired you to apply to that award? It was shared with me by Dr. Briggs, and after I kind of read about it, I thought it would just be a good position for me to like develop a different skill set. What kind of skill sets are you hoping to gain from being the Science Technology Committee intern? um so It seems like they kind of handle some policy stuff, and I don't really have any experience on the policy side of things, so kind of learning like kind of what that looks like and like that side of you know coastal science.
00:12:15
Speaker
Great. Are you going to the ASVPA summit in DC? um When is it? March next year. March? Oh, maybe. That's like Coastal Policy yeah Conference. Yeah. I'm definitely interested. and When you applied for it, um did you have to submit your research or anything? like How did that happen?
00:12:39
Speaker
Yeah, so I had to submit it was like a letter of interest. So I talked about my previous experience, and then why I was applying and what I was looking to gain from the internship, along with like my resume. And so you linked that with your research. Tell me more. So I talked about, you know, my master's work, which I was able to, I was presented a poster and I did a lightning talk at ASPPA for some of that work. So is linking it, I think, especially for Florida or even at ASPPA, there's still not a lot of ah people doing microplastic work. um So I think it's important to bring that into the space as a, you know, coastal issue, coastal hazard, getting, you know, anybody ah that's part of ASPPA kind of thinking about how they can maybe incorporate that into the work that they're doing when there's out sampling. I think it's kind of something that can be tacked on to a lot of projects.
00:13:37
Speaker
to an aspect
Challenges and Risk Assessment of Microplastics
00:13:38
Speaker
to look at. Microplastics as a coastal hazard is an interesting perspective that is probably overlooked or it's a new coastal hazard. So you were mentioning before it's like we lived before plastics and now we have to survive microplastics and then survive to a future or adapt to a future post microplastics and what does that mean? um I think microplastics as a coastal hazard, you're mentioning the sediments. It's the groundwater, it's in the sediments, it's in our biodiversity, it's in the ecosystem, it's in the food that we eat. We have microplastics, all of us. It's an interesting take that I think
00:14:18
Speaker
community probably will have to include in risk assessment moving forward potentially. It's if a particular beach or area is devastated or affected by a coastal event, how much of those microplastics that are in the groundwater or in the sediment coming up in the surge and entering different potable water sources or impacting fresh water sources, what are the vector pathways essentially for how they affect the rest of our lives, our infrastructure and and lives ah along the coast and and further inland. So it's really interesting. Is that going to continue to be your PhD topic? Yeah, um there's just so many questions that can so you know you can still look into answer. Just thinking about like storms, we are hoping to be able to do some cores and look at cores from
00:15:13
Speaker
from the west coast of Florida, from EN, and looking at kind of like the overwash and the microplastic contents in those cores. Just like thinking about the wet, dry seasons, these like big storm events, these really high, high tides. And for some of my master's work, we were looking in sampling like mangrove shorelines on the estuary side. So on barrier islands, like the back barrier. So a lot of the microplastics, you know, I was thinking, oh, you know, the big source is coming from land, right? That's the canals draining in like that freshwater source, but it really looks like out in the ocean offshore, we have such a large buildup out there that a lot of that source is coming in with these big storm events versus like
Hurricane Ian's Impact and Coastal Planning
00:16:00
Speaker
what's coming off land like locally, which is interesting. And then when you do have these storm events or high to high tides, the type of plastic that you're seeing is different. wet dry season, which is interesting. I think what's unique with microplastics for like even like a public outreach side of things, community involvement, it's easier to get people excited about them because each and every one of us is contributing to this. Getting people thinking about their plastic use and how that's impacting their local beach that they like to go lay on and hang out at, I think is important to get people involved on that side too. So how are you measuring microplastics? So right now the way that we're sampling, so we go out and we click the, we're looking at the first five centimeters for the work that I've done, but we in the future we'll hopefully be doing cores as well. Once those samples are back in the lab, we're floating um using um a super saturated NaCl solution. And then so that floated material is poured through a vacuum filtration setup.
