November 20, 2024
Attendance: Alex Kinsella, Liz Maloney, Carolina Camargo, Fadime Stemmer
#1 Beach cleanups (first Thursday of the month at noon)
• Dec 5 - Alex
• Jan 9 - Liz
• Feb 6 - Fadime
#2 Lunch and Learns
• Dr. Kumara - January, after work around 5 pm, LnL + potluck event. Plant-based foods.
Seb wasn’t here today so we don’t have the update on this yet.
• Stephanie Madsen and Mary Ryther are available starting in January. We can do either this
lunch and learn or Dr. Kumara in January and the other in the spring. We will check with
Seb about the status.
• Other ideas for next year: Megan Amsler on energy, Biodiversity Works
• If we had someone e.g. from Biodiversity Works who needed to get a ferry ticket
to get here, could we offer to cover it? Probably.
• How to distribute honoraria? Do we need to have them fill a tax form with it?
• At SEA, a tax form was necessary, but the honorarium was never enough to
actually be taxed. Liz will check with people to see what the procedure is at
WHOI.
#3 Garden/landscape updates
• STF garden was a success this year! It will need to be cleaned/replanted with garlic before
the end of the year.
• JP student garden is all set up and has been planted with garlic.
• LOSOS meadow update? Did we ask Dave about funding?
• Not yet. Seb or Liz will follow up with him when there is a good opportunity.
• Invasive plant removal update: swale between MRF and McLean is mostly cleared of
invasives and looking good. Next year, a main target will be the hillside between Fye and
Clark. Kai found it will be relatively inexpensive to replant the hillside with native
wildflowers. We’ll wait until the poison ivy is easier to see and we can get some info on what
plants would thrive there.
#4 Town of Falmouth styrofoam recycling event
• Liz sent the press release and flyer to the admin pros and Joanne Tromp. Caro forwarded
it to the postdocs as well. There isn’t much styrofoam to recycle centrally, and labs likely
don’t have a lot lying around. So it makes the most sense to send out the announcement
and let labs take their styrofoam individually.
#5 Funding opportunities
• Finalize accomplishment list for facilities funding
• This list is in good shape now and Liz will show it to Dave soon.
• Group input on ERG requirements
• It looks like we already have most of what we need on our website. We will
modify as necessary and send to Marney by Dec 6. Send an email to the STF list
to see who wants to be on the roster.
#6 New business
• Some website updates are necessary — e.g. the links in the food guide are broken.
Fadime will check with Mallory on whether that guide can be updated.
• The Instagram has been inactive since last year. Fadime will take it over!
Our next meeting is Wednesday, December 18th at 1 pm