By Arnold Gordon
At the May 20 meeting of the Retired Men’s Association Bob Meaney introduced Professor Robert Nazarian, Director of the Center for Climate, Coastal, and Marine Studies at Fairfield University whose talk was entitled “The Next Generation of Long Island Sound Research: Understanding Our Coast Through an Interdisciplinary Approach.” Dr. Nazarian is a physicist with a PhD from Princeton University and is the founding director of the Center. Citing national surveys, he noted that 81% of students report being worried about the environment, reflecting an incentive for the students at Fairfield to do research with the Center as undergraduates. Nazarian’s talk featured four research vignettes that described his and his colleagues’ work, involving many disciplines in addition to science, such as economics and politics.
1. Change in Extreme Weather Over the Northeast US. An undergraduate from the class of 2023 did research to confirm the conventional wisdom that storms have been getting worse and more frequent. Data indicate that for every degree of global warming, the atmosphere holds 7% more moisture, which results in heavy precipitation events doubling in frequency.
2. Underwater Photo Enhancement and Object Detection. The current technology used to search the depths of bodies of water, especially when murky, is inadequate for clear identification of living creatures and structures. The Center’s computer science department has been revolutionizing the methodology. Nazarian illustrated how students developed algorithms to enhance grainy, low-resolution photos taken by divers or autonomous vehicles, showing examples of old vs. enhanced images of angelfish and turtles. This technology is being funded by the U.S. Geological Survey and NASA, where it is being adapted to detect landslides on Mars and for other applications.
3. Fish Eco-morphology and Biomechanics. Nazarian covered the work of his colleagues in the biology department who studied the cunner, a resilient fish common to Long Island Sound; it is also known as the blue perch, bergall, chogset, choggie, conner or sea perch, a species of wrasse found from the Gulf of St. Lawrence and Newfoundland to the Chesapeake Bay. In a series of experiments involving predator encounter simulations, researchers found that the cunner’s ability to evade predators was highly dependent on water temperature. With warmer waters over a certain range, the fish could “fire on all cylinders” to escape. However, above about 80 degrees F, there was a lethal tipping point; as the Sound warms, the mortality rate of these fish spikes, potentially forcing a migration that could devastate the local “blue economy.”
4. Sea Level Rise Economics. Given current models for Earth warming and its effect on increasing the temperature and height of oceans and other bodies of water, estimates have been made on how much higher the tide would reach along Long Island Sound over time, up to the year 2100. Using augmented reality headsets, images of where the tide would reach can be shown to residents. The goal is to determine how much money residents would be willing to pay out of pocket to ensure coastal resilience, whether through physical structures, seagrass buffers or other techniques. A pilot study had been conducted in Iztapa and Puerto San José, Guatemala. In agricultural Iztapa, residents were willing to pay a premium to prevent saltwater from contaminating their freshwater wells, whereas the tourism-heavy Puerto San José prioritized beach erosion. This summer, Fairfield University students will be seen on five Connecticut beaches, including Hammonasset Beach and Sherwood Island State Parks, who will use the headsets to obtain data to help local policymakers understand what the public is actually willing to fund.
The Center for Climate, Coastal, and Marine Studies will launch a campaign for growth this September, bolstered by $25,000 internal grants and a podcast featuring Tom Fitz, the cinematographer for Sir David Attenborough. Nazarian emphasized that the research is no longer just for publishing in peer-reviewed journals. For example, by partnering with the Maritime Aquarium in Norwalk and the Bridgeport Aquaculture School, the university is ensuring that investigating and understanding the science of Long Island Sound stay where they matter most: in the hands of the community.
The talk can be viewed by going to the RMA website at https://greenwichrma.org, clicking on “Speakers,” then “Past Speakers,” and then “RMA Vimeo Library.”
The RMA’s next presentation, “The Melody Men Sing Broadway,” is scheduled for 11 AM on Wednesday, June 3, 2026. RMA presentations are held at Christ Church Greenwich, Parish Hall, 254 E. Putnam Avenue, Greenwich, CT 06830.
The Melody Men of the Retired Men’s Association of Greenwich have been bringing smiles, laughs and joy-filled singing to Greenwich for 51 years. Everyone is invited for this hour-long performance which is an America-250 Greenwich special event.
The group made its first public appearance at the RMA Thanksgiving luncheon in 1975, and has been the choral community outreach group of the RMA ever since. It currently schedules about 25 one hour performances each year, during the Spring and Fall seasons, to appreciative senior audiences throughout Fairfield and Westchester Counties. The programs include pop, country, and folk, and this year the entire program is devoted to Broadway show tunes.
Some of the venues are Greenwich Woods, River House, Hill House, The Mews, Nathaniel Witherell, Atria Senior Living in Rye Brook, Darien, Stamford and Ardsley NY, Edgehill, Waterstone-Stamford, Sunrise Senior Living-Stamford, and The Residence at Sellecks Woods-Darien. The Melody Men have also sung the National Anthem at CitiField before two NY Mets games. They perform God Bless America annually at the Greenwich Town Party, and the 9/11 Memorial Service at Cos Cob Park. This year they will be performing at Greenwich’s 250th Celebration on June 28.
Tom Healy is the current music director and Bob Morgan is the arranger/ piano accompanist, ably assisted by Tony Cocchi and Joe Mancinelli. Current performers are Michael Ambrosino, Charlie Adams, Stephen Baum, Tony Cocchi, Don Conway, Bob Curry, Anders Ekernas, Mike Hayden, Tom Healy, Peter Junius, Jeff Junker, Doug MacLaury, Joe Mancinelli, David Michonski, Bob Morgan, Bill McKiegan, Bob Phillips, and Horst Tebbe.
To stream the presentation by The Melody Men at 11 AM on Wednesday, June 3, click on https://bit.ly/30IBj21. This presentation will also be available on local public access TV channels, Verizon FIOS channel 24 and Optimum channel 79.
Note: The views expressed in these presentations are those of the speakers. They are not intended to represent the views of the RMA or its members.
RMA speaker presentations are presented as a community service at no cost to in-person or Zoom attendees, regardless of gender. Any member of the public who would like to receive a weekly email announcement of future speakers should send a request to members@greenwichrma.org. The RMA urges all eligible individuals to consider becoming a member of our great organization, and thereby enjoy all the available fellowship, volunteer, and community service opportunities which the RMA offers to its members. For further information, go to https://greenwichrma.org/, or contact info@greenwichrma.org.
