UMass Boston School for the Environment: Educating the next generation of environmental problem solvers

Environmental challenges do not recognize disciplinary, socio-economic, or geographic boundaries. To support the development of environmental problem-solvers we deeply engage undergraduate and graduate students in solving real-world environmental problems through innovation and sustainability-focused courses and research experiences. These experiences directly engage local communities in the development and implementation of environmental solutions

UMass Boston Coasts and Communities IGERT Program

The Coasts and Communities IGERT (Integrative Graduate Education and Research Traineeship) Program starting in 2014 at the University of Massachusetts Boston provides PhD students with the skills to understand the interactions between natural and human systems and to develop appropriate policy solutions for urban and urbanizing environments. By emphasizing interdisciplinary collaboration and communication, this program aims to enable trainees to apply innovative and sustainable solutions across geographical, political, and economic contexts

The Living Labs: Nantucket Island

The Living Labs are a practical response to growing environmental challenges, including habitat degradation, loss of biodiversity, and global climate change. Nantucket Living Labs develops and implements holistic solutions to environmental challenges right here and now. The School for the Environment (SFE) established this concept in Conjunction with the Nantucket Field Station, Nantucket Conservation Foundation and ReMain Nantucket, a nonprofit dedicated to supporting a year-round community in the town center

CLIMATE READY BOSTON: Climate Change and Sea Level Rise Projections for Boston, The Boston Research Advisory Group Report

This report summarizes the current understanding of the local factors that influence Boston’s future exposure to climate change risks. The following four risk factors were considered most relevant to Boston and are therefore evaluated in this report: sea-level rise, extreme precipitation, coastal storms and extreme temperatures. For each risk factor, a team of scientific experts, comprised of a team leader and three or more team members, was selected to evaluate and summarize the available information contained in both grey (reports, conference proceedings and the like) and peer-reviewed literature. Each team met independently between October 2015 and January 2016, and team leaders had regular teleconferences with the UMass Boston project team to keep them apprised of progress and to help overcome problems that were encountered. The process for reaching consensus is outlined in the next section

Holocene evolution in weathering and erosion patterns in the Pearl River delta

Author Posting. © American Geophysical Union, 2013. This article is posted here by permission of American Geophysical Union for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems 14 (2013); 2349–2368, doi:10.1002/ggge.20166.Sediments in the Pearl River delta have the potential to record the weathering response of this river basin to climate change since 9.5 ka, most notably weakening of the Asian monsoon since the Early Holocene (∼8 ka). Cores from the Pearl River delta show a clear temporal evolution of weathering intensity, as measured by K/Al, K/Rb, and clay mineralogy, that shows deposition of less weathered sediment at a time of weakening monsoon rainfall in the Early-Mid Holocene (6.0–2.5 ka). This may reflect an immediate response to a less humid climate, or more likely reduced reworking of older deposits from river terraces as the monsoon weakened. Human settlement of the Pearl River basin may have had a major impact on landscape and erosion as a result of the establishment of widespread agriculture. After around 2.5 ka weathering intensity sharply increased, despite limited change in the monsoon, but at a time when anthropogenic pollutants (e.g., Cu, Zn, and Pb) increased and when the flora of the basin changed. 87Sr/86Sr covaries with these other proxies but is also partly influenced by the presence of carbonate. The sediments in the modern Pearl River are even more weathered than the youngest material from the delta cores. We infer that the spread of farming into the Pearl River basin around 2.7 ka was followed by a widespread reworking of old, weathered soils after 2.5 ka, and large-scale disruption of the river system that was advanced by 2.0 ka.We acknowledge financial support from the Swire Educational Trust and South China Sea Institute of Oceanology PhD Funding (Grant No. MSGL09-06).2014-01-2

Clinical and Genome-Wide Analysis of Serum Platinum Levels after Cisplatin-Based Chemotherapy

Purpose: Serum platinum is measurable for years after completion of cisplatin-based chemotherapy (CBC). We report the largest investigation of serum platinum levels to date of 1,010 testicular cancer survivors (TCS) assessed 1-35 years after CBC and evaluate genetic contributions to these levels. Experimental Design: Eligible TCS given 300 or 400 (±15) mg/m2 cisplatin underwent extensive audiometric testing, clinical examination, completed questionnaires and had crude serum platinum levels measured. Associations between serum platinum and various risk factors and toxicities were assessed after fitting a bi-exponential model adjusted for follow-up time and cumulative cisplatin dose. A genome-wide association study (GWAS) was performed using the serum platinum residuals of the dose and time-adjusted model. Results: Serum platinum levels exceeded the reference range for approximately 31 years, with a strong inverse relationship with creatinine clearance at follow-up (age-adjusted p = 2.13×10−3). We observed a significant, positive association between residual platinum values and luteinizing hormone (age-adjusted p=6.58×10−3). Patients with high residual platinum levels experienced greater Raynaud’s phenomenon than those with medium or low levels (age-adjusted ORhigh/low = 1.46; p = 0.04), as well as a higher likelihood of developing tinnitus (age-adjusted ORhigh/low = 1.68, p = 0.07). GWAS identified one single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) meeting genome-wide significance rs1377817 (p=4.6×10−8, a SNP intronic to MYH14). Conclusions: This study indicates that residual platinum values are correlated with several cisplatin-related toxicities. One genetic variant is associated with these levels