00:17:03
Speaker
and then that's repeated three times for like that the one we're looking at so you have a 100 gram sample and you split that into 250 gram and then so you're like it's very like tedious um but once they're floated then they're on the filters you have those filters dry and then you have to look at those um under the microscope and then it's like you go grid by grid and you're looking for the plastic um so it does take a lot of time like Just the process one sample, it's like an hour and a half of just for floating. um And then having to look at the filters, that's like, if there's a lot of plastic, it takes you a lot longer to get through them. The filters are gridded. So there are three millimeters by three millimeters. So like you're pretty much zoomed in to that one individual grid on the filter. I think what is the filter diameter? It's like 42 like that.
00:17:54
Speaker
Yeah, it's little piece by piece. um And then most of them when you're holding that filter, like you can't see, like it's, they're so small that you're not able to like, and they're hard to even like pick up if you had tweezers. And do you categorize them? Different types of microplastics?
00:18:10
Speaker
Yeah, so microplastics are defined as being anything less than five millimeters at their greatest dimension. um So then typically they're broken down by primary and secondary microplastics. So primary microplastics are manufactured small for commercial use. And then secondary microplastics break down from larger plastic items. And then based on their shape, they're typically categorized. So you have fibers, fragments, films, and then microbeads. And that's kind of how we were following that format. And then for our stuff that we're doing, we've developed like size categories. So just another level to look at. But yeah, for all the I mean, I think typically you would think, Oh, you know, what's going to be in the samples are those like fragments, um because that's what you're used to maybe seeing. But what like, even for my undergraduate research, like it's always the fibers are like dominate the samples.
00:19:06
Speaker
um Which is, like I think, easy to forget about because um a lot of the synthetic fibers are coming from synthetic clothing. Most of our clothing is synthetic, so like um you wash your clothes in the washing machine. That is not filtered out by wastewater management, um so that ends up wherever the final destination is.
00:19:28
Speaker
for it or even like when a lot of that like at the water treatment facilities that sledge type material um if that's like recycled repurposed or used in any way that just gets like redistributed to land or um sometimes it's used as like fertilizer so then that's being like
Integrated Coastal Resilience Planning
00:19:46
Speaker
sprayed all over the fields and um But yeah, and then you think you're at the beach, mostly like people, you know, bathing suits are typically synthetic. Everything you're wearing in the water is usually, you know, the synthetic fiber. And then, you know, they're in the air and they're just everywhere. So I think that's probably the scariest ah part of, you know, not so much those, you know, little plastic pieces that you see with your eyes. It's all the unseen that you don't even think about.
00:20:17
Speaker
Yeah, I would get anxiety. I don't know. art Do you have echo anxiety right now or? Wow. Yeah, we're just breathing them in right now. How many existential crises do you have a week? I know. And then it's funny because like when I first started into it and then the methods, I think for me like ah the methodology of microplastic research has always been like ah like a big interest just because There's so many different ways that people are sampling and there's no one standard for how people sample, which is really difficult and they haven't even necessarily defined the lower limit yet. So now there's papers coming out that are saying this needs to be the lower limit.
00:20:59
Speaker
past that we're now saying these are nano plastics like and then even further like even smaller and smaller right so it's just kind of like a weird time of like everybody's doing things a little bit different um and like like one of the challenges is like it's typically can be really expensive to do microplastic work but i think it's important that we develop methods that can be used by like a you know county state level right something that or even like for community engagement or like K through 12 type program and that's what's limiting I think getting a lot of numbers like and the data is the expense of it and I just think there's definitely ways that we can
00:21:41
Speaker
you know make it less expensive but yeah like thinking about like going out in the field like you can't wear synthetic clothing i know like leanne had helped me like in the field and like being out there and like cotton is like you're melting you know and like it's it's tough um but yeah in the lab you like you're like well i'm like make let me check this t-shirt make sure this t-shirt i can wear this in the lab you know ah when working with the samples so yeah there's a lot of levels to it Wow, I have about 16 different more questions.
00:22:13
Speaker
i um But I just want to, I guess, mention some of the likenesses that I'm seeing or connections to other fields. So one is this feels like, you know, how we talk about coastal is is such a broad field you can have, there's the geomorphology, there's the marine science, there's the policy, there's um the engineering aspects and other biology aspects. And this feels like this is the microbiology contribution to the coastal field is being able to understand and quantify and measure these microplastics and our different coastal systems. So I really like that.
