Spring 2023
THE MORGAN PEARL Director's Update
With over 20 funded research projects and multiple Morgan State graduate students living on-site, there’s always something interesting going on at the PEARL. That said, Spring and Summer is where the action is – when our laboratory truly leverages our amazing location on Maryland’s Patuxent River. Building on PEARL’s breakthrough success spawning soft shell clams in 2022, our shellfish hatchery team has successfully produced and is currently rearing an estimated 22,000 soft shell clam seed – each one month old and about the size of a sesame seed. We’re excited about the potential for soft shell clams, both to support Maryland’s growing aquaculture (seafood farming) industry and for possible environmental restoration benefits as well. Spring is also a time of preparation for our summer internship program. We have a cohort of seven students this year, including 3 Morgan students with diverse areas of study – Biology, Bioenvironmental Science, and Nursing. These students survived an extensive review process that began with 35 complete applications subjected to initial staff review. As these student interns are paid employees working on PEARL grants and contracts with clearly defined deliverables, it’s critical to find the right fit, both for the students as well as for the researchers. While Spring and Summer will be exciting as always, this Fall will be no respite – and that’s a great thing! The Morgan PEARL was selected to receive a congressional appropriation of $1,000,000 for a three-year project kicking off Fall 2023 that will enable the acquisition of key scientific instruments, provide stipend support for three Morgan graduate students annually, as well as six Morgan undergraduate student interns each summer. These students will work on a variety of projects including a blue crab population study, a coastal carbon monitoring project, oyster/soft shell clam genomics research, and coastal wildlife management. A huge thanks for U.S. Senators Ben Cardin and Chris Van Hollen for making this investment in the Morgan PEARL. Thank you for reading this newsletter and for your support of the Morgan PEARL! I hope you enjoy these biannual updates. Always feel free to reach out to myself or any PEARL staff to learn more about the work we are doing. A great partnership and collaboration might be a phone call (or email) away! Best, Scott Knoche
Morgan PEARL “Our Vision” An environmental research laboratory that: generates scientific knowledge through innovative, interdisciplinary environmental research; embraces a public university’s role in translating this knowledge to stakeholders for the benefit of the public; and inspires the next generation of scientists, policy-makers and environmentally-aware citizens through coastal field experiences, mentored research opportunities, and environmental education