University of Miami Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science

THE ROSENSTIEL SCHOOL

THE ROSENSTIEL SCHOOL

LEADING Earth System Science.

TRANSFORMING Lives and Minds.

IMPACT

The Rosenstiel School of Marine, Atmospheric, and Earth Science is the only subtropical research institute of its kind in the continental United States. Since its founding in 1943, it has grown into one of the world’s premier earth science research institutions.

Our School’s basic and applied research programs seek to improve understanding and prediction of Earth’s geological, oceanic, and atmospheric systems by focusing on four key pillars:

• Saving lives through better forecasting of extreme weather and seismic events.

• Feeding the world by developing sustainable wild fisheries and aquaculture programs.

• Unlocking ocean secrets through research on climate, weather, energy and medicine.

• Preserving marine species, including endangered sharks and other fish, as well as protecting and restoring threatened coral reefs.

CLASS IN SESSION

Education

The Rosenstiel School’s main campus is located on Virginia Key, Florida. It forms part of a specially designated 65-acre marine research and education park that includes two NOAA laboratories, and a nationally recognized maritime and science technology high school of excellence. The Rosenstiel School also operates a 78-acre advanced satellite reception and analysis center in southern MiamiDade County, a marine experimental station on Broad Key, and a teaching and research station in the Galápagos.

Academics

The Rosenstiel School offers one of the largest, most comprehensive ocean, earth and atmospheric science education programs for undergraduate, master’s, and doctoral students in the nation. World-renowned faculty attract the best and brightest minds to study at the Rosenstiel School. Students are immersed in hands-on learning within a cutting-edge research environment to become the next generation of Earth scientists.

Master of Professional Science

Our Master of Professional Science degree provides an interdisciplinary curriculum structured to expand students’ applied scientific knowledge and professional skills. Our graduates are not only accepted into science and engineering graduate programs but also into medical, veterinary, law, and business schools. They are hired by non-profit organizations, colleges and universities, the private sector, and government and industry. Other graduates use the entrepreneurial skills they develop in the program to establish their own businesses.

ACADEMIC DEPARTMENTS

Atmospheric Sciences

Our research and teaching delve into topics ranging from tropical meteorology and climate dynamics to the study of clouds and atmospheric chemistry. We seek to advance knowledge and understanding of these physical, chemical, and dynamical processes and to inform the public and policy makers on how to prepare for hazards and changes in the weather-climate system.

Marine Biology & Ecology

We conduct research and teaching in a diverse range of fields, including physiology, genetics, genomics, proteomics, ecology, behavior, population dynamics, connectivity, toxicology and conservation science. Our research takes us to coastal and oceanic sites near and far to study organisms from plankton to seabirds, seagrass to corals, and minnows to mahi-mahi.

Environmental Science and Policy

We research the intersection among humans, the sea, and the environment. Our faculty and students embrace the idea that we cannot solve the world’s sustainability crises without accepting people and the environment as inherently linked components of the same Earth system. Our interdisciplinary research ranges widely, including underwater archaeology, climate risks and preparedness, and fisheries science.

Marine Geosciences

Whether measuring terrain changes atop volcanoes in Central America, wearing wet suits deep in an anoxic spring in search of paleoclimate clues, or scrutinizing core samples, our faculty and students are helping uncover answers that explain the Earth’s history, its current puzzles, and its future challenges. Our graduate topics include marine geology, carbonate sedimentology, marine geophysics and remote sensing, and marine geochemistry and paleoceanography.

Ocean Sciences

We conduct research to understand the global ocean using state-of-the-art analytical techniques, computer models and remote sensing. We teach the physical, chemical and biological processes occurring in the world’s oceans, train the next generation of informed citizens and professional scientists, and apply our knowledge to societal challenges such as climate change and natural hazards.

WORLD-CLASS FACILITIES

Research Vessels

An on-campus dock provides marine and scuba-diving facilities and access to the R/V F.G Walton Smith, a 96-foot advanced research catamaran designed for tropical oceanography. Our Helicopter Observation Platform is a flying scientific laboratory ideal for atmospheric and remote sensing observations. The Solar Electric Research Vessel is a waterborne remote sensing platform powered jointly through photovoltaic solar panels and a tidal generator in the vessel’s electric motor.

