Date: Tuesday, August 27, 2024
Location: Hyatt Regency Coconut Point, Bonita Springs, Florida
Time: 8:15am to 4:15pm
Fee: $100 full day, $50 half day
Included: Lunch (full day only) plus morning and afternoons breaks

If the instructor has provided a description, it is provided below..

Workshop are currently being developed and additional details for each will be posted shortly.

2024 Workshops:

  1. DEP Sampling SOPs – Half Day Afternoon
  2. Detection and Identification of Asian swamp eels (Synbranchiformes: Synbranchidae) in Florida fresh waters – Half Day Afternoon
  3. R and AI – Full Day
  4. Algal ID – Full Day

    Workshops are subject to change or cancellation. Refunds or transfers are available in the event of a course cancellation. Workshops can be purchased separately from or in conjunction with a regular symposium registration. Yes, you can have it your way!
Click here to go to the registration page!

Workshop 1. DEP Sampling SOPs (Captiva Room)

Workshop: Overview of DEP SOPs for Surface Water Sampling

Joy Jackson and Evelyn Becerra

Florida Department of Environmental Protection

Who: This training is intended for anyone who collects or plans to collect water quality data from Florida surface waters and provide those data to the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (DEP).

What: This workshop will give participants an overview of the DEP Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) within the DEP Quality Assurance Rule (62-160, F.A.C) and teach them how to collect and preserve surface water samples in accordance with DEP SOPs. The class will also provide instruction in the proper calibration and verification of field instruments used to measure common field-testing parameters in water samples (pH, DO, conductivity). The course consists of a classroom session to review the relevant SOPs and perform instrument calibrations and verifications, and a hands-on segment outdoors for sample collection. Questions and discussion about “real-world” scenarios encountered in the field are welcomed. Feel free to bring your field sheets and meter calibration sheets if you have questions about whether or not they satisfy DEP documentation requirements.

Topics to be covered include:

· General quality assurance considerations (SOPs FA 1000, FC 1000, FM 1000)
· Documentation requirements (SOP FD 1000)
· Surface water sampling, including use of equipment (SOPs FS 1000, FS 2000, FS 2100)
· Quality control samples (FQ 1000)
· Field testing procedures, including calibration and verification of meters (SOP FT 1000)

NOTE: Please bring your field testing meter and calibration standards, if possible. Instructors will only have supplies for one instrument.

Why: Resource managers and consultants that wish their data to be evaluated by DEP for the assessment of Water Quality Standards, including Numeric Nutrient Standards, must comply with the SOPs and QA requirements, and also must understand the context in which the data will be interpreted, so that the data can be used appropriately.

Workshop Presenters:

Joy Jackson is an Environmental Manger in the DEP Aquatic Ecology and Quality Assurance Section within the Water Quality Standards Program. Joy focuses on bioassessment, quality assurance, and water quality standards development aimed at better management and protection of Florida’s surface waters. Evelyn is an Environmental Consultant in the DEP Water Evaluation and TMDL Program, focusing on statewide, basin-scale assessments of surface water quality and TMDL development and assists with technical reviews, model evaluation for mixing zones and other department needs.

Workshop 2. Detection and Identification of Asian swamp eels (Synbranchiformes: Synbranchidae) in Florida fresh waters (Sanibel Room)

Asian swamp eels have been present in Florida waters since the late 1990s. Collins et al. (2002) used molecular evidence to identify three lineages of the genus Monopterus in the state. These lineages have collectively been referred to as Monopterus albus (Zuiew 1793) by most authors, though more recent literature considers Florida populations as Monopterus javanensis Lacepède 1800.  In 2023, we detected an additional Asian Swamp Eel in Florida, Amphipnous cuchia Hamilton 1822. This workshop is designed to help natural resource managers detect, identify, and report Asian Swamp Eels through an understanding of their biology and key morphological characteristics. 

Workshop Presenters: Rob Robins, Collection Manager, Division of Ichthyology, Florida Museum of Natural History and Nick Trippel, M.S., Fisheries Biologist, Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission

Workshop 3. Leveraging Generative Artificial Intelligence (AI) in R (Great Egret Room)

Generative Artificial Intelligence (Gen AI) exploded into public awareness with OpenAI’s release of the chatbot ChatGPT on November 30, 2022. In addition to OpenAI, many large tech companies have developed and released their own similar foundation/frontier models. Gen AI models and associated tools provide remarkable text, image, and video generation capabilities.

In this workshop we will provide an overview of the Gen AI landscape (i.e., diversity of models), key technical concepts, uses, limitations, and applications in the R software environment. We will review model selection, fine-tuning, prompt engineering, and Retrieval Augmented Generation (RAG) as methods for improving the accuracy of Gen AI results. We will experiment with the use of Gen AI to improve coding in R and for generation of text and images.

This class is ideal for users with some previous exposure to R, but beginners are welcome too. Teaching methods will touch on both concepts and techniques, with an emphasis on implementation in R. We will send instructions for installing the free programs R and RStudio and required packages prior to the workshop, along with suggested practice exercises for beginners to get up to speed. Please bring a laptop, if possible, as the workshop will emphasize a hands-on approach to learning.

Workshop Presenter:

Dan Schmutz, M.S., is the Chief Environmental Scientist and a Vice President for Greenman-Pedersen, Inc. (GPI), a 1,900-person multidisciplinary consulting firm. He has over 25 years of professional experience developing and applying ecological and hydrological assessments, GIS, and data science techniques for addressing questions of interest to water resource managers. He earned a Master of Science degree in Zoology from the University of South Florida in 1997 and has been enjoying playing with data ever since.

Workshop 4. Algal Identification in the Environment (Blue Heron Room)

Part 1: Workshop Description:

This workshop is designed as an introduction to the general groups of freshwater algae, their ecology and diversity. We will review key features distinguishing the major algal groups: cyanobacteria, chlorophytes, diatoms, dinoflagellates, red algae, euglenophytes, etc. and spend some time looking at specimens under the scope. Have a specimen you wish to identify that is common in your lakes? Participants are encourage to BYOA- Bring Your Own Algae sample and test your newly gained taxonomic skills!

Part 2: Workshop Description:

This workshop has a special focus on harmful and nuisance algae (focusing on cyanobacteria) in freshwater systems. We will dive into the ecology of both planktonic and benthic members of this group, while identifying major problematic taxa (genera and species). Together, we will identify morphological features that are used in discern these genera. Depending on weather, field collection for various specimens will be collected where aspects of toxicity and control can be discussed.

Workshop Presenters:

Dr. Dail Laughinghouse, Assistant Professor and Dr. David Berthold, Biological Scientist III – Applied Phycology, University of Florida/IFAS, Fort Lauderdale Research and Education Center.