ASLO is pleased to announce the selections of Erin Peck, Frank Akamagwuna, and Jessica (Jessie) Turner as the newest Raelyn Cole Editorial Fellows.
The Raelyn Cole Editorial Fellowship is a unique opportunity for early-career aquatic scientists to gain expertise in scientific publishing, including open-access publishing, peer review, and scientific writing. Fellows work directly with the Editor of Limnology & Oceanography Letters on all aspects of the publication process and share their experiences with the broader community, targeting other early-career researchers. Dr Peck will begin her two-year fellowship 1 April 2023, Dr Akamagwuna's term will begin 1 April 2024, and Dr Turner's term will begin 1 April 2025.
Erin Peck (she/her) is a postdoctoral researcher at the Northeast Climate Adaptation Science Center in Amherst, MA, USA. Her research addresses the impacts of episodic sediment delivery events, sea level rise, and human land-use change on salt marsh morphodynamics and sediment biogeochemistry. As an RCEF, Erin is excited to learn from the ASLO editorial team and contribute to improving access to and transparency in academic publishing. Her research focuses on quantifying rates of vertical accretion and lateral change over decades to centuries in intertidal areas using short-lived radioisotopes and geospatial techniques.
Erin says "I am honored to be selected for such a valuable opportunity - to learn from ASLO editors and the other RCEFs and to develop a community interested in advancing academic publishing will be highly rewarding. I am also looking forward to facilitating discussions with the wider ASLO community to discuss current topics in publishing, with a focus on increasing social justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion in our fields."
Frank Akamagwuna is a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Institute for Water Research, Rhodes University, South Africa. Frank’s research focuses on community ecology and ecosystem functioning of freshwater ecosystems, where he has explored multiple dimensions including trait-based biomonitoring and stable isotopes to monitor freshwater pollution. His current research interest is ecosystem ecology and emerging contaminants in river systems, focusing on plastic pollution. He applies socio-ecological approaches to understand better the impacts of emerging contaminants on biodiversity and society.
Frank "is passionate about science communication and outreach."
Jessie Turner is a Postdoctoral Research Associate at the University of Connecticut. Jessie’s research focuses on water clarity, particles, and light in aquatic ecosystems from local to global scales. Her current research focuses on remote sensing of phytoplankton types in the Southern Ocean to assess different species’ carbon uptake. She has also investigated how large particles export carbon in the deep ocean, how farmed oysters filter particles, how shoreline armoring impacts clarity in estuaries, and how clarity varies over decadal time scales in estuaries using observations, numerical modeling, and satellites.
Jessie says "I’m excited about working with L&O Letters, ASLO, and Wiley to study what makes for the most effective data papers and data repositories. Open-access datasets are critical to collaborative science, and they’re now required by many funding agencies. However, it would be helpful to quantify what makes certain datasets more practical and accessible than others, or how frequently the data are used. This fellowship will provide me with an opportunity to look into these questions from a new perspective. I’m also looking forward to working with the journal to see if adding some features to the submission system could increase the diversity of the peer reviewer pool."
 Jim Cloern, Editor-in-Chief of L&O Letters, said “Working with the Raelyn Cole Fellows is a blast because they are full of surprises and have taught me so much about the differences between their generation and mine. They have an intense interest in and passion for writing and publishing, and their commitment to sharing lessons learned and new perspectives with other early career researchers is inspiring. This fellowship provides an open-ended opportunity, and I can't wait to see how Erin, Frank, and Jessie will use it.”
The Raelyn Cole fellowship was established in 2017 through a generous gift from Dale Cole and family in memory of Raelyn Cole, Managing Editor of ASLO's flagship journal, L&O, from 1965 to 1996, and recipient of ASLO's Distinguished Service Award. To learn more about the Raelyn Cole Editorial Fellowship and the legacy of Raelyn Cole, as well as support the fellowship, please visit: https://www.aslo.org/opportunities-in-aslo/raelyn-cole-editorial-fellowship/.