NOAA Grant To Fund Career Development In Science-Based Coastal Management And Harmful Algal Bloom Research

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration awarded a $47,000 grant to the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution to help develop careers in coastal ocean science, management and policy. The grant augments NOAA's existing research and education programs. NOAA is an agency of the U.S. Department of Commerce.

The grant will sponsor two projects. The grant is awarded through NOAA's Ocean Service, National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science, Center for Sponsored Coastal Ocean Research/Coastal Ocean Program (CSCOR/COP), to the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole, Mass. The first of the grants will send three students to four months of integrated training in a coastal science and management program. The program will provide broad-based experience encouraging interdisciplinary thinking and emphasizing the social and political aspects of coastal management.

“These two projects show that NOAA and the Bush administration continues to actively promote careers in the environmental sciences for minorities and under-represented students,” said retired Navy Vice Admiral Conrad C. Lautenbacher, Ph.D., under secretary of commerce for oceans and atmosphere and NOAA administrator. “Not only do these two projects promote the developing careers of outstanding young scientists, they focus on two environmental stressors of great importance to our country, nutrient over- enrichment and harmful algal blooms.”

Unlike most training opportunities that are strictly science-based, this program incorporates interdisciplinary research and hands-on experience with management agencies to emphasize possibilities beyond research to influence local and national environmental policy. Interns will work with scientists from the Marine Biological Laboratory to study the impacts of additional nutrients on salt marshes, while also assisting the local Conservation Commission to evaluate requests for development permits that have the potential to impact nutrient loading. Similarly, interns will evaluate the effects of nutrient loading on fish habitat at regional National Wildlife Refuges and develop related outreach and education materials. The recruitment announcement will be distributed nationally with an emphasis on targeting minority-serving institutions.

The second grant from CSCOR/COP to the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution will fund two students per semester to focus on harmful algal blooms, which have become an increasing threat to the coastal marine environment. A harmful algal research program will be developed and implemented including a mentor-based research internship for undergraduate students coupled with a career symposium. The symposium will showcase the work of undergraduate interns and highlight career opportunities in the coastal ocean sciences. Students will be recruited through an existing internship collaboration with Roger Williams University in Bristol, R.I. There will be a special commitment to increasing research opportunities for under-represented students including women and minorities.

NOAA Ocean Service’s Center for Sponsored Coastal Ocean Research, Coastal Ocean Program has awarded up to $30 million annually to academic, state, tribal, and Federal partners to assist NOAA in the study of our coastal oceans. Coastal Ocean Program research provides decision makers with reliable and timely scientific information. These research programs are critical to the NOAA mission of predicting environmental change, managing ocean resources and protecting life and property. NOAA-sponsored competitive research programs like the CCRI demonstrate NOAA's commitment to these basic responsibilities of science and service to the nation.

NOAA is dedicated to enhancing public health and safety, and sound economic interests by researching and predicting weather and climate-related events and protecting our nation's coastal and marine resources. To learn more about NOAA, please visit http://www.noaa.gov.