Scientist keeps rolling

    A resident of Jamestown who grew up in Pennsylvania and Connecticut, Smayda described himself as one of “the last of the Mohicans” at GSO, who helped to build the school from its infancy into one of the world’s leading oceanographic institutions.
    “As a kid I liked fishing, but I wasn’t very successful at it,” he said. “So I figured that if I couldn’t catch them, I’d study them. While working on a clam project in school, I looked at some microscopic algae called phytoplankton and saw their extraordinary beauty and learned about their importance to the food web. Ever since then, I’ve been studying their ecology.”
    When he was hired by URI in 1959, Smayda started the Narragansett Bay Plankton Time Series, a weekly measurement of plankton abundance in the bay that continues today, the longest data set of its kind in the world.  From this data, he has observed how changes in temperature and other conditions in the Bay have affected algae abundance and when they “bloom.”
    “Over the years, the bloom periods moved from winter to summer, and two or three of the key species in the bloom disappeared while others declined in abundance,” he said. “The blooms have shifted away from the good species and toward the species that produce red tides.”
       Smayda was one of the first scientists to investigate the global increase in the algae that cause red tides, and his studies have examined what has caused their increased abundance and their implications for human health.  
    The URI scientist will be honored on June 22 and 23 during a symposium at which many of his former students will present papers about their research, reminisce about their days learning from Smayda and celebrate his 80th birthday. “It will be nice to see them all again and bask in their achievements,” he said.
    While he is best known for his scientific expertise, Smayda said that he is most proud of his efforts to support the careers of female oceanographers. He was the first GSO professor to mentor a female graduate student, and he broke the unwritten rule against allowing women to go to sea aboard a research ship.
    “It used to be that ship’s captains thought that a woman at sea would bring bad luck,” Smayda said.  “It was the mid-‘60s, and I convinced the captain to allow my research assistant to go to sea with him, and although she was required to bring a chaperone, we prevailed despite some unfortunate circumstances.”
    Today, Smayda continues his research at a brisk pace, publishing five research papers last year and giving presentations around the world.
    “I have no plans to slow down,” he said. “It’s a passion. I’m hard-wired for this work. I get a great deal of pleasure from studying these beautiful organisms.”
    As part of the 50th anniversary celebration of the GSO, the public is invited to the Saturday Science Festival at the URI Bay Campus in Narragansett on June 25 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.  The event will feature tours of research facilities, hands-on science demonstrations, marine life touch-tanks for children and other fun activities. For more information, visit www.gso.uri.e-du/gso_50.
    
    Todd McLeish works for the URI Communications and Marketing Department.

    Editor’s note: Salute to Seniors is a feature aimed at celebrating the many significant contributions and accomplishments of men and women age 50 and beyond. Salute to Seniors is sponsored by the Bankers Life and Casualty Company regional office in Warwick and Senior Digest. To nominate someone for a salute, send the person’s name, address, telephone number and reason for nomination to Senior Digest, 36 French Drive, Seekonk, Mass., 02771, or to sdpublisher@g-mail.com. Bankers Life can be reached at (401) 732-5213.