Creating our common future
Sea Level Solutions Center Director Tiffany Troxler takes a tour of Virginia Key Beach Park with a team of FIU students.
Sea Level Solutions Center takes center stage
Student brings sustainable solutions to Nicaragua
November’s supermoon lit up the world’s skies, amplifying the annual king tide along Miami Beach and flooding low-lying neighborhoods with seawater. Sea Level Solutions Center Director Tiffany Troxler was called on to inform the public on how the additional gravitational pull from the supermoon caused high tides to be worse than normal. Through research linking the social, environmental and technical sciences, and by working closely with municipal and business leaders, the center is developing solutions to ensure the prosperity of South Florida.
Annette Dominguez is helping find sustainable solutions to some of the most complex problems affecting residents of Bluefields, Nicaragua. As an intern at blueEnergy, she hosted workshops for locals on how to become energy independent, use clean energy including solar power, filter water, and create household gardens for food. Dominguez, a senior pursuing a bachelor’s degree in sustainability and the environment, aspires to work in the public sector or for a non-governmental organization where she can help shape policies related to sustainability, nutrition and public health.
It serves as an adviser to the Southeast Florida Climate Change Regional Compact, a coordinated effort to help Broward, Miami-Dade, Monroe and Palm Beach counties mitigate and adapt. The center hosted more than 10 events with community collaborators, including the Greater Miami Chamber of Commerce and city of Coral Gables. The center’s researchers also worked with FIU students to develop an analysis of historic Virginia Key Beach Park and create an architectural design that would help make it resilient to sea level rise.
Researchers shed light on post-oil spill Gulf of Mexico Though it has been six years since the Deepwater Horizon oil spill dumped millions of barrels of oil into the Gulf of Mexico, FIU faculty and their students remain focused on the region’s recovery. Marine sciences assistant professor Kevin Boswell is investigating the system-wide changes that occurred as result of the spill. Heather BrackenGrissom, marine sciences assistant professor, and Ph.D. student Laura Timm are studying shrimp to determine their recovery. Ecotoxicology professor Gary Rand has taken a closer look at a chemical dispersant used to break up oil slicks which caused physical changes and deaths of gulf jellyfish. Their work continues as the long-term impacts of the catastrophic environmental event continue to be felt by the plants and animals that live in the gulf and the businesses and communities that rely on it. With their dedication, managers will be able to ensure the recovery of the gulf’s ecosystems and better respond to future events.
Researcher Kevin Boswell, right, is one of several FIU scientists studying the lingering effects of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.