Aircraft Center for Earth Studies

The Aircraft Center for Earth Studies (ACES) develops next-generation scientific instruments and platforms that help us better understand the world and benefit humanity. These technologies are used to map coral reefs and shallow marine ecosystems, and to gather crucial data for addressing our changing climate and marine and atmospheric processes.

Marine Technology and Life Sciences Seawater Complex

This complex is anchored by the Alfred C. Glassell Jr., SUSTAIN laboratory, a powerful wind-wave tank capable of simulating the storm surge and wind conditions of a category 5 hurricane. The Marine Life Sciences Center, also located within the Complex, provides a dedicated space to study marine animals, including the critical connections between oceans and human health and the impacts of climate change on organisms and ecosystems.

Center for Southeastern Tropical Advanced Remote Sensing

We operate an advanced satellite reception and analysis facility to conduct research with remotely sensed data received from earth-orbiting satellite systems. The center is helping to provide vital life-saving information regarding man-made and natural disasters such as earthquakes, hurricanes, typhoons, rogue waves and oil spills.

Cooperative Institute for Marine and Atmospheric Studies

The Cooperative Institute for Marine and Atmospheric Studies (CIMAS), brings together the research and educational resources of ten partner universities to increase our understanding of Earth’s oceans and atmosphere. The federally-supported institute provides education, training, and outreach, while promoting the involvement of students and post-doctoral scientists in research funded by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

National Resource for Aplysia

Established by the National Institutes of Health’s National Center for Research Resources, this is the only location in the world where Aplysia californica (California sea hares) are cultured and raised for research and teaching. Aplysia are valuable to science as animal models for the study of many aspects of human and animal nervous systems.

Alfred C. Glassell, Jr. SUrge-STructure-ATmosphere-Interaction Laboratory (SUSTAIN)

Center for Southeastern Tropical Advanced Remote Sensing (CSTARS)

R/V F.G. Walton Smith and Helicopter Observation Platform (HOP)

Aircraft Center for Earth Studies

Credit: Rebecca Hale, National Geographic

Scientific Dive Training Facility

Our Scientific Dive Training Facility is one of the few facilities of its kind in the nation and enhances the school’s capability in underwater research and education. It offers scientists and students a venue to train in scientific diving skills in accordance with the American Academy of Underwater Sciences (AAUS) standards. The Rosenstiel School is also the first university to offer scientific freediving in accordance with the new PADI standards.

Center for Carbonate Research

The Center for Carbonate Research studies modern and ancient carbonate systems with a focus on tropical carbonates, including those in our backyard—The Bahamas—a modernday analog for ancient shallow water carbonate environments. Carbonate rocks reveal the evolution of life and the biosphere as far back as four billion years. They also provide important clues about one of the most iconic carbonate systems on Earth—coral reefs. Researchers at the center also work to develop new technology to support carbonate system research worldwide.

Keys Research Station

The Rosenstiel School’s Broad Key Research Station, located on a 63-acre island off the coast of Key Largo, provides faculty and students with direct access to Florida’s subtropical marine ecosystem. The marine facility offers opportunities for year-round research and hands-on educational activities.

Gilbert and Nancy Voss Marine Invertebrate Collection

The Rosenstiel School’s Marine Invertebrate Collection is an internationally recognized, CITES-certified research museum for Atlantic tropical marine invertebrates. The collections have few rivals as to number, geographic and vertical ranges of Atlantic tropical species. Identified by leading specialists from around the world, they are of exceptional value as research, teaching, reference and data resources.

