Eric Johnson

Nick Orchanian

Bonita Lam

Ivan Demianets

Dr. Josh Troll examining the newly hatched

Hawaiian Bobtail Squid.

2017 GEM Students

The GEM students walking from the lab to the

dock to get their water samples.

GEM and REU students recording all the plants

and animals along our cove as part of the Snapshot

CalCoast program which records California's

coastal biodiversity.

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July 30, 2017

UPDATE FOR SUPPORTERS OF THE

USC WRIGLEY INSTITUTE FOR ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES

Summer is in full swing and the USC Wrigley Institute is hosting a vibrant and diverse community of

researchers, educators and students from around the country at the Philip K. Wrigley Marine Science Center.

Undergraduates from the Global Environmental Microbiology course benefited immensely from this

collaborative environment as they spent three weeks learning about microbiology and what it means to be a

research scientist. The Wrigley Marine Science Center is also proud to host its newest resident, the Hawaiian

Bobtail Squid! These adorable tiny creatures are shedding some light on the dynamic relationship between

animals and bacteria. Exciting things are happening at USC's University Park campus as well. The Norma

and Jerol Sonosky Sustainability Fellows are hard at work reimagining how we produce energy and

developing solutions for a healthier planet. Thank you for joining us on this journey!

Sincerely,

Katie Chvostal

Development Director

Friends of the Wrigley Institute

SUSTAINABILITY

Norma and Jerol Sonosky Sustainability

Fellowship

The Wrigley Institute’s ‘Norma and Jerol Sonosky Sustainability

Fellowship’ supports summer research by students pursuing applied

solutions to today’s most pressing environmental challenges. We are

excited to be able to support four graduate students at USC’s

University Park campus. This year’s cohort is researching an

impressive range of issues. The cutting-edge advances they work on

are helping to build a more sustainable future for us all.

Eric Johnson

USC Department of Chemistry

Eric Johnson is studying fuel cells as an alternative to combustion

engines in cars. He is working on oxygen fuel cells (as opposed to

the more commonly known hydrogen fuel cells), designed to run

based on water. By making them viable both energetically and

economically, he hopes to help reduce fossil fuel-based

transportation and achieve a cleaner, cooler world.

WIES Blog Post: Fuel Cells for the Future >

Nick Orchanian

USC Department of Chemistry

Nick Orchanian, is also working to minimize carbon emissions,

inspired by the greatest energy resource we have: the sun. He is

working to produce “artificial photosynthesis” that turns carbon

dioxide into energy, much like the natural process done by plants.

Nick is creating catalysts that convert CO2 into a huge range of

important chemicals, including synthetic petroleum.

WIES Blog Post: Creating Artificial Photosynthesis >

Bonita Lam

USC Department of Biological Sciences

Bonita Lam studies the use of environmental bacteria to naturally

break down pollutants. Such bacteria could play a role in

bioremediation - the use of microorganisms to clean up toxic

materials and wastewater products. As an added benefit, the bacteria

she’s identified generate small amounts of energy during

metabolism, offering a promising way to treat wastewater while also

generating energy.

Ivan Demianets

USC Department of Chemistry

Ivan Demianets is studying the conversion of CO2 to methanol, a

reaction that has the potential to “recycle” CO2 from the atmosphere

or other sources and convert it to fuel. The global demand for

methanol as an alternative fuel is increasing. Ivan hopes that

optimizing this process could ultimately help promote the capture

and recycling of our CO2 waste as part of global carbon

management.

RESEARCH

Hawaiian Bobtail Squid

Dr. Scott Fraser (USC Provost Professor of Biological Sciences and

Biomedical Engineering and USC Director of Science Initiatives) and

his research associate Dr. Josh Troll are studying the beneficial

relationship between the Hawaiian Bobtail Squid and a

bioluminescent (light-producing) bacterium, Aliivibrio fischeri. The

dynamic between these species serves as a model to understand how

animals and bacteria establish and maintain such positive

relationships.

Currently, the research team is establishing a breeding colony of the

squid in the WMSC greenhouse. They will use the animals to

examine what animal genes are involved in the selection and

tolerance of beneficial bacteria. The squid are healthy, feeding well

on pacific white shrimp, and have even displayed mating behavior.

