Continuing a long collaboration with the University of Concepción in Chile, Rob Armstrong and Cindy Lee, who comes from the School of Marine and Atmospheric at Stonybrook University Sciences, are in this southern city of the XIII region, teaching a course on Particle Biogeochemistry as part of UC’s Austral Summer Institute.  Cindy Lee, who has a Ph.D., 1975, University of California at San Diego/ Scripps Institution of Oceanography, received a Fulbright fellowship to participate in the course and collaborate with university researchers. “ My research is concerned with the distribution and behavior of biogenic organic compounds in the marine environment, and the role of these compounds in the global carbon cycle. Understanding how organic compounds behave requires knowledge of the biological, geological, and physical processes in the sea. I am interested in organic compounds in all environments, particularly seawater, surface microlayer and sediments of open ocean and coastal areas”.

 The courses are organized by SoMAS alumnus Silvio Pantoja.  Professor Pantoja holds the UNESCO/IOC Chair in Oceanography and Coastal Management at University of Concepción and is Director of COPAS, the Center for Oceanographic Research in the eastern South Pacific. Several other Somas alumni teach at UC as well.  Cindy Lee and her team also made the news in Concepción.: http://www.diarioconcepcion.cl/2014/12/31/index.HTML