UF Center for Coastal Solutions

Join us next Tuesday with the Bob Graham Center for Public Service for an insightful panel discussion featuring leading experts in environmental journalism, history, architecture and coastal resilience. Panelists Marlowe Starling, Dr. Jack Davis, Jeffrey Carney and Dr. Christine Angelini will discuss how the interplay of #climate, culture and sustainability efforts can shape the future of the Gulf of Mexico, and how our shared connections can help us navigate through current and future challenges. This panel is hosted by UF Gulf Scholars, which equips students with the knowledge and skills needed to tackle the challenges facing communities along the Gulf. Students and faculty interested in getting involved will learn about funding and learning opportunities through the program. More info at https://lnkd.in/eFkUEp8x, see you there!

Meet Tracy Fanara, PhD, a scientist and triple Gator who studies sharks ingesting cocaine. The "scary" part, she says, isn't the stoned sharks "but rather the chemicals that are impacting us...Cocaine gets people interested, but we have antibiotics, antidepressants, pharmaceuticals, sunscreen, insecticides, fertilizers – all of these chemicals are entering our ecosystem." Learn more about Dr. Fanara (who we are so lucky to have on our advisory board!) at https://lnkd.in/eNvWuCrf.

Underwater data centers (UDCs) offer exciting potential for data storage and remote computing infrastructures, as they leverage the ocean water's cooling properties and the isolation from land-based risks. However, the dense water also quickly carries acoustic signals that can damage or break underwater storage drives. In this new Office of Naval Research-funded project led by Dr. Md Jahidul Islam and Co-PI Dr. Sara R., researchers will investigate these vulnerabilities to design and develop a robust defense system and intelligent surveillance strategies to protect UDCs from physical and remote acoustic attacks. We're looking forward to this collaboration with the Florida Institute for Cybersecurity Research!

Postdoctoral researchers Drs. Beatriz Marin Diaz and Patrick Saldaña joined ecologists from around the world at #ESA2024 to connect with the latest work in ecological systems. It was an inspiring week and our researchers are bringing back new perspectives to environmental challenges! Ecological Society of America

Today, we're celebrating the graduation of four students from the UF Herbert Wertheim College of Engineering! Congratulations to Yvanna Serra and Drs. Hallie Fischman, Sara Swaminathan and Sydney Williams. We are so proud of your accomplishments and all the hard work, ingenuity and resilience it took to get here. These four outstanding students will be continuing their exciting journeys in research. Yvanna will be pursuing a doctoral degree at Boston University; Sydney will step into a faculty role with the University of Georgia Marine Extension and Georgia Sea Grant; Sara will dive into postdoctoral research at the Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences; and Hallie will continue her research for an Engineering With Nature® (EWN®) project. You can learn more about these inspiring young women and how UF prepared them for success at https://lnkd.in/epDZTQhi! 🐊🎓 #UFGrad

Eighty oyster reef panels were deployed on Corrigan Reef to evaluate different spatial arrangements and explore the potential for upscaling and optimizing reef panels for #OysterReefRestoration. This experiment is led by PhD student Joe Marchionno in collaboration with IFAS Nature Coast Biological Station, Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission Fish and Wildlife Research Institute, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) and GatorCorps, and is funded by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. These panels, which were developed by UF IFAS NCBS, could support up to 220,800 oysters, potentially filtering 3.3 million gallons of water per day, depending on other variables! Stay tuned for updates on oyster recruitment results. Photo credits: Grace Bell UF Herbert Wertheim College of Engineering

We've heard a lot of talk about dunes this year, and we couldn't be happier to see these natural features finally getting attention they deserve. Sure, some of that is due to the science fiction series of the same name– but we think the real-life dunes are much cooler. Dunes are mounds or ridges that form when sand is moved by wind (also known as Aeolian transport) and deposited in an area with an obstacle, such as vegetation or rocks. The consistent deposition of sand in one spot forms a dune, commonly found along beaches and deserts. For what may seem like a pretty basic feature of shorelines everywhere, natural infrastructure practitioners talk about dunes a lot. We sat down with Dr. Amanda Tritinger, PhD, PE, Deputy Program Manager of the Engineering With Nature® (EWN®) program and self-proclaimed dune enthusiast to learn more about why these structures are so important for coastal resilience in the latest edition of Nature At Work. Tritinger grew up in Florida and experienced hurricane season firsthand many times. But after one particularly heavy season during her freshman year of high school, she was left unable to attend school for several months. “I was in the eye of the storm,” Tritinger said. “I was able to see just how much the dunes were doing, and I’ve been kind of obsessed ever since. Dunes are beautiful, and they could be this big solution to flooding during storm events.” Read more in the latest Nature At Work post here: https://lnkd.in/eXsNPcjf

Excessive algae growth in many of Florida's springs have rendered pristine bodies of water green and coated in slime, reduced water quality and triggered fluctuations in the amount of oxygen in the water. UF Herbert Wertheim College of Engineering master's student Katie Schoenberger studies how plant motion from the flow of water influences algae growth and removal, which can provide insights to water management districts and state agencies that control for algae. This National Science Foundation (NSF)-funded research is part of a project led by Dr. Xiao Yu, who is developing a model to measure how plant shape and the movement of individual leaves against each other due to water flow affect ecosystem processes like algae growth. Read the full story at https://lnkd.in/ejwgQGVG.

We launched our newest research vessel, the R/V Rogow, for a marsh restoration project in St. Augustine! The barge transported more than 20 yards of sediment for a #ThinLayerPlacement experiment led by PhD student Adam Hymel that, if successful, could fast track marsh restoration and be applied to projects throughout the southeastern U.S. The boat, named in honor of Bruce and Winnie Rogow, was made possible through their generous gift during Gator Nation Giving Day. Read the full story here: https://lnkd.in/eZBmsyg6 UF Herbert Wertheim College of Engineering

A warm congratulations to Drs. Hugh Fan, Christine Angelini, Maitane Olabarrieta, Xiao Yu, and Zhe Jiang on their promotions! We're proud to share that Dr. Fan has been promoted to Distinguished Professor, Dr. Angelini and Dr. Olabarrieta to Full Professor, and Dr. Jiang and Dr. Yu received tenure and promotion to Associate Professor.