Their first juvenile squid offspring have now hatched, and a second

clutch of eggs is due to hatch in the next few days. Scott and Josh are

hopeful that by this fall, WMSC will be home to a much larger cohort

of bobtail squids, and the research team can begin efforts in earnest

to establish a full breeding colony.

Along with this program, Research Experiences for Undergraduates

(REU) student Ivan Langesfeld is undertaking an experiment to

determine the role of temperature on the squid-bacteria relationship.

He will test at what temperatures juvenile Hawaiian Bobtail Squid

initiate a heat-shock response, and determine whether their

symbiotic bacteria remain with them under those stressful

conditions. This undergraduate’s research has important

implications because this bioluminescent symbiosis is vital to the

bobtail squid’s survival in the wild. If he finds that the symbiosis is

unable to persist at high water temperatures, then it is possible that

rising seawater temperatures could imperil this relationship -

particularly because the squid lives in shallow near-shore waters

which are likely to warm even higher than the ocean average.

Ivan's WIES Blog Post: The Summer of Squid >

UNDERGRADUATE EDUCATION

Global Environmental Microbiology (GEM)

Course

Every summer, the WMSC hosts the Global Environmental

Microbiology (GEM) course offered though USC’s Center for Dark

Energy Biosphere Investigations (C-DEBI). Funded by the National

Science Foundation, C-DEBI is a Science and Technology Center on

campus with the mission to explore life beneath the seafloor and

make transformative discoveries that advance science, benefit

society, and inspire people of all ages and origins. (Note: we are

bragging a bit since our own Dr. John Heidelberg is a senior

scientist in C-DEBI and the co-instructor of the GEM class!).

Beyond the great science that happens in C-DEBI, the program seeks

to inspire a diverse generation of undergraduates to pursue careers in

Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM). C-DEBI is

committed to improving access and support for underrepresented and

marginalized groups to STEM fields, and the GEM class is a central

part of that commitment. The GEM class typically includes 16 mostly

freshmen and sophomore students from across the U.S. About half

are from four-year universities and the others from community

colleges, and the vast majority are members of an underrepresented

minority, first-generation college students, female, and/or low

income households.

While the GEM course is an introductory microbiology field course

(since this is John and co-instructor Dr. Eric Webb’s forte...), the

real purpose of the course is to create a unique, supportive learning

atmosphere. At the island the class combines classroom time, field

research and maybe most importantly, peer guidance as students

from diverse backgrounds and institutions study together. They also

receive “near-peer” advising as they get to know our Teaching

Assistant who will have just transitioned from undergrad, and of

course, mentorship from the Co-Instructors. It is hard to imagine a

place better suited for this class than the WMSC where the science

and social activities are so integrated and where the students, TA,

and professors live and eat together all day every day for the entire

course! Hopefully the students leave knowing that the research world

has been a bit ‘demystified’, and that they can see themselves as part

of the rich and exciting global science community.

For more information on how you can support Friends of the

Wrigley Institute or other giving opportunities, please contact

Katie Chvostal at chvostal@usc.edu or (310) 510-4015.

MARK YOUR CALENDARS

May 27, 2017 - September 2, 2017

Saturdays at the Lab

The Philip K. Wrigley Marine Science Center hosts an open house Saturdays at 10:00 am, Memorial through

Labor Day weekends, for visitors who want to see the inside of a working marine lab. This two-hour tour,

open to the public, begins in the lecture hall of the Wrigley Marine Science Center, two miles east of Two

Harbors on Catalina Island. Visitors can check out a touch tank, research exhibits, a science presentation by a

Wrigley Summer Graduate Fellow and a tour of the Catalina Hyperbaric Chamber (unless the chamber is being

used for treatments). Can't make it out to the island? Presentations will be archived on the Saturdays at the Lab

webpage. SATURDAYS AT THE LAB PRESENTERS AND ARCHIVED PRESENTATIONS >

September 2, 2017

Friends of the Wrigley Institute Social

Please join us at the Philip K. Wrigley Marine Science Center at 4:00 pm, Saturday, September 2nd. Educators

along with Wrigley Summer Fellows will demonstrate activities highlighting the capabilities of our new

Catalina Outdoor Education Center. This invitation is open to Friends of the Wrigley Institute and their guests.

Please RSVP to Katie Chvostal at chvostal@usc.edu or (310) 510-4015 by August 25th.

USC Wrigley Institute for Environmental Studies | 3454 Trousdale Parkway, CAS 200 | Los Angeles, California 90089-0153

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