Maine Arrival

Finally the Waller Lab has moved! Here are a few pictures from the sunrise this morning at the Darling Marine Center. It's a little different from the 84F in Hawaii right now, but spectacular none the less. 

The Administration and Cowbarn buildings on the upper campus area. 

Sunrise over the Horsebarn. Now just that container to unpack! 

The lab is packed thanks to all the amazing and fabulous helpers i've had over the last few weeks. The container gets picked up on Wednesday off on it's long way to the new home of the Waller Lab, the Darling Marine Center, University of Maine. The container won't get there until the 28th of December - it goes from here by boat on Thursday, then across country by truck - so it'll arrive just one day before I do!

Some pictures from the packing!
Aloha
Dr. W.

Ryan and Paula packing the mini-fridge. 

Even packing can be made fun! Paula, Doug and Ryan enthralled at getting mid-way through!

Packed! Or at least mostly, a few more items to add tomorrow and it'll be ready to go! 

Packing the lab

It's been all go the last few weeks, organizing, packing and getting the lab ready to ship to Maine. Tuesday saw the last day of work in the Waller lab of the Marine Sciences Building, and Wednesday - Friday has seen all the fabulous lab users kicking in to help get me packed and on my way. I can honestly say this move would not be possible without the help of the undergrads, grad students and postdocs who have made the lab, and the University of Hawaii, a fun place to be. More photos soon as we pack the POD container over the weekend. 

Aloha

Dr.W.

The PODS container arrives. 

The PODS container being dropped off in the loading dock of the Marine Sciences Building. 

Keo and Christian tackle packing my office.

Ryan packs the glassware in a very dismantled looking laboratory.

Daniel stacking boxes, ready for packing the POD this weekend. 

Progress....

Things are progressing in the laboratory! The formalin samples were shipped a few weeks ago, boxes have started appearing seemingly from nowhere and the chilled samples will be shipped over to Maine within the week. The container for all the rest of the lab arrives in just 3 weeks, time is certainly flying by. I'll update with pictures of the move when it comes!

Updates to the Alaskan Red Tree coral reproduction project has been posted!

Aloha
Dr. W.

The Sound of Science

Samples Packed!

Today Laura, Ryan, Louise, Christian and I packed all the histology samples ready for their long haul to Maine. It is a poignant moment, these samples will be the first shipment to land in Maine, ready for the big move. The container is booked for the first week of November, so all the rest of the lab is going to leave a good 5 weeks before I will actually be leaving the island. Up until now it hasn't seemed real, but time flies and soon the Waller lab will be headed to the cold East. Exciting to be moving somewhere new, adventures are always fun and this certainly will be an adventure, but also sad to be leaving Hawaii and all the students we've had through the lab. It's been a great group and i'll miss everyone who's been working here.

Lots more packing to go though, so better get moving in that direction!

Aloha
Dr. W.

Congratulations Skylar!

Congratulations to Skylar (WHOI) on her first reproduction paper being accepted by Marine Biology! Skylar looked at the reproduction of hydrothermal vent limpets that colonized soon after an undersea eruption at the East Pacific Rise. Look out for the publication soon!


Bayer, S; Waller, RG & Mullineaux, L (In Press) Reproductive traits of pioneer gastropod species colonizing deep-sea hydrothermal vents after an eruption. Marine Biology

Back from Alaska!

Back in Honolulu from all the Alaska project - some great results, so be sure to keep an eye on those pages for updates. Here is a short video summary of the Tracy Arm Fjord cruise!

Aloha

Dr. W.

Bye bye Gustavus. Hello Juneau!

Early this morning I headed to the Gustavus airport, to be met by a thick fog that kept us grounded for 4 hours. 

The Gustavus airport, one of the cutest airports i've ever been in, with some of the friendliest staff. This morning as I was lugging my bags down towards the airport, the check in lady stopped her car and picked me up, took me back to my house to get the rest of my bags, and took me to the airport. She even let me do her drive around the airstrip - woo hoo! 

The smallest plane i've ever been on! 

