Category: News

By Megan Sam University of Florida researchers are giving their storm-tracking Sentinel towers a major upgrade – adding new water quality sensors to the high-tech, hurricane-ready structures. Standing 33-feet-tall and built to withstand major storms, these towers already monitor wind, waves and storm surge in real-time. Now, they’ll also capture water quality conditions, offering a […]

By Megan Sam A five-year, $7 million project funded by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is launching in St. Augustine with an ambitious goal: to strengthen shoreline resilience and restore degraded wetlands and dunes using nature-based solutions — approaches that harness natural processes to deliver environmental, social and economic benefits. Led by Andrew Altieri, […]

By Dave Schlenker The slimy algae topping Florida’s waterways are more than just unsightly. They are often toxic to humans, animals and the environment. To mitigate those risks, University of Florida researchers are collaborating with North Carolina State University and University of South Florida scientists on a next-day prediction model to warn and inform water […]

Kicking off the summer field season May marks the start of a full and exciting summer field season — one that calls for grit, teamwork and a spirit of adventure. Our students and staff will be out in the field across Florida and around the world, gaining hands-on experience in coastal research and learning what […]

By Megan Sam When Florida implemented a ban on foreign-manufactured drones in April 2023, researchers in the Ifju Lab at the University of Florida faced an unexpected setback. Much of their fieldwork, from underwater mapping to wildfire management, depended on the now restricted technology. Instead of turning to commercial alternatives, the team took a bold […]

By Megan Sam Student hackathons. Joint certificate programs. Collaborative workshops and problem-solving spaces. These are just a few of the forward-thinking ideas that emerged during an energizing planning session held April 23 between the University of Florida (UF) and the U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center (ERDC). The session brought together scientists, engineers and […]

By Megan Sam   After enduring two floods in just over a year, the Cedar Key Water and Sewer District realized it was time to move its administration building to higher ground. To guide that critical decision, they turned to an innovative tool developed by researchers at the University of Florida — the Resilient Cedar Key […]

By Megan Sam When Gabrielle Quadrado first started flipping through her mom’s biology books at 8 years old, she wasn’t thinking about scientific research or earning a Ph.D. She was a curious child playing “professor,” inspired by her mom, who is both a researcher and biology professor. Years later, that early spark of curiosity became […]

A $7.5 million, five-year project funded by the Office of Naval Research is breaking new ground in tidal mudflats research.   Led by Nina Stark, Ph.D., an associate professor in the Department of Civil & Coastal Engineering, this ambitious initiative brings together an interdisciplinary team of researchers from five universities across the country. The project […]

Could hurricanes be fueling the spread of microplastics and harmful bacteria in our oceans? With support from a National Science Foundation (NSF) RAPID grant, Chamteut Oh, Ph.D., an assistant professor in the University of Florida’s Department of Environmental Engineering Sciences (ESSIE), is launching a new research project to investigate how back-to-back storms might accelerate the […]