00:22:49
Speaker
And it sounds like we're living in a post-plastic world and we need to start measuring and tracking these things. And it's it sounds like it's a burgeoning field, similar to the living shorelines and natural and nature-based features. We're going to do these things, but we just don't have the data to standardize, to provide the guidance on it yet. and I'm wondering if during your internship with the S and&T, you're learning more about the policy side of things. um The funding for microplastic research probably should come from the manufacturers of the plastic. Yeah, so if there's anything, let's work on making legislation for
00:23:33
Speaker
the primary contributors of plastics to fund research as to how they're impacting the environment. and I will leave my two cents there. That sounds delightful. I would love it. Let me get on that. Just food for thought recommendation. um yeah This is awesome. Leanne, how's it going? Great. Loving all of Kayla's research. It's so, so interesting and I love that I got to be part of it a little bit last year.
00:24:02
Speaker
Did you sample the plastic too, the microplastic? i was I was more on the the morphology side. so I was mapping the beach while she was taking her her plastics. I was just helping her out because she had a lot of a lot of work to do. so it was It was really neat to see her sample. and Yeah, just the innovative way she was able to go around how much the synthetic clothing and in our lab as well, because we have plastics in our lab and how she had to kind of start from scratch and make sure that she was really being dedicated to not having plastic around for her analysis, but it was it was really cool. See, it was some long days, but it was it was
Future Aspirations and Research Contributions
00:24:41
Speaker
awesome. we had We had fun. Love it. That's super cool. So now about you, your your award.
00:24:49
Speaker
yeah Tell us about the Student Educational Award. Yes. So the Student Educational Award I applied to, um the Educational Award is for a student um to submit a paper um of their research that they've done that is that relates to the goals and missions of ASPPA and starting to make new ways of in in a science world in the coastal world so I submitted a paper that I had finished um and it was it was perfect timing because the conference is coming up and so I submitted it and in hopes I submitted to Shore and Beach to for publication and it was accepted so eight congratulations tell us about your research
00:25:34
Speaker
Yes, so this is um the research that I um submitted to the award. i um it is I'm looking at Hurricane Ian damages that occurred in 2022. I was looking at Fort Myers' speech, so Estero Island, the entire Berry Island system. um I had been doing research. We went out there, the um our lab at FAU went out there post Hurricane Ian to collect some core data, and that was another student's master thesis.
00:26:03
Speaker
And I was really curious about the built environment and the natural environment and the damages that occurred. um and i In part with my committee members, Dr. Diana Mizzova and um my advisor, Dr. Tiffany Roberts-Briggs, we decided to look at the LIDAR data and we were provided um with Jabotex data. They um were so graciously to give me the LIDAR data as well as their GIS package that looks at beach volumes and shoreline changes as well. So we were using that to look at
00:26:34
Speaker
um the impacts of Hurricane Ian on the Sierra Island. So what the paper is, it's is an integrated approach to look at not only beach elevation, beach volume, shoreline changes, but also the built environment looking at the housing damage and demographic data.
00:26:52
Speaker
So we really tried to create this integrated approach because when a hurricane comes, it disrupts everything, right? It's not it's really hard. it Everyone is involved. Everything has a negative impact, unfortunately, with a hurricane, especially Hurricane Ian. It had so much devastation on the west coast of Florida, so we tried to really look at that integrated approach where we took the light, our data looked at the damages to every single individual structure. And that was ah another study that we published. So it was kind of ah another research that on top of that, but we looked at every single damage structure.
Academia vs Industry: Leah's Decision
00:27:26
Speaker
And then we were noticing that we saw patterns of high damage and low damage.
