This month we find ourselves making another shift to working back in the office. After 15 months of remote meetings, home offices, and travel restrictions, it feels good to be back together as a team, under the same roof.
We are excited to promote our recent FlowCam grant winners, our customers and their research, as well as exciting news pertaining to transitions within our leadership team, and in our VisualSpreadsheet software platform.
As we begin summer in the Northern Hemisphere, we hope the change in season finds you healthy and prosperous.
Cybele Brooks
Marketing Operations
Collage of the Quarter
BlueGreen Water Technologies was recently called in to evaluate and treat a cyanobacteria bloom in the C43 Canal and marinas along the Caloosahatchee River in Florida. Their technology targets mainly cyanobacteria and over time leads to a change in the algae population structure. To test the effectiveness of their algicide technology they sent both pre- and post-treatment samples to our lab for analysis using the FlowCam Cyano. This image shows the population dynamics in a sample prior to treatment.
City of Worcester Will Integrate FlowCam Cyano for Proactive Water Quality Monitoring
The City of Worcester, Massachusetts has purchased a FlowCam Cyano to help expand a volunteer water quality monitoring program. The effort is led by Jacquelyn Burmeister, a senior environmental analyst with the City's Lakes & Ponds Program. Together with several other local watershed associations, she helped organize a regional cyanobacteria monitoring collaborative that has recruited dozens of volunteers to help expand cyanobacteria monitoring in the area's recreational waters.
Improving FlowCam Image Recognition using Deep Learning
Savannah Judge will be giving a virtual presentation at this week's ASLO 2021 Aquatic Sciences Meeting about some big changes coming to FlowCam's software, VisualSpreadsheet. We encourage customers and potential FlowCam users to attend the talk to learn about our upcoming software improvements unlike anything we've offered before.
VisualSpreadsheet with Articificial Intelligence: Improving FlowCam Imaging Recognition using Deep Learning
Session SS31 - Imaging/Imaging the Ocean - Pelagic imaging for a sustainable future 2
Water Quality of the River Stiemerbeek in Belgium: a FlowCam Case Study
The Stiemerlab project is unique because it involves local residents in caring for and monitoring their local water quality. Yokogawa Fluid Imaging partner Anasysta eK has shown their support to this project by lending the use of their FlowCam for the analysis of water samples from the river. Samples are collected monthly from 10 locations and analyzed by volunteers and researchers at Hasselt University.
2020 FlowCam Grant Winner Presents at US Symposium on Harmful Algae
Savannah Mapes, 2020 winner of the FlowCam Aquatic Research Equipment & Travel Grant for Graduate Students, presented her research at the US Symposium on Harmful Algae this May. Her poster is titled "Using a FlowCam to Facilitate HAB Cell Counts: Comparing Cell Enumeration Methods"
Wishing Goodbye and Good Luck to Fluid Imaging Founding Fathers, Kent and Chris
Earlier this month our team assembled at headquarters for the first time in over a year thanks to the COVID-19 vaccine rollout. We gathered to wish good luck and a happy retirement to our founder, Chris Sieracki, and our long time President and CEO, Kent Peterson. Kent recently welcomed his successor, Ross Bryant, as the new President and CEO of Yokogawa Fluid Imaging Technologies.
Now that our Customer Care Team is fully vaccinated they are beginning to plan domestic travel again within the US for onsite service and trainings. Remote training is still available and encouraged.
As you may know, we have plans to sunset the ViSp 4 platform on June 30, 2021 as we focus on the more streamlined, enhanced VisualSpreadsheet Version 5.
What does this mean for you?
If your FlowCam has ViSp 4, you can still use it and your instrument will continue to function as it has in the past.
Satellite versions of ViSp 4 will no longer be offered for sale.
Our Software Engineering Team will no longer provide updates to resolve ābugsā or add enhancements to the ViSp 4 platform.
If your instrument is still within the 10 year Service Promise, we will continue to provide support and training options.
What are my options for upgrades?
ViSp 5 is available for the following instruments:
While ViSp 5 is not compatible with the VS Instrument platform, you can purchase ViSp 5 as a satellite license and import the data collected on your VS Instrument
Polly has a Masterās degree in Environmental Microbiology from the University of Aberdeen, Scotland, and an undergraduate degree in Biology from Western Michigan University. Before joining us Polly worked at Eurofins Eaton Analytical as the Microbiology Technical Manager where she oversaw algae identification and enumeration (using the FlowCam) and algal toxin analysis amongst other tests. Polly lives in California with her husband and daughter and spends her spare time hiking and camping in the Eastern Sierras and surrounding areas.
Shawn Barden, Associate Applications Scientist
Shawn has an Associateās Degree in Electronics Technology from SMCC and has worked primarily in the semiconductor industry for the last 20+ years at Fairchild/ON Semiconductor. He has over 15 years of experience in customer application support roles and enjoys tackling challenging technical issues. In his free time, he likes hiking, water-skiing & practicing photography. He is excited to join our customer care team.
Kristian Daigle, Field Service Engineer
Kris has a Bachelor's Degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of Maine and is currently pursuing a Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science. He has spent the last two years in retail management with Lamey Wellehan and always aims to provide a top notch customer experience. Outside of work Kris enjoys playing trumpet, hiking, and spending time with his four younger siblings. He is looking forward to getting out on the road and into the labs of our customers.
We would also like to congratulate Dominic Benfatta, who has been promoted to Aftermarket Solutions Engineer andwill be responsible for supporting our customers with a variety of needs. Please direct all consumable orders and service and training inquiries to Dominic at orders@fluidimaging.com.