Burt Feintuch and Julia Rodriguez were recognized by their peers recently for their outstanding scholarship.

The Piscataqua Region Estuaries Partnership (PREP), a joint program of local, state and federal agencies housed in UNH’s marine program, will host its “State of Our Estuaries” conference Friday Dec. 7, from 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. at the Portsmouth Harbor Events and Conference Center.  

The Macfarlane Greenhouses, the New Hampshire Agricultural Experiment Station, and the Thompson School horticultural facility host the popular Poinsettia Trials Open House Thursday, Nov. 29, through Saturday,Dec. 1, 2012. Visitors to the free event, now in its seventh year, will enjoy more than 100 poinsettia varieties and assist in research by recording their favorites from among new and different varieties.

Jon M. Wraith, Dean, College of Life Sciences and Agriculture, and Director, New Hampshire Agricultural Experiment Station, has been named as a 2012 Fellow in the Food Systems Leadership Institute (FSLI).

Dedicated to developing individual and institutional leadership for a twenty-first century food system, FSLI is a program of the Association of Public Land-grant Universities with support from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation.

The Atlantic has long-shaped the lives of people who depended upon it for survival. And just as surely, people have shaped the Atlantic. “The Mortal Sea: Fishing the Atlantic in the Age of Sail” is an innovative account of this interdependency written by W. Jeffrey Bolster, an associate professor of history at UNH and professional seafarer.

Oceanographer Joe Salisbury of the Ocean Process Analysis Laboratory and atmospheric scientist Carolyn Jordan of the Earth Systems Research Center are part of a large group of scientists from around the country working to define the science questions and the instrument/mission requirements for a new Geostationary Coastal and Air Pollution Events satellite (GEO-CAPE).

College of Life Sciences and Agriculture (COLSA) biologist Jim Haney and his team of researchers have been conducting research for the past decade to learn what effects cyanobacteria and its toxins may have on human health through water and the food web.

Cyanobacteria is responsible for the blue green scum sometimes seen on ponds and other bodies of water. The toxins it produces may have a range of health effects, including gastroenteritis, tumors and cancer of the liver, neurological disease, seizures, or even death. 

The New Hampshire Innovation Research Center (NHIRC) at UNH and Hutchinson Sealing Systems, Inc. (HHSI) have co-funded a project to develop eco-friendly weather strips that seal retractable driver and passenger-side windows. Ronald U. Goulet, adjunct professor of mechanical engineering, is the principal investigator leading this research.

Hutchinson, located in Newfields, manufactures vehicle weather strips for cars, trucks, and RVs as well as engineered seals used for HVAC systems, computer cabinets, and other containers.

Underemployment has remained persistently high in the aftermath of the Great Recession with workers younger than 30 especially feeling the pinch, according to new research from the Carsey Institute at the University of New Hampshire.

Underemployment is defined as part-time workers in search of full-time work or working part-time because the hours of a former full-time job were reduced involuntarily.

NASA's Planetary Science Division is currently seeking volunteer reviewers for 2 programs:

• Outer Planets Research
• Maturation of Instruments for Solar System Exploration

A web form for volunteers can be found at http://science.nasa.gov/researchers/volunteer-review-panels/ where volunteers can indicate their interest and areas of expertise.