00:27:31
Speaker
across the island. So we were really curious as to what was what was going on. So this paper looks at a GIS-based model for water channelization because we noticed that even though we had we had significant storm surge with the but a hurricane, on the ebb surge also could have caused significant damage as well. So we were really curious to see where that ebb flow was may be potentially going after the storm subsided. So we used the LIDAR data and we are able to create a model in ArcGIS to see where flows of water were concentrated. And then we related that to the damages that we assessed and we found that
00:28:17
Speaker
Our modeled water channelizations were actually, um they had a higher number of damages related to those buildings. So there was a potential that there are areas after the storm with that ebb surge, that ebb flow, that because that water is really concentrated in certain areas, it was causing even more damage after the storm. So it was it's ah it's ah the start of the study. We have a lot more work to do, especially with that GIS-based model. That was the first time um that we have run that model. And it's the first time um the tools that we use was run for a barrier island and especially ah used during for a storm relating to ebb surge, ebb blow.
00:28:56
Speaker
So it was really neat to see kind of a novel approach in a sense. And of course, we wanted to, Dr. Diana Mitzova is with Urban and Regional Planning. And so she's always curious and we work together to look at the demographics because when we talk about hurricanes, when we talk about coastal resilience, you have to think about the response and recovery as well as future planning. So we were curious to see what was going on on Esera Island and trying to make sure that we are looking at the coastal side, but also looking at the people that live there,
Kayla's Future in Microplastic Research
00:29:26
Speaker
too. So we are trying to see and relate how the damages were um who live there, how we can better help future planning and some of the research, which will come out in Shore and Beach.
00:29:38
Speaker
in hopefully a couple months, but some of that research was finding that we were where we were seeing that there is a ah the population is predominantly elderly. So that's really important to think about when we have response and recovery efforts, especially also for future regulations. when this poor barrier island is trying to rebuild um focusing on certain aspects when where when these communities are going through that much of a ah struggle. So it's it's important to taking consideration this full integrated approach. So the paper has a lot of different yeah's um subjects going on. We also looked at beach volume. We looked at what the beaches were doing and relating it to it. So it we had a lot going on, but we it was really cool to see because we pulled it together and it was it was um
00:30:27
Speaker
hopefully helping to aid in um hurricane impacts for the future. Remind me, Hurricane Ian was the one who hit like south of Tampa and like destroyed was that Fort Myers and like Isabel Island or? Yeah, so for um it was southwest Florida and it was it was Lee County was one of the main ones. I only looked at Ester Island, but it was that stretch of beaches. um Amelia Island, I think is that one?
00:30:54
Speaker
I'd have to look at a map. That might be wrong, so I think i think that might be wrong. so But I looked at Lee County. Lee County was my my study site, but it was yeah it was the southwest coast of Florida.
00:31:06
Speaker
So is it like the other social effects that's the kind of how we're that's and by we, um I guess society, but also what I hear a lot in the core is other social effects and how do we quantify things like the environmental justice aspect of it and um accounting for the demographics of who, the type of folks that are impacted their, I don't want to say poverty level, but like the the financial level. No, it's important. It's important, especially when you're dealing with financial struggles and poverty level. I mean, it's important to talk about. Sometimes it's hard to talk about and hard to um integrate it into research because it's there's a lot going on when it comes to it, but it's super important to add.
00:31:48
Speaker
Two, not only that the natural environment and the the coastal aspect of it when I research morphology, it's it's really important to start bringing that into um the research because, yeah, where past studies have shown that there are specific groups that are hit harder during these hurricanes, so what can we do as a society to try and help aid in that relief for the groups that may not be as um fortunate to have either better insurance or the means and the money to rebuild quickly. Because some some people are fortunate enough, they have the money to rebuild quickly without waiting for financial relief from the government. So it's really important, um especially in today's society, to really look at all the things, not just one, so that integrated approach.
00:32:36
Speaker
Yeah, how do you go about measuring those though? Is that something that FAU and and you guys are working on? So we looked at, we used the census data track. um So the US census data, that's where we gained all of our data for the population on Estero Island, and then we were able to um use it with the LiDAR data that we received from Jopletex.