Scientific Dive Training Faclity Broad Key Research Station

TRANSFORMATIONAL RESEARCH

Weather Prediction

Our researchers are using state-of-the-art techniques and computational capability to improve real-time, day-to-day, and sub-seasonal weather forecasts. Improved weather prediction can better prepare decision makers for hazards such as heat waves, cold spells, heavy rain as well as high-impact weather events such as hurricanes, tornadoes, and ice storms. Whether flying into the eye of a tropical cyclone aboard Hurricane Hunter aircraft, remotely observing the eyewall of a hurricane, or creating numerical models, Rosenstiel scientists are at the forefront of hurricane forecasting. Using advanced tools like GPS dropsondes, robotic floats, Doppler radar, uncrewed aircraft systems, Saildrones, and Earthorbiting satellites, our researchers are helping forecasters at the National Hurricane Center shed light on how wind shear, ocean heat content, rain bands, humidity, and other factors influence storm intensity.

Global Climate

Past, present, future – our faculty, students, and scientists study the Earth’s climate from every vantage point. From paleoclimatology and changes in atmospheric chemistry, to modeling and research on sediment cores, their work addresses fundamental questions about climate dynamics and impacts on terrestrial and marine life. Rosenstiel researchers monitor current changes in sea level with high resolution tools, such as remote sensing, and study the geologic record of previous sea-level fluctuations to understand the long term effects of sea level rise in South Florida and other coastal areas around the world. Among many other issues, we are studying the ocean’s roles in the global carbon cycle, as the world’s oceans absorb nearly half of the CO2 produced by humans annually.

Natural Hazards

Our scientists use a variety of seismological and space-geodetic methods to conduct research on active processes under and above the Earth’s surface to understand natural hazards and their associated risks. Our research areas include active volcanoes, active tectonics, changes of the global ice masses, hydrology and subsidence of urban and coastal areas.

Aquaculture

Aquaculture provides over 50 percent of the seafood for human consumption and is the fastest growing sector of food production. Through close collaboration with public and private partners, the Rosenstiel aquaculture program is a global leader in the development of sustainable aquaculture, grow-out technology and commercialization. Our research and academics are centered on innovative approaches to ensure that seafood production is environmentally sustainable and economically viable.

Marine Genomics

Our researchers use cutting-edge technologies to study genes, gene expression and genetic adaptation, thereby learning how animals work, evolve and adapt. Studies on several species of fish are providing new insights into why genes are important for human health. In studying the role of gene expression on the health, longevity and physiological performance of fish, researchers are focusing on the molecular mechanisms responsible for adaptation to pollution and other toxicological stressors.

Fisheries & Marine Conservation Research

The Rosenstiel School leads one of the most comprehensive marine conservation research programs of fisheries, corals and sharks. Shark research is centered broadly on the behavioral ecology, conservation biology and movement ecology. Fisheries research focuses on ecosystem modeling and management of marine fishery ecosystems. Coral reef research focuses on biology, ecology and conservation with a particular emphasis on the impacts of climate change to understand how corals might adapt to both warming ocean temperatures and increased ocean acidification. A key component of the program is the promotion of a marine conservation ethic to public and policy audiences.

OUTREACH

Community Outreach

The Rosenstiel School’s outreach programs work in tandem with faculty to connect the University to the general public and all of the communities of South Florida. Outreach aids faculty with science proposals, as well as synergetic partnerships with science museums and South Florida school districts. Programs such as Diversity in Marine and Atmospheric Science, Women Exploring Marine and Atmospheric Science, Students for Students, Ocean Explorers, and the IMPACT program for Title 1 schools hosted in conjunction with the Philip and Patricia Frost Museum of Science, enable us to reach and inspire diverse audiences.

Citizen Science

Citizens are invited to join scientists on and under the water to help with scientific work such as restoring coral reefs or studying sharks. Through the Rosenstiel School’s citizen science program, participants get the unique opportunity to be involved in scientific inquiry through proactive participation with scientists working on real-time problems.

Public Lectures

Every year we invite the general public to learn about today’s global challenges- from climate change to marine conservation. Our series of evening programs presented by distinguished scientists and explorers at the edge of discovery is designed for non-specialist audiences. Programs such as Sea Secrets, The Climate Café Series and Student for Students provide relevant and engaging presentations designed for all age groups.