Julia Knisel to Speak as Featured Guest for Nantucket Maria Mitchell Association Science Speaker Series

Kelly Bernatzky • August 12, 2021

On August 18, at 7pm, Julia Knisel will speak at the Nantucket Maria Mitchell Association’s (MMA) Science Speaker Series. Her talk, “How to Share Local Observations of Flooding and Erosion and Influence Coastal Management” is part of our FREE Science Speaker Series and will be held via Zoom.

 

Awareness of coastal flooding and erosion impacts increases with every nor’easter and extreme high tide. Documentation of these impacts (and causes) supports planning and management efforts to minimize damages and build more resilient communities. The Massachusetts Office of Coastal Zone Management launched the MyCoast portal and mobile applications (iPhone and Android) ten years ago to collect and analyze photographs and data relating to coastal hazards. Since 2011, 5,300 reports have been submitted for Massachusetts, with the most attributed to the winter storms of 2018. Knisel will highlight observations on Nantucket, and across Massachusetts, and demonstrate how to submit and view reports of coastal storms and King Tides using MyCoast. Citizen scientists can help increase awareness of local impacts, inform response and recovery efforts, and influence best practices, policies, regulations, and long-term priorities.

 

Assessing and managing flooding and erosion impacts have been the focus of Julia Knisel’s work with state coastal programs for twenty years. Knisel leads the StormSmart Coasts program for the Massachusetts Office of Coastal Zone Management to help communities proactively address coastal flooding and erosion while enhancing beach systems. She serves on the Massachusetts Emergency Support Function Team to help inform response and recovery from coastal storm events, and supports state hazard mitigation and climate adaptation planning and implementation. Knisel values collaboration with state, federal, non-profit, and academic partners across New England through the Coastal Hazards Resilience Committee of the Northeast Regional Ocean Council, which has been focused on advancing nature-based approaches to shoreline management. Knisel teaches as an adjunct with the Marine Studies Consortium to help build broader appreciation for coastal resource functions and values. Knisel has a B.S. in Biology/Marine Science and an M.S. in Marine Policy/Coastal Zone Management.

 

To register for this event, please follow the link below:

https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_2Z2uz04OReyiAIa8DmB5qQ

 

For the full Science Speaker Series schedule, please visit our website here:

https://www.mariamitchell.org/science-speaker-series

 

This series is generously presented by our lead sponsor, Bank of America, and additional sponsors, Cape Air, Cisco Brewers, and White Elephant Resorts.

 

The Maria Mitchell Association is a private non-profit organization. Founded in 1902, the MMA works to preserve the legacy of Nantucket native astronomer, naturalist, librarian, and educator, Maria Mitchell. The Maria Mitchell Association operates two observatories, a natural science museum, an aquarium, a research center, and preserves the historic birthplace of Maria Mitchell. A wide variety of science and history-related programming is offered throughout the year for people of all ages.

For Immediate Release

August 12 2021

Contact: Kelly Bernatzky, Development Associate

kbernatzky@mariamitchell.org

Recent Posts

Maria Mitchell In Her Own Words

By Jascin N. Leonardo Finger • May 4, 2026
May 6, 1878 Between the clouds, Miss Spalding obtained 7 photographs of Mercury on the Sun. It is comfort to me to be able to plan and do a new kind of work. The large telescope worked better than usual, Clark having just been to the Observatory. Clark, as in Alvan Clark, a man who would become the premier telescope maker in America and who built Maria Mitchell’s 5-inch Alvan Clark refractor that she purchased from him (after working with him to build it per her specifications) with money gifted to her from “The Women of America” led by Elizabeth Peabody. More than likely, it is this telescope she is referring to as she did use it in the Vassar College Observatory with her students – and it is also taking center stage in photographs, along with her (first her father’s) Dolland telescope.  Maria had decided she would photograph the Sun on every clear day, and this was one of those results. She would use these images, with her students, to study sun spots and their changes. With her students, Maria would photograph the transit of Mercury as noted above. She would also photograph the transit of Venus a few years later with her students. JNLF

Spring Has Sprung!

By Jascin N. Leonardo Finger • April 27, 2026
And with it, some of the heirloom daffodils I purchased for the Mitchell House last fall. A place was recommended to me by two longtime friends of the MMA and gardeners extraordinaire. It is called Old House Gardens. I ordered a small amount as we now have a plethora of voles on Vestal Street – I believe I complained about them here last year. They won’t eat daffodils so I got a few of “Butter and Eggs” (1777) and “Conspicuus” (1869) as either of these could have appeared in William Mitchell’s gardens. They were not listed in a letter from John Quincy Adams that I have mentioned before. But, Adams was not here visiting the Mitchell family when the daffodils would have been in bloom. The one pictured here is “Butter and Eggs” not completely unfurled. JNLF

Maria Mitchell In Her Own Words

By Jascin N. Leonardo Finger • April 13, 2026
April 1878. The conference of Woman’s Congress officers met in Washington. Because we had one member in Washington we were invited to meet in that place. I went on at a great expense of time, money and strength . . . . We were in session at least nine hours. I think that more than half of that was used by Mrs. Spencer and Mrs. Sayles. The only motion which I carried through was to pay the Secretary $200 . . . In 1878, that was a long train(s) ride to Washington, DC from Poughkeepsie, NY and Vassar College. If Maria seems perturbed, I am sure she was. As president of the Association for the Advancement of Women, and thus the Congress, she had to be at the meeting. But it appears she did not get much say in the nine hour meeting. This was also a long trip to take when she had another, even longer trip coming up in July of 1878. In that month, she would travel with students and her sister, Phebe, out west to Colorado to view the eclipse and that train and wagon ride I am sure was weighing on her mind – not just the physical trip but making her way for an important eclipse viewing event. JNLF
Show More