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��˾�������� Receives $700,000 Grant for Policing Project

Motorists and pedestrians stopped by police in Atlantic City or Pleasantville last summer might have been asked to be part of a research project.

��˾�������� has received a $700,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Justice to conduct and assess a new policing intervention in Atlantic City and Pleasantville that focuses on improving police-citizen interactions during traffic stops with residents and visitors.

“We want to increase transparency, and also citizen compliance, satisfaction and trust in the police,” said ��˾�������� Assistant Professor of Criminal Justice Nusret Sahin, who is the lead investigator on the EPJETS project (Enhancing Procedural-Justness of Encounters Through Substantiation).

Starting last summer and over the following 18 months, some 2,000 traffic stops in Atlantic City and Pleasantville will be monitored as part of the study. Those stopped will be given information about traffic stops. The findings will be used to improve police-community relations.

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Ocean Wind I Expands Partnership with ��˾��������

New Jersey’s first offshore wind farm project, Ocean Wind 1, has announced an expanded partnership with ��˾�������� that supports the project’s monitoring and mitigation efforts related to the North Atlantic Right Whale and other marine wildlife.

Developed by Ørsted and PSEG, Ocean Wind 1 will be located off the coast of southern New Jersey. At 1,100 MW, Ocean Wind 1 will provide clean energy to 500,000 homes in New Jersey, support thousands of jobs and advance supply chain initiatives while helping the state meet its clean energy goals.

Through the partnership, Ocean Wind 1 will support a first-of-its-kind program at an accredited university and enable ��˾�������� to train individuals to be Protected Species Observers (PSO). PSOs are certified professionals, approved by the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) and the National Marine Fisheries Service, who monitor for protected species, or those animals that are federally protected under the Endangered Species Act and/or Marine Mammal Protection Act. PSOs are used by a wide variety of industries to help them meet their regulatory compliance needs.

“This collaboration with Ørsted and Ocean Wind will support important research at ��˾�������� and prepare ��˾�������� students to participate in the new clean energy economy while using their education and talents to protect the marine environment and the most vulnerable of its species,” said Peter Straub, former dean of the School of Natural Sciences and Mathematics.

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Researchers Fish for Answers to Striped Bass Migration and Stock Origins

Silvery metallic Atlantic striped bass have seven to eight dark lines that stretch from their gills to their tail, but there are some that also have an extra yellow stripe trailing from their backs. These fish were caught and tagged in New Jersey waters by ��˾�������� researchers and will help explain the species’ life history and migration when they are caught again.

Since last fall, Adam Aguiar, assistant professor of Biology, and his research students have caught and tagged 65 Atlantic striped bass. Those fish now wear a yellow tag that looks like a piece of spaghetti noodle attached to their back just behind the second dorsal fin.

The researchers hope that anglers will recapture the tagged fish and report the unique codes written on the tags to the American Littoral Society in Highlands, N.J.

Holocaust Survivors, Families, Preview New Project

Area Holocaust survivors and their families got a preview of the ��˾�������� Sara and Sam Schoffer Holocaust Resource Center’s “Holocaust Survivors of South Jersey Project” at an intergenerational brunch hosted by the Milton & Betty Katz Jewish Community Center on June 12.

Associate Professor of History Michael Hayse said the project started in 2020 when the Holocaust Resource Center staff realized there was not a central database to track the Holocaust survivors of South Jersey.

“A database will be an important resource for future generations looking to learn about our local history,” Hayse said.

Holocaust Center Executive Director Gail Rosenthal said the project, which  publicly launched in September, includes the work of center staff Irvin Moreno-Rodriguez and Matthew Assad along with some 300 graduate and undergraduate students at ��˾�������� who have interviewed Holocaust survivors and their families and helped set up the interactive database.

The project documents the life stories of Jewish Holocaust survivors who lived in Atlantic, Cape May and Cumberland counties. The center has, to date, identified 1,474 survivors and continues to update and expand the database.

Holocaust Center staff and students attended the event, which also gave Holocaust survivors and their families the opportunity to review their data for the database and add new information.

“We are still hearing from people who are just learning about the project,” Rosenthal said.

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��˾�������� gets $500,000 STEM Grant

��˾�������� will receive $500,000 from the federal government to support its coastal resiliency and management programs and provide STEM educational and career opportunities for middle and high school students in South Jersey.

The Coastal Resiliency Equipment, Education and Outreach funds were approved as part of the FY22 federal budget and were among a list of New Jersey Community Projects supported by N.J. Senators Bob Menendez and Cory Booker.

“These projects will…. make the critical investments so that New Jersey continues to be one of the greatest places to live and work,” Sen. Menendez said in a press release announcing the grants. 

The grant will be administered by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.