CMAST News

Aug 28, 2024

CMAST Hosts Stranding Responder Training

The NC Division of Marine Fisheries and NC Aquarium Marine Mammal Stranding Network personnel held stranding responder training at the NC State Center for Marine Sciences and Technology (CMAST) last week. Participants learned how to effectively respond to live dolphins, whales, and seals and assist NC Marine Mammal Stranding Network personnel on the scene. Attendees from…

Aug 15, 2024

Ben-Horin Weighs in on Local Oyster Mortality Events

Dr. Tal Ben-Horin, assistant professor and researcher at the NC State Center for Marine Sciences and Technology (CMAST), is working with other researchers and local aquaculturists to determine the cause of high oyster mortality rates in North Carolina waters.  Ben-Horin says that farmed oysters are really taking a hit and believes that genetics, rather than…

Aug 15, 2024

Price Research Published in Journal Article

Congratulations to Dr. Carol Seals Price, NC State University instructor and conservation research coordinator for NC Aquariums, whose research was recently published in the journal, Zoo Biology, Volume 43, Issue 4.  The article is titled, A novel protocol for three-dimensional mapping of sand tiger shark (Carcharias taurus) enclosure use in aquaria: Implications for management.  According…

Aug 9, 2024

Summer Fellows Complete Program

The NC State Center for Marine Sciences and Technology (CMAST) said farewell to itsSummer Fellows last week, following the students’ research project presentations. TheSummer Fellows Program, established in 2005, provides undergraduate students withmentored opportunities to design independent research projects and gain hands-onexperiences in marine sciences. At the end of the ten-week program, students write afinal…

Jul 30, 2024

Coastal Review highlights Dr. Craig Harms

When it was veterinarian Dr. Craig Harms’ turn to speak during a public meeting Tuesday on the proposed speed rule to reduce North Atlantic right whale mortalities, he recalled being “waist-deep” while doing a post-mortem exam to determine what caused a stranded whale to die earlier this year. He was one of the 19 who…

Jul 24, 2024

Sirkin Earns Technology in Education Certification

Marsha Sirkin, director of the coastal satellite office of the NC State Science House at CMAST, is one of the first forty-one North Carolina educators to receive International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) Certification at the recent Ed Tech Conference in Texas.  ISTE Certification is a globally recognized credential for educators who excel in integrating…

Jul 24, 2024

Harms Continues Minke Whale Hearing Research in Norway

A multinational US, Norwegian and Danish research team successfully completed a fourth field season measuring hearing in minke whales in Arctic Norway in the Lofoten Islands. Dr. Craig Harms from NC State took part as one of the team’s two veterinarians. Two whales were safely captured, tested, tagged and released, greatly expanding knowledge of baleen…

Jul 24, 2024

Students Work on Salmon By-product Project

Two NC State Food Science Summer Scholars, Taha Ahnhad and Mariam Bayeh, have been working in the CMAST Seafood Lab developing crackers and chips made from smoked salmon skins.  They will present their work at the NC State Undergraduate Research Symposium later this week. According to Mariam, the product development process for the crackers involves…

Jul 17, 2024

Dr. Alona Chepiha joins Seafood Lab

The NC State Center for Marine Sciences and Technology (CMAST) welcomes Dr. Alona Chepiha to its Seafood Lab.  Chepiha earned a PhD of Agricultural Sciences “Genetics” from the Institute of Animal Breeding and Genetics in the Ukraine.  Most recently, she served as a biotechnologist in the protein engineering lab for a private company where her…

Jul 17, 2024

Coastal STEM Fair Success!

Marsha Sirkin, director of the coastal satellite office of the NC State Science House at CMAST, participated in the Coastal STEM Fair last week.  Sirkin says “We reached approximately 90 middle and high school students from six Teen Centerswithin the Boys & Girls Clubs of the Coastal Plain (Belhaven, Washington, New Bern, Havelock, Morehead City and…