Western New York office of Sea Grant moves to UB

By ELLEN GOLDBAUM
News Services Editor

Sea Grant, which operates under the auspices of the U.S. Department of Commerce, provides information and education about coastal resources in individual states.

The move is the culmination of several years of increased cooperation between UB's Great Lakes Program and the New York Sea Grant office, which previously operated out of the Cornell Cooperative Extension office in East Aurora.

"This was a logical move because Sea Grant's mission is extension and outreach, and so is that of the Great Lakes Program," said Joseph V. DePinto, executive director of the Great Lakes Program and UB professor of civil engineering.

"The result will be closer linkages between Great Lakes researchers at UB, who are the people collecting the data and doing the analysis, and the extension specialists whose job is to take the research results to a much wider audience, said DePinto. "The additional service role UB can play by having Sea Grant here is very valuable."

As a result of the move, Dave Green, New York Sea Grant extension specialist, is now located at UB. Green, an 18-year veteran with New York Sea Grant, is a specialist in several areas, including the environments of Native American communities. Ellen George, an administrative assistant with New York Sea Grant, also has moved to the new office at UB.

DePinto noted that the connection between UB's Great Lakes Program and the local Sea Grant office began to strengthen in 1993 when Helen Domske was hired to be associate director of the Great Lakes Program and serve as a New York Sea Grant extension specialist at UB.

This helps centralize our efforts," said Domske. "It will provide for stronger interactions among Sea Grant specialists and allow us to take better advantage of the university setting."

Projects on which the UB Great Lakes Program and New York Sea Grant have cooperated include a recent conference on environmental issues facing Native American communities in the region and development of a computer-based watershed management program for junior high and high school classes. They also are working on an Environmental Protection Agency-funded program on lakewide management for lakes Erie and Ontario, and will co-host, along with Buffalo State College, the International Association for Great Lakes Research meeting next summer.

"Together, both organizations try to reach all categories of stakeholders in the Great Lakes and that's a strong reason for this partnership," said DePinto.