Evolving east Asian river systems reconstructed by trace element and Pb and Nd isotope variations in modern and ancient Red River-Song Hong sediments

Author Posting. © American Geophysical Union, 2008. This article is posted here by permission of American Geophysical Union for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Geochemistry Geophysics Geosystems 9 (2008): Q04039, doi:10.1029/2007GC001867.Rivers in east Asia have been recognized as having unusual geometries, suggestive of drainage reorganization linked to Tibetan Plateau surface uplift. In this study we applied a series of major and trace element proxies, together with bulk Nd and single K-feldspar grain Pb isotope ion probe isotope analyses, to understand the sediment budget of the modern Red River. We also investigate how this may have evolved during the Cenozoic. We show that while most of the modern sediment is generated by physical erosion in the upper reaches in Yunnan there is significant additional flux from the Song Lo, draining Cathaysia and the SW Yangtze Block. Nd isotope data suggest that 40% of the modern delta sediment comes from the Song Lo. Carbonates in the Song Lo basin make this a major control on the Red River Sr budget. Erosion is not a simple function of monsoon precipitation. Active rock uplift is also required to drive strong erosion. Single grain Pb data show a connection in the Eocene between the middle Yangtze and the Red River, and probably with rivers draining the Songpan Garze terrane. However, the isotope data do not support a former connection with the upper Yangtze, Mekong, or Salween rivers. Drainage capture appears to have occurred throughout the Cenozoic, consistent with surface uplift propagating gradually to the southeast. The middle Yangtze was lost from the Red River prior to 24 Ma, while the connection to the Songpan Garze was cut prior to 12 Ma. The Song Lo joined the Red River after 9 Ma. Bulk sample Pb analyses have limited provenance use compared to single grain data, and detailed provenance is only possible with a matrix of different proxies

The Norwegian Mother, Father, and Child cohort study (MoBa) genotyping data resource: MoBaPsychGen pipeline v.1

BACKRGROUND: The Norwegian Mother, Father, and Child Cohort Study (MoBa) is a population-based pregnancy cohort, which includes approximately 114,500 children, 95,200 mothers, and 75,200 fathers. Genotyping of MoBa has been conducted through multiple research projects, spanning several years; using varying selection criteria, genotyping arrays, and genotyping centres. MoBa contains numerous interrelated families, which necessitated the implementation of a family-based quality control (QC) pipeline that verifies and accounts for diverse types of relatedness. METHODS: The MoBaPsychGen pipeline, comprising pre-imputation QC, phasing, imputation, and post-imputation QC, was developed based on current best-practice protocols and implemented to account for the complex structure of the MoBa genotype data. The pipeline includes QC on both single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) and individual level. Phasing and imputation were performed using the publicly available Haplotype Reference Consortium release 1.1 panel as a reference. Information from the Medical Birth Registry of Norway and MoBa questionnaires were used to identify biological sex, year of birth, reported parent-offspring (PO) relationships, and multiple births (only available in the offspring generation). RESULTS: In total, 207,569 unique individuals (90% of the unique individuals included in the study) and 6,981,748 SNPs passed the MoBaPsychGen pipeline. The relatedness checks performed throughout the pipeline allowed identification of within-generation and across-generation first-degree, second-degree, and third-degree relatives. The individuals passing post-imputation QC comprised 64,471 families ranging in size from singletons to 84 unique individuals (singletons are included as families as other family members may not have been genotyped, imputed, or passed post-imputation QC). The relationships identified include 287 monozygotic twin pairs, 22,884 full siblings, 117,004 PO pairs, 23,299 second-degree relative pairs, and 10,828 third-degree relative pairs. DISCUSSION: MoBa contains a highly complex relatedness structure, with a variety of family structures including singletons, PO duos, full (mother, father, child) PO trios, nuclear families, blended families, and extended families. The availability of robustly quality-controlled genetic data for such a large cohort with a unique extended family structure will allow many novel research questions to be addressed. Furthermore, the MoBaPsychGen pipeline has potential utility in similar cohorts