Center for Coastal and Watershed Studies

We are into the 2nd week of classes for the Fall Semester. Hodson is bustling and students are studying! Don’t forget about our study spaces up on the 3rd floor of Hodson 🙌🏼📚

After graduating this past May, Christina worked this summer at CCWS as a Technician. In this role, she assisted us with regular water quality monitoring, stream thermocoupling, as well as stream and air monitoring projects. She performed analyses involving all
aspects: field, lab, and data! Christina is an alumna from the ‘23 Coastal Studies cohort.
“I am currently working at the NOAA Chesapeake Bay Office as a Chesapeake Conservation and Climate Corps member for one year. I am excited about the new opportunities I have through my year of service, and I am looking forward to making new professional connections
while learning new skills.”

August has worked 160 hours with us this past summer, participating in all of the Center’s projects from Linganore sampling to bacteria lab analyses for PRKN and temperature data logger management. He is headed into his Senior Year at St. Mary’s College of Maryland. We always love to provide internship opportunities for students outside of Hood College as well!
“My passion for sea creatures goes beyond just understanding them. One day, I want to introduce these creatures to my children - not from a book or movie, but alive and healthy in their natural habitat. This is what drives me to seek a marine science degree and a career in marine ecology.“

Our 2023 Annual Report is out! Check out what we've been up to here:

CCWS Annual Rpt 2023 Check out this Real Estate Flyer designed by Catherine Gaudlip.

Every week, we run water samples for E. Coli abundance for the Potomac River and Antietam Creek (Washington County) under the monitoring initiative of the Potomac Riverkeeper Network. The fluorescing wells in the pictured glowing tray indicate presence of bacteria. This specific sample is from UPR-1, Hancock, with a result of 1119MPN, which is way over the limit of 250MPN! Lots of glow under that UV light!

July sampling at the Linganore Lakes took place yesterday. Analyses are being run in the lab today!

A look at one of our student worker’s mini projects for the summer… Age-Growth Analyses of Fish Scales. These were from bluegill caught in a pond !

Sun’s out, algae out! Sampling at the Linganore Lakes yesterday yielded warmer water temps and some algal scums. Lab analyses are in store for us this week!

What do we do the last week of May every year? Deploy stream and air temp loggers, of course! They log temperature every 20min from June 1-Sept 1. Through tall grass and steep slopes, we performed checks on all 55 of them these past 2 weeks!

Today was a Manual Labor Day! We deconstructed and moved raised garden beds. Swipe to see our progress!

Our final SUMMER WORKER SPOTLIGHT! Austin is a junior at Hood pursuing a Bachelor’s degree in Biology with a minor in Coastal Studies. He’s passionate about aquatic life and hopes to become an aquatic biologist or ecologist in the future. 🐠

SUMMER WORKER SPOTLIGHT! August Westdorp comes to us from St. Mary’s College of MD. “Hello! I’m an undergraduate student at St. Mary’s College of Maryland majoring in Marine Science with a minor in Biology. I love animals and ocean life, and I want to become a Marine Ecologist in the future and help study and preserve Marine ecosystems.” August has spent much of his internship so far calibrating and deploying our stream temperature data loggers for the City of Frederick!

SUMMER WORKER SPOTLIGHT! Ali Werlang is keeping busy this summer by working with Frederick Food Security Network as well as our collaboration with Potomac Riverkeeper Network on their bacteria monitoring program.

SUMMER WORKER SPOTLIGHT: Christina is a recent graduate from Hood College with a Bachelor’s degree in Environmental Science and Policy. Her goal is to work with state and federal agencies to monitor natural resources and ensure safe public use of those resources! Welcome Christina to the team!

SUMMER WORKER SPOTLIGHT: Josephine is a Junior, and is working with FFSN (and several other faculty research projects)!

Meet our Summer workers! Today was our summer kickoff, and we’re ready to get out in the field for some sampling and dive into some lab analyses! Stay tuned for intros on each of these workers/interns… Happy Summer! ☀️

We are continuing collaboration on the Bacteria Monitoring Program! Please consider volunteering, or spread the word to those who may be interested!

Calling all plant enthusiasts !! We are going to be having our first volunteering event of the spring season at 10:00am on May 24th at the religious coalition garden site. Come help us plant some summer crops and have a great time while giving back to the frederick community. Email [email protected] if you are interested in joining us 🍅🫑

This year, the Biology Faculty Award was awarded to Bella and Jo at the Honors Convocation. Congratulations! 🎉

Our SUS302 Sustainable Watersheds Lab section wrapped up this semester with their presentation to ThorpeWood staff. They discussed methods used, data collected, data analysis, and conclusions, as well as future recommendations. We love incorporating students with our clients to gain real-world experiences! (6 students presented, just didn’t get photos, sorry!).

“Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It’s not.” -Dr. Seuss, The Lorax.

Our Sustainable Watersheds class went to ThorpeWood to continue gathering data for their lake portfolio. It was a great day to be outside!

Reminder that we also have an Instagram account: hoodcoastalstudies.
Give us a follow, if you don't already! Help us spread the word.😎

APRIL 20! We (CCWS & FFSN) will be at Baker Park as a part of the City of Frederick’s Earth Day celebration. Food, music, games, activities, discounts, and free fitness class trials! Swing by! 👋🏼

Here it is... The FFSN Plant Sale! Both here at Hood and at the Scoot Key Center Greenhouse. Plan to stop!

Are you a high school senior who just got accepted to Hood College for this coming Fall? Know someone who might be interested in experiential learning of watersheds? Look no further than the Coastal Studies Semester for a Minor or concentration! We will have a table with info at ACCEPTED STUDENTS DAY THIS SATURDAY! See you there. (As always, please spread the word!).

Our SUS302 class back into action after spring break! The next lab project is involving lake benthic macroinvertebrate collection and identification at ThorpeWood.

Last week’s SUS302 lab topic: Microplastics! We filtered common cosmetic products for microplastics and calculated an approximate 3g per bottle of face wash, which is about 9g discarded from use per person in 1 year… Or ~250 lb of Microplastics entering the sewage system for the City of Frederick per year! Also, did you know aluminum cans have a plastic lining in side of them?!

It's a beautiful season to be a Blazer. 💙🌼 Happy spring from our blooming campus!