00:32:57
Speaker
That's really awesome work, Leanne, and I think it's it's very important overall if we're able to finding a way to, similar to the microplastics, how do we standardize the approach to measuring other social effects? What are the best way to go about tracking that and measuring it and quantifying it in our risk assessments? Because how the state of coastal hazards are moving towards is those risks now need to incorporate those other social effects, the OSC. So is is that what is more engaging to you? is Is that portion or is it the effect of the natural environment on the built environment? That's a good question. I think it this is new territory for me, especially in the urban and regional planning department. I started working with Dr. Diana Matoba last year and i it just opened a new world for me and I i think it's it
00:33:53
Speaker
something that I will continue to put into my research and always have, um make sure that i I touch on those aspects. I think um when it comes to my research, I also really loved the water channelization model that we created. I think that was really cool, something that was ah Yeah, we don't really see that much. ah we We focus a lot from the research that I've seen. We focus a lot on storm surges, but we tried to look at the ah the ebb flow after the storm returning back to the the ocean. So that was also really cool. So I think it moving forward, I think it's definitely, i'm all obviously, ah i um I have a love for that that natural
00:34:35
Speaker
environment, looking at the beaches, looking at what they did um using ArcGIS in any way that they can. But I think moving forward, I will definitely continue my work in this in these social effects because When we talk about coastal resiliency, it's not just the natural environment. It's the built environment. it's It's everyone. I mean, I live super close to the beach right now, and I see all the impacts that a king tide has just on my little area. So I just thinking moving forward, I think my research will definitely um have a lot to do with that those social effects in the coastal resiliency
Advice for Students in Coastal Field
00:35:10
Speaker
world.
00:35:10
Speaker
For sure. It's super important, not just in Florida, but everywhere. So appreciate you being so enthusiastic about it and just keep that enthusiasm and bring it to the next place that you go. You know, it's all we can do.
00:35:24
Speaker
Well, um so you guys got those two awards. The Nicholas Krauss Coastal Scholar, the Student Educational Award, and Deb herself won the Student Coastal Advocate Award. The Student Coastal Advocate Award is given to a graduate or undergraduate student who aspires to advance her knowledge of and experience in federal coastal policy and advocacy.
00:35:47
Speaker
through an internship with ASPPA. So this sounds a lot like the Nicholas Krauss Award. So Deb, how does this differ? And what are you going to be doing? So thank you very much. um It does differ from Kayla's award by the fact that I am going to work with the Government Affairs Committee, and she's going to work with the Science and Technology Committee. So I'm going to be working more with people that um are in the policy side and like regulation side of things. I'm going to directly be working with Nicole Alco, so that's going to be great. I look forward to it. I have my first meeting next week. So yeah, I hope to know more about it next week too.
00:36:28
Speaker
How exciting. So this one's not necessarily based off of your research. This is kind of more of the interest and engagement or? This award is not directly linked to my research, but it's also linked to my involvement at ASBPA or S&P. I have expressed interest in knowing more about like the policy side of things. And I've attended the last summit in March this year. But yeah, just showing interest in general and like commitment to want to know more about the policies that are things will help you get that award. Sure. It sounds like you are probably recommended by others who have been seeing your involvement and recommended you for this award. Yeah, probably. Well, thank you to, if they're listening, Deb appreciates it and she'd be a great addition to the Government Affairs Committee.
00:37:20
Speaker
Yes, I'm going to the summit next year again. Yeah. You know, I still haven't been to one of those. I usually only have money to go to the National Coastal Conference. So we'll see. Maybe one day. Let's go with future. I want to know what I definitely want to know what Leanne's thinking about doing after she graduates in like less than a year. What you going to be doing with that degree and your interest in other social effects, girl?
00:37:49
Speaker
That is a good question. but oh I met some great people at ASPPA's National Coastal Conference this year and had some great conversations. um As one might think, I am very, at the moment, I'm kind of going back and forth with what I want to do. Obviously, i'm um it's going to be in the coastal resiliency sector. It's going to be looking at beach evolution, beach management. But I am going back and forth whether I want to go into academia or if I want to go into industry. So I have
00:38:28
Speaker
Yeah, I'm trying to weigh the pros and cons and figure out exactly where I want my future to lead. um Obviously, I know that I can't do both because I know there are people in industry that teach classes and people in academia that have part-time or they have their own consulting. so it's it's it's We'll see what happens. There are jobs starting to be posted and starting to try to network and the kosal conference really the National Coastal Conference really helped me just kind of pick brains of professionals and see where they were how they went about when they were undecided, when they were in my stage of life. So um I think it's more of just yeah what is available at the time when I graduate. So I'm i'm really curious to see which avenue I take as well. so um But it's right now it's it's looking like it's between yeah industry or academia.