...and I got to sit in the front seat! Bye bye Gustavus, I hope to see you again next year! 

Flying over the Icy Straight

And heading into Juneau. From a city of 300, to a city of over 40,000! 

This morning I left Gustavus and the Glacier Bay National Park project, and headed over to Juneau to begin the Alaskan Fjord Coral Reproduction project. Be sure to check out the updates on those pages - here!

Aloha!
Dr. W.

Updates on Glacier Bay National Park Corals!

The first expedition to search for deep water corals in Glacier Bay National Park has begun - check out updates here!

Off to Alaska - 19th Aug - 12th Sept

I'm packed and early in the morning i'll be off, so be sure to check out the project pages linked to the right - there are automatic updates posted here and twitter feeds too. The first project will be Glacier Bay National Park Corals (19th Aug - 1st Sept) and the second is Alaska Fjord Corals (3rd - 12th Sept).

There will be chunks of time where I won't have internet, email or even electricity and running water, so the updates may be a spread out, but i'll update as I can so bare with me!

Aloha!
Dr. W.

Packing!

The packing is in full swing - bottles and jars - check! Dissection equipment - check! Diving equipment - check! Maps, papers and permits - check! Now it all just has to fit into the two 50lb bags i'm allowed to take on the plane! 

Aloha!

Dr. W. 

Ten days and counting

It's just ten days until I head out to Glacier Bay National Park, firstly on a little vacation kayaking around the fjords, then onto work, working with the National Park service for a week to look at specific coral locations around the fjords. Then it's onto Juneau, to work on the Alaskan Fjord Coral Reproduction project, another project i'm particularly excited about. I've just started both those project pages, so be sure to check them out!

In other news Jackie, a Ph.D. student who's been doing a ton of histology in my lab this last few weeks, just had her coral reproduction paper accepted for publication in Coral Reefs - congratulations Jackie!

Aloha!

Dr W.

Link - Glacier Bay National Park Project

Link - Alaskan Fjord Coral Reproduction Project

Getting Ready for Projects and Moving!

Getting a research project off the ground is time consuming, you have to think of the project, write the proposal, submit the proposal, maybe have it rejected a few times, and then finally get it funded, organize the cast of characters working on the project, get the equipment together, sort through all the logistics - and then, and only then, can you actually pack your bags and head on out to do science. It definitely takes time.

Finally I am pleased to announce three projects are getting off the ground for the Waller Laboratory, two of them leaving in just a few months, and one leaving in May 2011. In August I'll be headed to Glacier Bay National Park, to do a somewhat scaled down version of the original plan (recon mission), meeting with the Park Service to work out logistics for what will hopefully be a larger project next year and even getting to go out on their boat for two days to take some environmental measurements from coral sites within the park. Check out the blogsite for that expedition if you're interested.

The second project is back to back with the first, from Glacier Bay National Park i'll be headed straight to Juneau to participate in a week long cruise SCUBA diving to collect corals from the fjords. That is the first of five cruises we'll have and is a pretty exciting project, be sure to keep an eye on that blogsite.

And next May, well we finally got the word we're headed back to the Antarctic to look at coral ecosystems in the Drake Passage. Be sure to keep your other eye on that blogsite, exciting things to come in the months ahead.

And the moving? The Waller Laboratory is officially moving, we're packing up and heading out to the Darling Marine Center at the University of Maine. It's going to be a big move and a big change, but an exciting one. That move will start to take place end of this year, and we'll blog about the progress right here.

So many things happening in the lab, including the official beginning to this blog! Individual pages will be updated as things happen, but this main page i'll update every few weeks with progress.....when not in the field that is.

Thats all for now

Dr W.

The Lab

Welcome to our blogsite!

This blog has been set up to support ongoing and new field programs run by researchers and students working in the Waller Laboratory at the School of Ocean and Earth Sciences and Technology at the University of Hawaii at Manoa.

Please check in on us regularly as we prepare for field seasons on various projects around the globe, as well as general updates from the laboratory.