Category: News

Undergraduate student Alex van Pelt is inspired by biology at every scale, from cells to whole ecosystems, to find innovative solutions for a more circular economy. As a summer intern at the CCS, van Pelt works alongside researchers in the field and builds research skills as she gets set to close her chapter as an undergraduate student. […]

Sweet endings and new beginnings Dear Friends and Colleagues,   Commencement season is upon us, and the campus here at the University of Florida is abuzz with optimism. Graduating students are happily wrapping up their final days nestled within the Gator community and looking with anticipation to the next phase of their lives and careers. Our […]

UF marine ecologist Andrew Altieri, Ph.D., recently returned from Bergen, Norway where he joined the Global Ocean Oxygen Network (GO2NE) as one of its newest members. This small working group of the UNESCO Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission, whose members come from more than 15 countries, meets twice a year towards the goals of increasing research capacity, identifying […]

Researchers from Florida and South Carolina deployed robots 300 feet inside an underwater cave system in Orange Grove, Florida in April to collect data for mapping the system. Md Jahidul Islam, Ph.D., assistant professor of the Electrical and Computer Engineering at University of Florida and members of his lab collaborated with Ioannis Rekleitis, Ph.D., associate professor at […]

Researchers are leveraging a state-of-the-art artificial intelligence transformer model to better manage the water flow from Lake Okeechobee to the Caloosahatchee River, which will reduce the amount of released nutrients that produce harmful algal blooms (HABs). CCS Postdoctoral Associate Enrique Orozco López, Ph.D., collaborates with University of Florida Associate Professors David Kaplan, Ph.D., and Maitane […]

Congratulations to Britney Hay, winner of a 2023 National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship Award, a prestigious and highly competitive fellowship that helps support outstanding graduate research across the country. With this support, Hay, who’s a doctoral candidate in Environmental Engineering Sciences, will advance her research on mangrove ecology and coastal restoration, and hopes to […]

The Gator Nation Club in Sarasota got a sneak peek in March at a new AI-powered red tide detection system that uses UF’s supercomputing power to fuse satellite remote sensing and field data. The model is part of a drive by the University of Florida’s Center for Coastal Solutions (CCS) to develop high resolution, AI-powered […]

In February, researchers from four institutions across Florida began work on a multidisciplinary project to better predict and manage harmful algal blooms (HABs) in Lake Okeechobee and the St. Lucie and Caloosahatchee River estuaries. The goal of the $2.5 million project, funded by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), is to develop an advanced […]

CCS Associate Research Scientist Ron Fick, Ph.D., is harnessing artificial intelligence (AI) to forecast the water quality parameters of red tide blooms and chlorophyll-a concentration (i.e., the amount of algae growing in a body of water) in the Peace River Basin. Fick partners with CCS affiliates Zhe Jiang, Ph.D., and Guangming Zheng, Ph.D., a research […]

Amanda Chappel, a PhD student in environmental engineering sciences at the University of Florida, was part of a rapid response team mobilized in April 2021 to address the accidental discharge of approximately 215 million gallons of untreated, high-nutrient wastewater from a former phosphate mining facility into the Tampa Bay estuary. Researchers like Chappel are working […]

UF Ph.D. student Sara Swaminathan and ecologist Andrew Altieri joined a global consortium of experts in deoxygenation, which is the decline in oxygen levels in oceanic and coastal waters, at the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) in Saudi Arabia to collaborate on two synthesis papers that will harness global perspectives to advance knowledge […]

Shannon Myers was first drawn to the ocean as a child, a fascination that has continued throughout his formal education and immersion in marine ecology work.   “I feel called to explore and deepen our understanding of the ocean, especially the dynamics and drivers of global environmental change, toward a more sustainable future,” said Myers. […]

Undergraduate student Donovan Mitchell can trace the genesis of his goal to earn a doctorate degree in marine sciences to his visits as a child to the Georgia Aquarium.   “I saw what the ocean was really about, and their message about education, and I always admired that.”   As a fourth-year marine science student at the […]

More than 100 students and researchers working in marine science across North Florida gathered for a rich learning, networking and professional development experience at the 10th annual North Florida Marine Science Symposium, held at the UF Whitney Marine Lab in St. Augustine from March 2 to 3.    “This is a great opportunity for students to […]

Stakeholders committed to saltmarsh restoration kicked off a thin layer placement project at a planning workshop in St. Augustine last month, part of an Engineering with Nature Project led by the US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) in the area. Thin layer placement is a green solution that involves the addition of several centimeters of sediment […]

Researchers may have unlocked a new key to predict ecosystem responses to environmental change – trait evolution. A team of researchers, including CCS affiliate Kathe Todd-Brown, Ph.D., studied how the differences in plant traits that are passed down and the way they evolve can forecast the future for coastal wetland ecosystems. The team examined sixteen […]

Five researchers from CCS were among more than 1,000 coastal restoration professionals, policy makers, and regulators who attended the 2022 RAE Coastal & Estuarine Summit in New Orleans in December to network and share insights for navigating and pursuing new, more robust strategies to protect and restore our coastal resources.   UF graduate students and postdoctoral […]

CCS kicked off the new year with a two-day participatory strategic planning retreat to envision our future and map out how we are going to get there over the next three years.   Sharon Ryan, CCS associate director of strategy and communications, and Dawn Newman of Blackhawk Facilitation facilitated the workshop, which brought together CCS faculty, […]

CCS warmly welcomes Stacey Dolan as our new administrative support assistant. Dolan will play a vital role in helping the CCS run smoothly on a day-to-day basis by supporting our leadership team, and special events. Stacey’s background is a unique blend of engineering and biology, which builds on the diverse expertise of our team at […]

CCS welcomes Andrew Altieri, Ph.D., as associate director. Altieri, who’s been involved in CCS projects for several years, will oversee the many moving parts and logistics of field operations, which are instrumental to the implementation and success of the Center’s 15 ongoing projects across the state. He will also help guide future CCS growth, including the […]

Congratulations to UF Emeritus Professor Tom Ankersen on winning the 2022 Nature Coast Champion Award from the IFAS Nature Coast Biological Station (NCBS) in December. The award recognizes his extensive work in supporting the conservation, restoration and management, protection of coastal and aquatic resources in Florida’s Nature Coast, an area that encompasses eight counties bordering […]

Small but mighty, oyster gardens enhance oyster recruitment, the process of incorporating new oysters into a population to maintain population sizes; improve water quality and have a valuable role to play in environmental education. Adrian Sakr, a graduate student in the Altieri and Angelini labs, is experimenting with five materials to determine which oyster garden […]

A team of 11 professional researchers and scientists from the University of South Florida (USF), University of Florida (UF), and South Florida Water Management District (SFWMD) were awarded a $2.5 million grant from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to support the development of new state-of-the-art water quality data and models to better predict and […]