00:39:27
Speaker
You're trying to answer the big question after you finish your study. Right. Well, I am looking forward to seeing where you're going. Thank you. Which one you pick? What's the future for Kayla look like?
00:39:42
Speaker
So I think ultimately, I'm not super picky. I just want to be able to do it like beach or estuary work, I think. So as long as I end up doing something where I can be outside, you know, part of it, I think I'll be happy. And then, I mean, ideally, I would love to continue just doing microplastic stuff forever um or like any type of marine debris, you know.
00:40:07
Speaker
program um so which I don't know it has a marina breeze program and I think you know moving forward there's going to definitely be more jobs looking at micro classics so we'll see I just want to be at the beach Yeah, you just started. You got plenty of time to soak up the sun, hang out, learn as much as you can from Dr. Briggs and the other folks at FAU. um Celebrate Leanne while she's still there. and Microplastics is such a it's an important new topic that should be on the forefront of people's minds, especially because it's now, I don't know, we're like what
00:40:48
Speaker
2% microplastics per person now. So that's always, God, fun to think about. um And we need people like you who are excited about it to figure it out for us.
00:41:01
Speaker
Marissa, I love the the new, what you said about, it's a coastal hazard. I think it's one of those things that it should be a new subject being taught. I think we think about coastal hazards being either hurricanes, tsunamis, flooding, all of this, but I think, yeah, I loved that when you said that. it's ah It's a new hazard, a new coastal hazard that we should start teaching in our classes, though.
00:41:21
Speaker
or at least you know just put it on people's minds. I mean, it's really a human health and environmental ecological disaster hazard, ah but if it's our new normal, then it should be incorporated in our existing metrics as we move forward.
00:41:36
Speaker
And that's that's something to think about. So i this has been an awesome discussion. um And I'm excited to see how the rest of your PhD topic continues to blossom and how much the program can grow in that research area. Because it sounds like we need more people doing this. I've only heard of a handful of other universities looking into microplastics in different ways and in different environments.
00:42:01
Speaker
So could see potentially a like ah working group, a national working group that's targeted on microplastics and being able to come together and decide on, okay, can we standardize our measurement approach and monitoring? And can we all get on the same page and start contributing together? I think, thankfully, a lot of the discussion, especially the discussions that I've been in in terms of natural and nature-based features were finally talking together. We're actually communicating instead of talking past each other. The ecologists and engineers have to talk to each other and understand each other's languages and what they need in order to come to a ah mutually beneficial solution or conclusion or have mutually beneficial
00:42:50
Speaker
monitoring, a long-term monitoring thing. so i think um I'm hoping with this microplastics research too that that conversation can bisect. right it's it's the it's the chemistry It's the chemical compounds, it's chemistry, it's the physical processes that are moving these microplastics around if they're treated like particles, like our sand grains are.
00:43:11
Speaker
They're just really, really small particles that kind of infiltrate everything. So it's ah it's a new conversation that I'm excited to see now on the forefront, and I just hope that we handle it well, if that makes sense, right? Like, fingers crossed it doesn't get overly politicized, you know? It's just a... It's a fact of life. It's a post-plastic world, and we have to deal with the consequences. So let's deal with it. Thanks for doing your work, you know?
00:43:42
Speaker
Take your time and enjoy your PhD. Getting a real job is a trap. I wish I was still a student. ah You know, you know, comes from experience. We're having an existential Friday, guys. ah Love it.
00:44:00
Speaker
I hope all of our listeners enjoy this
Conclusion and Acknowledgements
00:44:03
Speaker
episode. We're just a couple gals having fun, talking about science, girls doing science. We need more of that. Speaking of which, what advice would you give to a student or a new professional who is interested in pursuing a career or position similar to yours?
00:44:24
Speaker
For students that are interested in what I've been studying, I mean, there the great thing about the coastal world is there's so many opportunities out there and it can seem daunting to get involved. and But it it's so crazy and it sounds a little cliche, but just start talking to people. It's one of those things where you have no idea, one, how small the coastal world ends up being, and two, how friendly the coastal world is.
00:44:54
Speaker
So, I can't tell you how much that the people that I've met in this in this world and ASPPA, it's just incredible. There's how many doors have opened up, um how sweet and how willing to help everyone is. And um if you're, say, just getting into undergrad, there's just just look at things that you're curious you're curious in and where you want to go and start reaching out to those those people. um and especially students. I think that's one of the things that is important where if you're curious about something, you don't know how to get there, reach out to one of the students in a lab because they're more than happy to talk to prospective students. So I think that's that's how I met Dr. Berg's is I knew one of her students in her lab and then I ended up chit chatting with that student. ah And yeah, I found out she does all the things that I was so passionate about. So I just ended up
00:45:45
Speaker
um working out so so nicely. And so it's putting yourself out there is very scary, but it's it's worth it. So it's ah um it took me a ah long time to find the courage to do that. But I promise if you do that, you'll learn that everyone is super sweet and willing to help you in trying in this world, in the coastal world. Beautiful.
00:46:07
Speaker
Kayla? Yeah, I agree with Leigh Ann. I think the biggest thing is just like not being afraid to reach out to people. um And then I think another thing, part of it is um saying yes, trying to say yes to a lot of different opportunities. Even if you think, oh my gosh, I don't know enough to do this. Oh, I like, you know, I have no i have no experience in this. I'm not going to know what I'm doing.
00:46:33
Speaker
a lot of times most of us don't know what we're doing and then the problem is when we say no so if we just you know just keep saying yes and you know for me like having to present like i would have never thought i would be able to stand up and present and talk in front of people but like you just have to keep saying yes and like you know You know, not be afraid. You know, I think the fear in a lot of things keeps you from being successful. um And then, yeah, everybody, you know, you just reach out to people and people are usually willing to be helpful and kind and all the things.
00:47:11
Speaker
So true. yeah Yeah, definitely. I love that really positive ah perspective. Just say yes. And you're so right. Most of us, or at least, I mean, I think I can speak for everyone. I don't know what we're doing most of the time. Yo, nobody has any idea what they're doing. We're all just trying to do our best every day and be make a positive impact on the world one day at a time.
00:47:38
Speaker
Yeah, but I will say you will have to eventually learn how to say no. And that comes with practice, you know, so say yes at first, but also understand and respect your own boundaries and don't be afraid to set boundaries for yourself. Good point.
00:47:53
Speaker
Yeah, I'm still working on that. so yeah yeah That comes with experience and practice and a lot of lessons learned. Same with the presentation skills. like Communication is super important. What they don't tell you in engineering school is that you're going to have to orate and write down literally everything, all of the math. You need to be able to explain it to somebody who's never taken math or who hasn't touched math in a long time, for example.
00:48:20
Speaker
so it's just that comes with that comes with practice and and and just keep presenting, keep putting yourself, it pushing your comfort zone, get comfortable being uncomfortable. And sorry, this turned into my advice hour on being an adult and surviving.
00:48:41
Speaker
Again, existential crisis today. where I'm now all I can think about is microplastics. So, oh my gosh, Deb, take us out. All right. Thank you so much girls for being on this podcast. We really enjoyed having the discussion with you and I hope you did too. Yeah. Thank you. I had a lot of fun. Yes. Thank you so much. This was awesome.
00:49:09
Speaker
First of all, we would like to thank the New Jersey Sea Grant for sponsoring the podcast. And we also wanted to remind you that registration is open for the Restore America's Estuary, so RAE, Coastal and Estuarine Summit, which will be held in Arlington, Virginia on October 6th to 10th. And thank you to our listeners.
00:49:32
Speaker
one more time for being here. We'd love to produce this show for you and with you and we hope you enjoy it too, so let us know if you have any ideas, if you want to give us some feedback, we would love to have some and you can contact us at podcastgoingcoastal at gmail dot.com. And to finish, do you enjoy listening to this podcast? You can support Going Coastal while we provide sponsored episodes for your brand. Contact us with our new email address podcastgoingcoastal at gmail dot.com. Thank you, everyone. And we'll see you next time. Bye.